Excursion to the Petrushinsky beam of death. Cultural and historical heritage of the village

This girl you see in the photo is Gettochka Teacher. She was shot by the Germans in Taganrog on October 26, 1941, along with other Jews

Victor VOLOSHIN, Beer Sheva

During the years of occupation of Taganrog from October 1941 to August 1943. More than 6,000 Jews were shot by the occupiers and their accomplices in the notorious “Death Ball,” including 1,500 children of various ages. This article is dedicated to their memory.

Before the war, Taganrog was a small flourishing city on the shores of the Azov Sea. The homeland of A.P. Chekhov, actress Faina Ranevskaya (Feldman), founder of Russian jazz Valentin Parnakh, Silver Age poetess Sofia Parnok, Moscow Art Theater actor A.L. Vishnevetsky, poet Mikhail Tanich (Tankhilevich) and many other celebrities.

According to the 1939 census, the Jewish population of Taganrog was 3,140 people, with a total of just over 188 thousand people. But then World War II broke out, and an outflow of the Jewish population began from the western regions, mainly from Poland, Moldova and the adjacent Western regions of Ukraine. Some of them, due to family or compatriot ties, settled in Taganrog. In addition, hospitable Taganrog became a place where Jewish children from different parts of the country spent their holidays with their grandparents during the summer months. And by the time of the occupation of Taganrog by the Nazi invaders, about seven thousand people of Jewish nationality had accumulated here.

On October 17, 1941, after many days of fighting, as a result of which the Red Army was forced to retreat to Rostov, the motorized SS division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler entered Taganrog. And the next day, tanks of the 13th and 14th Panzer Divisions were already crawling into the city The Wehrmacht. On the same day, under the roar of armored vehicles and field guns, a special SS unit, Sonderkommando SK 10-A, under the command of Obersturmbannführer Heinz Seetzen from Einsatzgruppe D of Brigadeführer Otto Ohlendorf, quietly and unnoticed entered Taganrog.

The Sonderkommando was located in the ancient building of the city gymnasium on Gymnazicheskaya Street, 9 and soon began to carry out its duties, for the sake of which it was created in the bowels of the Main Directorate of Imperial Security. It all started quietly, with harmless notices posted throughout the city.

The city commandant, Captain Alberti, “suggested” that Jews undergo compulsory registration at police stations and wear identification marks in the form of a yellow hexagonal star on their chests and left sleeves. And then a new order. All Jews of the city were to gather on October 26, 1941 on Vladimirskaya Square, carrying with them a three-day supply of food, valuables and apartment keys.

And the gullible Jews, believing that they would be taken somewhere, gathered on the indicated day on Vladimirskaya Square. Many brought young children with them. On the square, people were surrounded by a dense cordon consisting of local policemen. Then, having taken away things and food, everyone was lined up in columns and driven towards the aircraft factory. Having passed through the territory of the plant, the column of people found itself two steps away from the old clay quarry of the village of Petrushino, which the Germans themselves would later call the Beam of Death.

What happened next is stated in the note of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the USSR dated August 27, 1942: “Having separated about 100 people from the group, they were taken several tens of meters away and shot in front of the rest of the doomed. Then the execution began, one hundred after another, men, women , children, old people. Over 3 thousand civilians were killed by the Nazis on October 27, 1941 in Taganrog." These “civilians,” as you understand, were the Jews of Taganrog.

After the liberation of Taganrog, this Nazi action was reported to the first secretary of the Rostov regional committee of the pariah B.A. Dvinsky, the head of the NKGB of the Rostov region, State Security Commissioner S.V. Pokotilo:

“On October 28, 1941, it was stated that due to the proximity of the front, the Jews would be evicted from the city, for which on October 29 (the dates in the documents vary and do not coincide by 1-2 days - author’s note) they should gather at a designated point, having food for three days and the most valuable things well packed, the apartments were closed, and the keys were handed over when they arrived at the checkpoint. The next day, all of them, partly by car, partly on foot, were sent to Petrushinskaya Balka and shot. According to incomplete data, more than one person died that day. 1800 people."

