page_title: Khmilnyk
section_title: World War II and killing of over 11,743 innocent people
hierarchical_section_title: Khmilnyk / History / World War II and killing of over 11,743 innocent people
caption_attribution_description: Українська: міст у венеціанському стилі English: bridge in a Venezian style
context_page_description: Khmilnyk is a resort town in Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine. Administratively, it is incorporated as a town of oblast significance. It also serves as an administrative center of Khmilnyk Raion, one of the 27 districts of the oblast. Population: 28,332
  The town is situated in the upper part of the river Southern Bug, 67 km northeast of Vinnytsia. It is one of the oldest towns of Podillia.
context_section_description: Khmilnyk was devastated in World War II. In June 1941 the front came close to Khmilnyk, and on 16 July 1941, the German army captured the town.
  The Jewish population of the occupied town was decimated in a violent genocide. On two bloody Fridays (9 and 16 January 1942), German divisions slaughtered more than 8,000 of the town's inhabitants. In Khmilnyk a total of 11,743 innocent victims were shot to death. To commemorate this, a monument was erected and a service held on 19 August 1988, at the massacre site. On 18 July 2002, the Memorial to the Victims of Nazism was opened in Khmilnyk.
  The relatives of the victims collected the funds to build this Memorial. The Memorial was built by Mr. Isaak Mikhailovich Abovich, born on 29 June 1937. His uncle, niece, grandmother, three cousins and other relatives are buried there.  He has dedicated his life to building and preserving the Memorial and the Jewish Cemetery in Khmelnyk. Mr. Abovich has also organized the construction of two memorials to the victims of the World War II at the Jewish Cemetery in Khmelnyk.  He is in charge of maintaining the Jewish Cemetery. He is the only remaining Jew in Khmelnyk, the town where the majority of the population were Jewish before the beginning of World War II.  While the Ukrainian "police" assisted the Gestapo in killing the victims, the Memorial includes the recognition of the efforts of to the Ukrainian people who helped the Jews during the German Nazi occupation at the risks of being killed with their families.
  On 18 February 1944, after the battle near Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, the 1st Ukrainian Front was assigned the Proskuriv-Chernivtsi operation, which was decisive for the liberation of the town and whole district. On the morning of 10 March 1944, soldiers of 71st and 276th divisions captured the left part of Khmilnyk and the Mazurivka and Sydoryha settlements. After violent fights on 18 March 1944 the town and district were liberated from German invaders.
caption: Bridge in Venetian style
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