MELENY

MELENY:     US Commission No. UA05420501
Meleny is located in Zhitomirskaya, 35 km from Korosten. The mass grave is located N of village. Present town population is 1,000 - 5,000 with no Jews.
-- Town officials: Village Council - Koroshko Anatoliy Petrovich [Phone: (071) 67231].
-- Korosten Jewish Community, Levitan Vladimir Lvovich [Phone: (04142) 42265] and Kipnis Yakov Evseevich.
The earliest known Jewish community was 1778. The Jewish population (census) 539 was 1926. The Hasidic Jewish mass grave was dug in 1941. No Jews from other towns or villages were murdered at this unlandmarked mass grave. The isolated rural (agricultural) flat land has signs or plaques in local language mentioning the Holocaust. Reached by Frunze Street, access is open to all. A continuous fence with non-locking gate surrounds. 1 to 20 stones, all in original location with none toppled or broken, date from 1980. No stones were removed. Some tombstones have other metallic elements. The site contains marked mass graves. Municipality owns mass burial site. Properties adjacent are agricultural and residential. The mass grave boundaries is larger now than 1939. Rarely, local residents visit. This mass grave was not vandalized. Local/municipal authorities did re-erection of stones, cleared vegetation and fixed wall. There is no maintenance now. Within the limits of site are no structures. Vegetation overgrowth is a seasonal problem preventing access. Water drainage is a seasonal problem. Moderate threat: uncontrolled access and vegetation. Slight threat: weather erosion, pollution and vandalism.
Kogan Leonid of Novograd-Volynskiy, Lenina St. 107, Apt. 42. [Phone: (04141) 54259] visited site on 22/04/1995. Interviewed was Kroshko Anatoliy Petrovich on 22/04/1995. Kogan completed survey on 26/04/1995. Documentation: State Archive of Zhitomirskaya Oblast. 2636, 1, ñ. 16.