How many Jews were shot during the entire 682 days of the occupation of Taganrog? A question that they still can’t find an answer to in Taganrog, or don’t want to find an answer. Although the funds of the Center for Documentation of Contemporary History of the Rostov Regional Archives contain a document that puts an end to all i. This is a certificate from the head of the party archive of the Rostov regional committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, M.N. Korchin, “Partisan movement against the German occupiers in the Rostov region 1941-1943,” which literally says the following: “In Taganrog on the Petrushina Spit, the Germans shot about 7 thousand. Jews" (f. 3 v. 3 d. 23 pp. 32, 43).

Ghetto Teacher. Photo from the author's home archive

Readers may have a logical question: “Why were the Jews of the city unable to evacuate to the East of the country in a timely manner?”

They were able to, but not all of them. Only those who worked in factories and enterprises subject to mandatory evacuation left. Many elderly Jews reasoned something like this: “Why should we leave somewhere? The Germans will not do anything bad to us. After all, this is a cultural nation, with good traditions. In 1918, the Germans also occupied Taganrog, and there were no pogroms, executions, concentration camps or ghettos. On the contrary, they even stopped attempts to discriminate against the Jewish population."

This is what the naive old people thought, who remembered the “other” Germans. How were they supposed to know how “new” they were? Since the beginning of World War II, not a single line was written in Soviet newspapers about the Jewish genocide, and the radio was also silent. Not a single report from the Sovinformburo said that, having occupied the capital of Soviet Ukraine, the city of Kyiv, the Nazis took more than 34 thousand citizens of Jewish nationality to Babi Yar and shot them all. And this is only in two days. If there had been regular information about the atrocities of the Nazis from the first days of the war, then many Soviet Jews, having overcome their doubts, would have been able to travel deep into the country.

There was another reason preventing people from leaving the city. In this regard, we will tell you the real story of one Jewish family (close to the author of these lines), typical of many families of that time.

He worked as a foreman at the Taganrog shoe factory Leonid Kharitonovich Uchitel. He had a family: his wife Anna (maiden name Pulina) and two children: five-year-old Geta, and 9-month-old Rudolf. One day, when the Germans were already approaching the city, Leonid came home from work and said to his wife:

- That's it, the factory is evacuating, we need to get ready too!

The wife remained silent, and then said, almost crying:

- Well, where will I go with two little ones in my arms? And the father, and the mother, and the brothers, you also need to take them with you?

“No, we won’t be able to take everyone,” the husband answered. “They gave me seats in the carriage just for us and the children.”

“Then you go, Lenechka,” answered Anya, “and we’ll stay.” Nothing will happen to us, we will survive somehow.

The situation was not easy, and Leonid Kharitonovich with a heavy heart left alone, without his family.

The Pulin family, like thousands of their blood brothers, could not hold out. All of them, including young children, were shot by the Nazis on October 26, 1941 in the Death Balk. Leonid learned about the death of his relatives only when he returned to liberated Taganrog. The names of the members of this family are forever included in the lists of victims of the Holocaust in the national museum Yad Vashem.

But were all the Jews shot by the Nazis in Taganrog? It turns out not everyone. Miraculously, several people survived. The mother of the urban underground partisans Turubarovs, Maria Konstantinovna, under the guise of her nephew, hid the Jewish boy Tolik Fridlyand. In Israel, the name of Taganrozhenka Anna Mikhailovna Pokrovskaya, who hid fifteen-year-old Volodya Kobrin and Leningrad student Tamara Arson, was well known in Israel. For this feat, in 1996 she was awarded the international title “Righteous Among the Nations.”

Some Jews managed to escape across the ice of the frozen Taganrog Bay to the “other side” not occupied by the Germans. There is information about several girls who were incredibly “lucky”. They managed to hide their origins and were sent to work in Germany. But forced labor in a foreign country is still not execution, and they miraculously survived.

It should be admitted that there could have been much fewer victims of the Holocaust in Taganrog if not for the double-dealing of compatriots. Unfortunately, there were people infected with anti-Semitism who willingly handed over Jews, receiving in return a hundred marks, a bottle of schnapps, or their belongings. The Russian auxiliary police also made a “solid” contribution to the solution of the “Jewish question”. They have thousands of ruined lives on their conscience.

