A mass grave containing the remains of 23 Jewish Holocaust victims, including 12 adults and 11 children, was uncovered on Tuesday in the town of Strešyn, in southeastern Belarus, according to local media reports. The children were estimated to be between one and seven years old.

The site is located in the Gomel region, which fell under Nazi occupation in August 1941 during World War II. At the time, the local Jewish population was forced into ghettos, and their property was looted by the Nazis as part of the Holocaust.

According to Belarusian authorities, the mass grave likely contains the remains of Jews who perished due to the harsh conditions in the ghetto. While no signs of execution were found on the bodies, keys and a rusty rifle bullet were discovered in the grave.

The discovery was initially made about 15 years ago by a local resident who purchased a house in Strešyn and found the remains during agricultural work on his property. However, he chose not to report the find, even though many local residents were aware that the bodies belonged to Jews who had died in the ghetto during the Holocaust.

The timing of the discovery coincides with a growing acknowledgment by Belarusian authorities of Jewish Holocaust victims, after years of promoting a controversial narrative of a “Belarusian genocide” during World War II that downplayed the specific targeting of Jews.

In 1939, approximately 40,000 Jews lived in Gomel, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the population. Most Jews managed to flee before the city was occupied by German forces on August 19, 1941. Those who remained were confined to ghettos, where many succumbed to disease and starvation. Estimates suggest that between 3,000 and 4,000 Jews from Gomel died during the Holocaust.

This discovery follows a similar finding five years ago, when about 1,000 bodies were unearthed in the city of Brest, near the Polish border.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)