Praskovia, Lokhvytsia, Ukraine
"The Jews undressed to their underwear, the infants were covered only with their blankets. The police brought them all to the pit."
Between 1941 and 1944, almost 1.5 million Jews were massacred when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. In two and half years, the Nazis killed nearly every Jew in the region. Until recently, this chapter of Holocaust history was relatively unknown. Only a slowly-fading group of witnesses, most of whom have never told their stories, can keep this tragic history from disappearing.
These photographs were taken on numerous research trips in Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Moldova, and Romania with the organization Yahad in Unum.
Vassyl and his wife, Kolinkivtsi, Ukraine
Dzislaw, Nowy Bartkow, Poland
An unmarked shooting site in Kaluszyn, Poland.
Kostel, Boiany, Poland
"We were in class when a Romanian soldier entered and told the teacher to make all the Jewish children leave. We chased them, begging the Romanians not to kill our friends."
Anatoli, Dneprozerjynsk, Ukraine
"I followed the column of Jews to the town's outskirts. They made them stop not far from the ravine, then in groups of 6-8 people, they were placed at the edge of it and shot."
Maria, Khotyn, Ukraine
Ievguenïia at an unmarked shooting site in Dratchyntsi, Ukraine
A child's ax is left behind under a pile of dead branches at an execution site in Kausani, Moldova.
Rautel, Moldova
Streets that were once the Jewish ghetto in Wegrow, Poland
Vera, Jvanivtsi, Ukraine
"I sold milk to Zioma. From the first days of the war, he was shot."
Roman, Klichkivtsi, Ukraine
"I lived among the Jews and when the war started, I saw how they were hunted down by the Romanians."
Samotrzask, Poland
Rautel, Moldova
An empty forest which held internment camps during the war
Oleksandra, Gradzykv, Ukraine
"I had a friend, Macha. One day, during the Great Famine, I went to see her. At the entrance, I saw her head that had been cut off. She was eaten by her own family."
An unmarked execution site in Joniskis, Lithuania where 85 Jewish people were shot
Vilnius, Lithuania
Edward gazes across a construction site, looking for the exact location of the shooting he witnessed decades ago.
An unmarked shooting site in Khorol, Ukraine
A witness at an execution site in Hiriseni, Moldova
Vladimir, Ostroouchki, Ukraine
"They took them by groups of 10 people, men, women, children, lining them up at the edge of the trench..."
Nina, Korioukivka, Ukraine
"I saw 3 steps that descended into the grave and a ripped-up scarf. The ground above the grave was moving..."
Vassili, Prylouki, Ukraine
"They separated a group of 10-15 people from the rest of the Jews and brought them towards the ravine. Everyone was forced to undress not far away. Then, they lined them up at the edge of this ravine, below which there was a grave that had already been dug."
Marian, Sokolow Podlaski, Poland
"They made the Jews leave the ghetto, they put them in a column and they brought them to the train station. Those who were slowing the column down were beaten on the spot by the guards. Every several feet, there was a corpse..."
Chapovalivka, Ukraine
Dratchyntsi, Ukraine
A young local boy runs ahead of the witness to find a memorial.