During the war, this historic building of the former Taganrog men's gymnasium housed the Sonderkommando SK 10-A, referred to by residents as the "Gestapo" German soldiers on the platform of the Taganrog station. Summer 1942 Published for the first time

BRIEFLY ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Viktor Voloshin is a member of the Union of Journalists of Russia, former editor-in-chief of the historical and literary almanac "Milestones of Taganrog", and a resident of Beersheba since August 2013. In recent years, he has published four books on the history of Taganrog. The scope of his research, among other things, includes the study of the occupation period of Taganrog during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1943), including the Holocaust. A number of articles have been written on this issue, and in the book “Yesterday there was a war” a separate chapter is devoted to the Holocaust.

Description

Petrushino- a village in the Neklinovsky district of the Rostov region.

It is part of the Novobessergenevsky rural settlement.

Population 2114 people.

Geography

Located on the seashore, at the base of Petrushina Spit. In the southwest it borders with the Taganrog Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex named after G. M. Beriev.

Attractions

There is a memorial complex on the territory of the village "Petrushinskaya beam of death" - the place of mass executions and resting place of thousands of people tortured and shot by the Nazis during the occupation of Taganrog. So, on October 26, 1941, by order of the commandant, the first 1,800 Jews living in Taganrog occupied by German troops, after a search and seizure of personal belongings, were sent to Petrushin Spit, where they were all shot. In total, according to official data, 6,975 people died, including 1.5 thousand Jewish children (many children were killed by smearing their lips with potent poison).

In total, during the Second World War, more than 10,000 to 12,000 people were tortured and shot on Petrushina Spit, according to various sources. The names of many of those executed have never been restored. It is known that most of those executed were residents of Taganrog, mainly of Jewish and Gypsy nationalities, but prisoners of war, hostages, communists and Komsomol members, sick and disabled people were also killed here. Executions were carried out systematically 3 times a week from 1941 to 1943. People were brought and driven from almost the entire region. Their resting place was Petrushinskaya Balka, where before the war clay was mined for a brick factory. In the 1950s, trees were planted here in memory of the dead. The memorial was erected on the initiative of a famous public figure, a minor prisoner of the fascist prison Tankha Otershtein, chairman of the local Jewish community.

On the territory of the village (Instrumentalnaya St., 1) there is also a memorial sign to Hungarian prisoners of war.

On August 2, 1711, off the sea coast, where Petrushino is now located, a young Russian fleet based in the harbor of the Troitsk-on-Taganrog fortress, under the command of Peter the Great’s admiral Cornelius Cruys, repelled an attack on the city by a large Turkish squadron. Attempts to take Taganrog by a flanking maneuver with the help of a landing of Janissaries who landed on Petrushina Spit were repelled by one and a half thousand Cossacks settled by Peter on Mius and two battalions of infantry. On September 11, 1998, on the day of the tercentenary of Taganrog, on a sea cliff, near the place where the battle took place, the Taganrog Cossack Union established six-meter steel worship cross.

The village also houses a museum of modern art Rastashansky Estate (Stakhanovskaya str. 26).

In summer there is a well-maintained beach , which can be reached from Taganrog through the Taganrog Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex named after G. M. Beriev on a bus running between the gates (traffic interval - 30 minutes). The beach is popular among Taganrozh residents and village residents. ATV rental is available.

Petrushina Spit (Taganrog, Russia) - detailed description, location, reviews, photos and videos.

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Petrushina, aka Petrushinskaya, aka Petrushanskaya Spit, got its name from the name of the nearest settlement - the village of Petrushino. This is a narrow strip of sand in the Taganrog Bay, significantly smaller in size than Beglitskaya: its length barely exceeds 200 m. Now local residents and tourists relax here, and previously the spit was the site of many historical events.

Under Peter I, the Pavlovsk fort was built on the Mius Peninsula to protect against attacks from the water. In 1711, a decisive battle took place on the spit, in which Russian troops defeated the Turks. Here, during the German occupation, Jews and other unwanted local residents were shot, and they were buried nearby, in Petrushinskaya Balka.

Due to the large number of burials during the Great Patriotic War, the Petrushinskaya beam is often called the “beam of death.” In the 50s In memory of the numerous victims of the Nazis, trees were planted here, and in the village itself a memorial complex with a granite plaque and a stele was organized.

Spit is, first of all, a beautiful beach with light sand and clear warm water. The depth of the bay is not very deep, so the water warms up quickly, which is ideal for children. In summer, water activities are available for vacationers, and drinks and food can be purchased at kiosks.

