STARIY VISHNEVETS: US Commission No. UA19040501
Alternate name: Vishnevets (Yiddish.) Stariy Vishnevets is located in Ternopolskaya at 25º45 49º54, 40 km from Kremenets. The mass grave is located near the forest. Present town population is 1,000-5,000 with no Jews.
- Town officials: Village Soviet of Stariy Vishnevets, Chairman Zelenevich Igor Anatol'yevich [Phone: (071) 31262]. Kombinat Komunalnih Predpriyatiy of Shevshenko Street. [Phone: (03546) 31245].
- Regional: Region Soviet in Ternopol of Grushevskogo Street. 8 [Phone: (03522) 22105]. Society of Monuments Preservation [Phone: (03522) 23636].
- Jewish Community in Ternopol, Gotlib Kalman of 282022, Dovzhenko Street. 11, Apt. 75.
The earliest known Jewish Community was the 16-17th century. 1937 Jewish population (census) was 3000. Effecting Jewish Community were 1680Khmelnitsky Pogroms and 1919-1920 Civil War. The Jewish mass grave was dug in 1941 with last known Jewish burial was 1942. No other towns or village's Jews were murdered at this unlandmarked mass grave. Between fields and woods, the isolated crown of a hill has signs or plaques in local language mentioning the Holocaust. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all. No wall, fence, or gate surrounds the mass grave. 1 to 20 common tombstones, all in original location with none toppled or broken, date from 1990. No stones were removed. The site contains marked mass graves. Municipality owns site used for mass burial site. Properties adjacent are agricultural. Rarely, Jewish or non-Jewish private visitors and local residents visit. The mass grave was not vandalized in the last ten years. Local/municipal authorities did re-erection of stones in 1990 when monument (stellae) was set. Authorities clean or clear occasionally. Within the limits of the mass grave are no structures. Slight threat: uncontrolled access, pollution, vegetation and vandalism.
Kirzhner Moisey Davidovich of 263005 Lutsk, Grushevskogo Street. 18, Apt.38 [Phone: (03322) 34775] visited site on 7/5/95. Interviewed on 7/5/95 was Krivokulsky Oleg A. of Village Soviet. Kirzhner completed survey on 07/07/1995. Documentation: Shmuel Spector.
The Holocaust of Volynian Jews, 1941-1945 . Yad Vashem. Federation of Volynian Jews. Jerusalem 1990. P. 13. 14. 66-67, 73, 358.
