On August 1, 1941, an SS unit arrived in Chomsk. Upon their arrival, the Germans rounded up a group of forty Jews and locked them in the town's main synagogue, demanding that the Jewish community hand over foodstuffs and money as ransom for the captives' lives. When the ransom had been paid, the Germans gathered all Jewish men over the age of sixteen and imprisoned them in the same synagogue. On the following day, August 2, the men were lined up in a column, four in each row, and led to the killing site, where they were shot. According to some testimonies, the killing site was the garden of a local Jew named Levinson, while others say that it was a pit behind the local cemetery.

More information: Yad Vashem

After the murder of the Jewish men, probably on the very same day, the Jewish women and their children were massacred, too. The victims were taken from their homes and led to a spot behind a hill – apparently, on the outskirts of the town near the Jewish cemetery – where they were shot. The exact number of victims remains unknown.

More information: Yad Vashem

The surviving Jews of Chomsk, who had apparently been working as artisans in the town ghetto from about mid-August 1941, were shot on May 21-22, 1942 – the date of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot that year. They were gathered at a public school playground and taken in rows of four to the outskirts of the town. According to some testimonies, the number of people killed in that operation was about 200.

More information: Yad Vashem