On August 2, 1941, a Sabbath day, the 9th of the month of Av, the Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the First and Second Temples, the local Jewish men were ordered to appear early in the morning at the town square for registration. This was done under the pretext that they were going to be taken to work in the Kivertsy Forest, near the city of Łuck. Upon their arrival at the collection point, about 30 Jewish men (among them Eliezer Sheintukh, the young rabbi of Torczyn) who were accused of collaboration with the Soviet authorities, were selected and taken to the Zelenovo Forest near the village of Buyany, east of Torczyn. When they arrived at the site, the Jews were made to dig a mass grave and to strip to their underwear. Then they were shot to death. Only one man, David (or Barukh) Shapiro managed to escape. At this time, from prepared lists about 300 men (and several young women) were selected at the town square and accused of being Soviet activists. They were loaded in groups of 20-25 onto several trucks and, under the guard of Ukrainian auxiliary police, were taken to the same murder site. There they were forced into a pit and shot to death, probably by members of a Security Police unit. Christoph Wallendschus, a German officer and the agricultural administrator of Torczyn, was in charge of this murder operation.

More information: Yad Vashem

Early in the morning of August 22, 1942, on the Sabbath day, the 9th of Elul, the ghetto was surrounded by a Gendarmerie unit and local Ukrainian auxiliary police headed by Yakov Rimarchuk. A number of Jews managed to escape on the night before the murder operation. About 100 non-Jewish residents of the town were taken to dig a mass grave at the old Jewish cemetery at the end of Sadovskaya Street. Then they were replaced by a group of Jewish men who, upon finishing the digging of the mass grave, were shot there to death by the Germans. During this time the Jews were taken, after being rounded up, by Ukrainian auxiliary policemen to the town square. According to one testimony, the collected Jews were told that they were going to be taken to a labor camp near Łuck. During the selection that was carried out at the site several craftsmen and artisans were put into a warehouse outside the ghetto, while the rest – men, women, children, and the elderly, were loaded onto trucks and carts and taken, under the guard of Ukrainian policemen, to the Jewish cemetery. Upon their arrival at the site the Jews were lined up in rows, made to strip naked, and forced in groups into the pit, where they had to lie face down. Then they were shot to death with pistols by members of the Security Police and an SD unit from Łuck. During this murder operation, that lasted from dawn to dusk, most of the Torczyn's Jews were murdered. Several hundred Jews who had succeeded in hiding during this murder operation and those who had been discovered in hiding were allowed to remain in the ghetto. Shortly afterwards the Ukrainian auxiliary police forced them out of their houses and assembled them at the town square. According to one testimony, when trucks apparently carrying a Gendarmerie unit reached the square, many Jews trying to escape were shot to death on the spot. The rest were forced into one building and, after being forced to strip naked, were taken by truck to the Jewish cemetery, where they were shot to death. Christoph Wallendschus, a German officer and the agricultural administrator of Torczyn, was in charge of this large murder operation. Apparently during the first days of December, the remaining Jewish artisans and craftsmen who had been kept in the town until then were shot to death at the same murder site.

More information: Yad Vashem