According to information obtained by the Lo Tishkakh Foundation several hundred Jews were shot in August 1941 in the forested area known as Yuryeva Gora, about 10 kilometers northwest of Smela, between Smela and Belozorye village. The perpetrators of this massacre were apparently members of the 5th SS Wiking Panzer Division.
In January or February 1942 several hundred Jews from Smela and from nearby villages were shot to death at the same location. The exact date of this massacre is not known. It was probably carried out by German rural and local auxiliary policemen.

More information: Yad Vashem

According to Soviet reports Jews of Smela were arrested and taken to the local prison, from which they were regularly taken out to a pit in the prison yard and shot in the back of the head. Neither the exact dates of these shootings nor the precise number of the victims has been established. The shootings were apparently carried out by German and local auxiliary policemen.

More information: Yad Vashem

According to a testimony of Klara Karasik, a Holocaust survivor from Smela, an unknown number of Jews of the town were forced into the synagogue and burned alive. Neither the exact date of this massacre nor the identity of its perpetrators is known.

More information: Yad Vashem