On May 25, 1942, the Germans rounded up the Jewish and non-Jewish men of Ternovka to dig pits in the nearby forest, 1.5 kilometers from the town. The following day, May 26, the Jewish population of the ghetto was issued with an order to gather the following day at Stapok Square, near the Catholic Church. Posters disseminated in the town warned that any violation of this order would be punishable by death. On May 27 at 8 am, the Jews of Ternovka gathered in the square and from there were brought by SS men and Ukrainian policemen, under the authority of the ghetto commandant Emil Kniling, to the already prepared pits (according to one testimony, the Germans told the Jews that they were leaving Ternovka and going to stay temporarily in a nearby village some 5-6 kilometers away). When the victims arrived at the murder site, they were divided into two groups: men and women. Before the killing, dozens of skilled craftsmen were taken out of the columns of people awaiting their death, but in the end only nine men were chosen and returned to the town. The Germans first murdered the group of men, and then the women. Some of the victims who fell injured into the pits were buried alive. The number of victims is estimated at 2,300-2,500 people. The following day, a hunt began for the Jews in hiding. 45 men were found, and killed. According to testimony, Emil Kniling was the one who murdered them. The experts who returned to the town were concentrated in two buildings. Most of those who remained in the ghetto, together with some Jews who had managed to hide during the murder operation and were added to the ghetto inmates, were murdered on April 2, 1943, most likely at the same place where the majority of Jews from Ternovka were killed.

More information: Yad Vashem