On August 4, 1941, in the early morning, a large group of Jews was taken from their homes in the ghetto to the local school building, where they were kept in several classrooms. During a selection that was carried out right away 286 men were separated from their families, loaded onto trucks, and taken to the Gritsev Forest, about 3 kilometers from the town. Deep in the forest, near a stone quarry, they were made to strip naked and shot to death by the 1st Battalion of the 10th SS Infantry Regiment. Their clothes were taken away. According to one testimony in the afternoon a group of women was also taken from the school and driven by truck to the same site, forced to strip naked, and shot to death, apparently by the same unit. In the evening those who remained in the school building, mainly small children and old women, were allowed to return to their homes in the ghetto. According to the same testimony about a month later the mass graves in the Gritesev Forest were found by accident.

More information: Yad Vashem

According to one testimony, after the Germans entered Gritsev, they took 10 Jewish men hostage. After being kept imprisoned for the day, the hostages were shot to death the next morning by a German unit outside the town, near Gora village.

More information: Yad Vashem

According to one testimony, shortly after the occupation of the town the Germans took a group of Jewish men and drowned them in the town lake. Those who knew how to swim and had made their way to the surface of the lake were immediately struck on the head with oars by Ukrainian auxiliary policemen in boats. Ten men died; only one managed to survive. After several days the bodies of the victims were found when they rose to the surface of the lake. The Germans and the Ukrainian policemen didn't allow the Jews to bury the victims; instead they took the bodies and buried them elsewhere outside the town. The Jews managed to bury only 3 of the men at the Jewish cemetery.

More information: Yad Vashem