Later, in September 1942, the Germans announced that the Jews had to gather at the German headquarters. They were ordered to prepare [some of] their belongings and valuables for use when they were resettled. When the Jews gathered at the square in front of the headquarters, the Germans and their collaborators took the Jews' property and the Jews were forced to enter gas vans, which looked like big buses with dark windows. Those busse held 60 to 70 Jews. Approximately 15 minutes were required for each murder. The Jews' bodies were taken from the vans and buried in a pit on the outskirts of the village. According to ChGK sources, in Stepnoye the German perpetrators murdered 480 Jews.

More information: Yad Vashem

At the beginning of September 1942 the Germans shot to death 250 Jews in the village center before the eyes of the local non-Jews and buried the bodies outside the village.

More information: Yad Vashem