The remains of 286 Jewish Holocaust victims were found recently in two basements in the town of Sataniv in southwest Ukraine, Ynet reported. Most of the victims were women and children. The report said that the remains will be buried in a mass grave in the ancient Jewish cemetery in the town. The Nazis entered the town on July 6, 1941, eventually murdering most of the town’s Jews, with only a few dozen survivors. A Jewish community had existed in Sataniv since at least the 16th century, with the community numbering about 2,500 Jews prior to World War II. Today, there are no Jews in the town and all that is left are remains: Holocaust victims, the ancient Jewish cemetery, a shul and a few Jewish houses. The 286 victims found in the basements were locked inside on May 15, 1942, by the Nazis and Ukrainians, who suffocated them to death, according to witness records as well as KGB records. The bodies were not removed after the town was liberated and instead a sign was placed indicating the location as the site of a mass grave. The house above the cellars eventually fell into ruin and the entrance disappeared in the rubble. Eventually, an outdoor market opened over the area and remained there for many years. The local Jewish community, headed by Rabbi Alexander Feingold of the Khmelnytsky and Ternopil districts in Ukraine, waged a six-year legal battle with the landowner to search the basements for the victims’ remains, a battle they eventually lost in court. However, the community finally reached a private agreement with the property owner and searches began through the rubble in 2019. Little by little, bones and remains of clothing were found and even a mezuzuah. The remains of the 286 victims were found about two weeks ago. Rabbi Feingold told Ynet that a park will be established near the site in memory of the victims. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

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