On September 6, 1941, members of the Einsatzgruppe B rounded up the Jews from Nevel, Petino, Plissy, Novokhovansk, Topory and other nearby localities who were concentrated in the Nevel ghetto. All 800 people (according to two additional sources, between 640 and 1,800), mostly the elderly and children, were taken to a site almost one kilometer from the ghetto, along the Leningrad Road. The Jews were divided into two groups. The men were brought first, and then the women and children, all transported in trucks. The Jewish men were forced to dig two pits 200 meters apart. When they had finished, they were accused of committing arson and shot into one of the pits. The women and children were then brought to the murder site, stripped and shot – first the children and then the women – into the second pit. Two women from the Svoisky family, a mother and daughter, managed to run away from the murder site. The teenaged Aron Kominarov also succeeded in escaping, climbing out of the pit during the night after the shooting.

More information: Yad Vashem