Practical information

Address: Rostov region, Neklinovsky district. GPS coordinates: 47.173323; 38.864669.

Kosa is located about 5 km from Taganrog, but due to the need to go around the airport, the journey by car will take about half an hour. Buses go to Petrushino from the city from 6:00 to 19:00 every 15-20 minutes. They depart from the bus station near the Central Market, travel time is 30-40 minutes.

Petrushino is a popular resort village on the Azov Sea; local residents willingly rent out housing to vacationers. You can combine a trip with a visit to Beglitskaya Spit, which is located 25 km from Petrushina.

Not far from Taganrog, in Balka on Petrushina Spit, an obelisk was erected in memory of those who died in 1941-43. at the hands of fascists, residents of Taganrog, as well as refugees from other regions and republics of the USSR. Taganrozh residents dubbed this place “The Beam of Death.”
On Saturday, April 4, the children and parents of the preparatory group visited the memorial in Petrushina Balka. The excursion was led by Svetlana Anatolyevna Voronkova, a guide from the Sputnik bureau.
Our excursion began with an 18-meter stele called “Fighters”. Approaching the memorial, we read the words dedicated to all of us:
"Let's keep quiet for history,
Became granite
This is from all the living to the fallen.”
Here Svetlana Anatolyevna told us about the occupation of Taganrog, about how the Nazis established a curfew. And that the slightest violations were punished quickly and cruelly. Already in the first days of the occupation, several people were executed publicly in the bazaar, in the city park and other places.
Next we visited the grave of an unknown sailor who died on October 17, 1941 defending our city from fascist invaders. Near the grave of sailor Mamchenko, Bogdan read M. Isakovsky’s poem “Wherever you go, you go...”:
Wherever you go or go,
But stop here
To the grave this way
Bow with all your heart.
Whoever you are - fisherman,
miner,
Scientist or shepherd, -
Remember forever: here lies
Your very best friend.
For both you and me
He did everything he could:
He did not spare himself in battle,
And he saved his homeland.

The guys laid flowers at the foot of the grave. Everything was so heartfelt and reverent that many parents had tears welling up.
But the greatest impression on children and adults was made by the memorial dedicated to the Jews - victims of the fascist genocide. The memorial in this place was erected on the initiative of a famous public figure, a minor prisoner of the fascist prison Tankha Oterstein, the chairman of the local Jewish community. There is a granite slab in front of the memorial. On one side is the Star of David, on the other is the symbol of the light of the Torah - the Menorah. And two dates - October 26, 1941 - the day of the most mass execution of Jews, and the day of the liberation of Taganrog. Svetlana Anatolyevna drew our attention to the fact that the names and surnames of the victims, not adults, are written on the memorial, but children. The youngest of them was 2 months old. Children's names on the monument, “as if their voices, cry to always remember the danger of prejudices of hatred,” which can lead to the murder of innocent people!
From the guide’s story, we learned that on that terrible day, October 26, 1941, people were promised to be transported to a safer place, but they were brought to be shot. Then this ravine was simply called Petrushin Spit. After October 26 - nothing less than the Beam of Death. Among the dead were adult men, women, old people, and children. During the two years of German occupation, more than 1,500 Jewish children died here.
Gleb Sobolev read a poem and laid flowers near the memorial to the dead children.
Going a little down the steps, you are immediately struck by the silence, peace and coolness. We went up and laid flowers at the grave of executed Soviet prisoners of war, bowed to the grave of the residents of Taganrog and surrounding villages and paid tribute to the memory of the heroes of the Taganrog underground. Executions in Balka on Petrushinaya Spit were carried out regularly for two years. In total, 10,000 people died in the Balka of Death during the two years of occupation.
The children paid tribute to the memory of the victims and read poems. Katya Glazova read Galina Kucher’s poem “Veterans to you”, Anechka Tarasova “At the Obelisk” - S. Pivovarova, Sveta Skvortsova - “Peace is needed” by T. Volgina, and Daniil Tarasov, a student of Lyceum 33, G. Rublev’s poem “It Was in May” , at dawn...” The situation was such that it gave me goosebumps. The adults could no longer hold back their tears. Svetlana Anatolyevna suggested holding a Minute of Silence. At that time, birds were singing in different voices in the ravine. And it was hard to believe that you were in the place where so many people died.
Then we all walked up the steps to the wooden cross together. Here the guide suggested that we form a Circle of Peace around the cross. “Everyone who wants peace joins hands and stands in this circle,” said Svetlana Anatolyevna. At first only the children stood in the circle, but then the parents joined the children. We have a wonderful Circle of Peace! After this, the guys performed the song “Katyusha”. The adults happily sang along with the children.
This is where our excursion ended. This place left neither adults nor children indifferent.
Eternal memory to the dead!

