The first two mass murders of the Jews of Świerżeń Nowy were carried out by the Nazis and their accomplices at the Jewish cemetery, about one kilometer southeast of the town. On Yom Kippur, October 1, 1941, the Jewish workers of Świerżeń Nowy did not come to their workplaces. In retaliation, on October 2 (or on Saturday, October 4, according to other sources), the Nazis arrested 28 (or 30) young people from the town - 18 women and 10 (or 12) men - in addition to a rabbi and another member of the Jewish council, and escorted them all to the Jewish cemetery. There, the young people were ordered to dig pits, and were then shot. According to some accounts, the shooting took place before the eyes of the young people's parents and the rest of the Jewish council. On November 4-5, 1941, the Germans, wishing to turn the Świerżeń Nowy Ghetto into a labor camp, carried out a selection in the ghetto. On November 4, the Belorussian police went through the ghetto and announced that, early in the next morning, all the Jews were to assemble in the market square, bringing all their valuables and money with them. Come morning, the Germans ordered the Jews to hand over all their valuables. When the male Jewish laborers, who numbered about 150 (or 200), had left for work at 5 AM, the Germans selected 20 women to serve as cleaners and cooks at the future labor camp. They then loaded the rest of the Jews - mostly elderly people, women, and children - onto trucks and drove them to the Jewish cemetery, where they were shot at pits that had been dug beforehand. Estimates of the number of those killed on that day range from 200 to 600.

More information: Yad Vashem