The first mass murder perpetrated by the Nazis in Stołpce was the killing of about 200 Jewish and several dozen non-Jewish "hostages" during the first week of the German occupation. The "hostages" were detained, and eventually killed, as punishment for the shots that had greeted the German soldiers entering the town; the identity of the shooter had remained unknown. The Jewish hostages were seized on Pocztowa and Podgórna Streets, mostly on June 29 ("Black Sunday"), and many of them were shot on the spot; many others were killed in their homes. Jewish men were escorted to a sports ground at the edge of town and killed there. According to some eyewitness accounts, the Germans threw hand grenades into the windows of the houses from which the hostages refused to come out. The common grave of the victims is located on Podgórna Street.

More information: Yad Vashem

The second mass murder in Stołpce was the killing of 76 (or 87, according to other sources) "rich" Jews (i.e., white-collar Jewish professionals: teachers, physicians, engineers, lawyers, rabbis, etc.), which took place in late July 1941. The killing site was the former Okińczyce Forest, east of the lake, at the eastern edge of Stołpce (now part of the town).

More information: Yad Vashem

The third mass murder in Stołpce, the "grosse Aktion," was carried out in September-October 1942. In the morning of September 23, the German Gendarmerie, reinforced by the Latvian police and other auxiliary units, surrounded the Stołpce Ghetto. A squad of the Security Police and the SD arrived from Minsk to oversee the murder operation. The Germans selected 500 able-bodied Jews, whom they left at their workplaces, and shot 750 Jews, mostly women and children, at a spot a mile (1.5 kilometers) northwest of the town, along the way to the village of Zajamno. A large percentage of the ghetto inmates managed to flee or hide away. The perpetrators searched for fugitive and hidden Jews, killing any they could find until October 1, 1942. An estimated 1,975 people were killed by the Nazis during those eight days. On October 11-14, the Germans shot an additional 300 Jews of Stołpce, most of them "illegals" who had settled in the ghetto in an attempt to mix in with the "legal" Jewish workers.

More information: Yad Vashem