POETRY

To you, veterans...
Happy memory to those who are gone.
For those who did not meet the peaceful dawn,
Through the cannonades, through hunger and fear,
He proudly carried the Victory on his shoulders.

God, give health to those who are alive,
I returned home from this war!
To you, veterans, near and far,
My deepest bow to the very ground!
Galina Kucher

At the obelisk
The spruce froze on guard,
The blue of the peaceful sky is clear.
Years go by. In an alarming hum
The war is far away.

But here, at the edges of the obelisk,
Bowing my head in silence,
We hear the roar of tanks close
And a soul-tearing explosion of bombs.

We see them - Russian soldiers,
That in that distant terrible hour
They paid with their lives
For bright happiness for us...

S. Pivovarov
We need peace
Everyone needs peace and friendship,
Peace is more important than anything in the world,
On a land where there is no war,
The children sleep peacefully at night.
Where the guns don't thunder,
The sun is shining brightly in the sky.
We need peace for all the guys.
We need peace on the entire planet!

T. Volgina

It was at dawn in May,
The battle intensified near the walls of the Reichstag.
I noticed a German girl
Our soldier on the dusty pavement.
She stood at the pillar, trembling,
Fear froze in the blue eyes,
And pieces of whistling metal
Death and torment were sown around...
Then he remembered how, saying goodbye in the summer,
He kissed his daughter
Maybe this girl's father
His own daughter was shot...
But now, in Berlin, under fire,
The fighter crawled and, shielding him with his body,
A girl in a short white dress
He carefully took it out of the fire.
How many children have their childhood restored?
Gave joy and spring
Privates of the Soviet Army,
People who won the war!
And in Berlin on a holiday
Was erected to stand for centuries,
Monument to the Soviet soldier
With a rescued girl in her arms.
He stands as a symbol of our glory,
Like a beacon shining in the darkness.
This is him - a soldier of my state -
Protects peace throughout the world!
G. Rublev

Photo: Memorial complex “Beam of Death” in Petrushino

Photo and description

The memorial complex “Fighters” in Petrushinskaya Balka is located in the vicinity of Taganrog in the village of Petrushino. For seven decades now, local residents have called this place “The Beam of Death.” Here, in an old clay quarry, the Nazis killed more than 10 thousand innocent people of different nationalities, religions, party affiliations, and ages. Among them were 164 underground workers. The Death Beam is a complex of tombstones and memorial structures built here on the initiative of the chairman of the Jewish community, who himself was a prisoner of fascist dungeons.

During the Great Patriotic War, very difficult battles were fought for Taganrog, especially in 1943, when the Nazis did not want to cede to the Soviet troops the defensive structures created during two years of occupation. But mass executions in Petrushinskaya Balka began soon after the occupation of Taganrog in October 1941. According to eyewitnesses of those events, a plane constantly circled over the city, drowning out the sounds of gunfire. The corpses in the ravine were barely covered with earth, and at the entrance to the ravine there was a sign that read: “Forbidden zone, for violation - execution.” Sonderkommando SS 10a." A few days after the liberation of Taganrog on September 1, 1943, the grave was opened, and a terrible picture of thousands of mutilated corpses appeared before the eyes of the townspeople.

In August 1945, a modest obelisk was erected in Death Beam in memory of the victims. In 1965, a group of Rostov architects (N.Ya. But, V.P. Dubovik, Ya.S. Zanis, A.G. Kasyukov) took up the development of the memorial complex and two years later presented the project at the city cultural center for discussion. The project was highly appreciated, but, unfortunately, was not implemented.

Later, a new project was created by the Grachev architects, which was partially implemented in 1973 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the liberation of Taganrog. It was an 18-meter stele and was originally called “Victims,” but later, after numerous disputes, the choice was settled on the name “Fighters.”

Currently, according to the plan of the Taganrog architect V.I. Cherepanov, the memorial is being reconstructed.