MIRNYI

MIRNYI:     US Commission No. UA.05700501.
Alternative names: German: Mirny. The mass gravesite is located about 800 m south of the highway to Khmelnik, in a field at 49º54' 28º35' in Zhitomirskaya oblast, about 3 km from Berdichev. Present town population is less than 1000 with no Jewish population.
-- Regional officials: Berdichev Town Soviet - Oktyabrskaya Square 1, Chairman Khiluk Alexei Alexeevich, tel.: (8-04143) 5-22-43, 2-01-27. Berdichev Community Monument Security (under Culture Dept. ), secretary Levashova N.M., tel.: 2-70-36 (work). Community of Historical Monuments Security, Chairman Borisuk N.E. (8-0412), Mikhailovskaya St. tel.: 37-08-07. State Archive of Zhitomir Region, 8 Marta St. 20, tel.: (8-41) 24-45-27
-- Berdichev Jewish Community, Chairman Vainshelboim E.E., tel.: 2-55-25 (home).
The unlandmarked, Orthodox, 1941 mass gravesite is unlocked with no caretaker. The earliest mention about Jewish community in the town is 1593. 1926 Jewish population (census) was 30,812. Living here were writer Vasilii Grossman and Polina Gelman, Soviet Union hero. The isolated rural (agricultural) hillside has no sign or marker. Reached by crossing residences and passing field, access is open to all. No wall, gate, or fence surround. Current size is 75 sq. meters. There is only one 1983 gravestone on the mass burial site, a granite finely smoothed stone dedicated in Ukrainian to Holocaust victims. Municipality owns site used only as Jewish cemetery bordering an agricultural area. Occasionally, organized groups and private visitors visit. The site never was vandalized since its creation. Local municipal authorities are responsible for 1983 memorial. No care, caretaker, or structures. Moderate threat: safety. Slight threat: erosion, pollution, vegetation overgrowth, vandalism and incompatibility with prospective construction.
Leonid Kogan, Novograd-Volynskiy, Lenin St 107, fl. 42, tel.: (04141) 5-42-59 completed the survey on 26 February 1997. The following documents were used to complete this survey: State Archive of Zhitomir Region - Fond 2636, inventory 1, file 9; S.Elisavetskiy 's Berdichev Tragedy (ca.1991.) He visited the site on 20 February 1997 and interviewed Kozachuk Nikolai Mefodievich, Berdichev, Uliyanovoi St, 59.