December 1941 — March 1944
Romanian occupiers set up a concentration camp for Jews from Bessarabia and Bukovina on the territory of the Potocki estate. Prisoners were deliberately injected with typhus and dysentery bacteria before being sent here.
Without proper shelter or food, prisoners died by the hundreds every day. Extreme hunger led to cases of cannibalism among the exhausted people.
The disease spread through the camp, claiming thousands of lives.
The camp commander, Romanian Major Stratulatu, prevented an SS unit from liquidating the prisoners, defending Romanian jurisdiction over the territory.
Prisoners were used for road construction and other hard physical work.
The occupiers began to conceal traces of their crimes.
Soviet troops liberated Pechera. Only a few hundred people survived out of tens of thousands.
The exact number of victims is unknown. Different sources give figures ranging from 11,000 to 50,000 people; each figure represents thousands of destroyed lives and families.
| Source | Victim Count |
|---|---|
| Jewish Encyclopedia | 11,000 |
| Regional studies | 18,000–25,000 |
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Up to 30,000 |
| Eyewitness testimonies | Up to 50,000 |
Their testimonies are our duty of memory
"It truly was a dead loop that slowly strangled us with hunger and cold. We slept on bare ground, covered in rags. Every morning they carried out the bodies of those who had not survived the night."
"Someone shouted: 'It's a little kike!' They dumped the bucket over my head and beat me; I could barely carry my legs. We children learned to be invisible in order to survive."
"Local villagers, risking their lives, threw food over the fence. The guards often trampled the food into the sand and forced us, starving, to pick up the grains one by one under the lash."
"The earth moved above the graves of half-dead people. This cannot be forgotten. When they drove us to the river for water, the Germans on the opposite bank fired at us for sport."
"I still hear the screams. At night, when it's quiet, they come back. Pechera for me is not a geographical name. It's the name of my nightmare."
In the midst of darkness there is always light. These people risked everything to save lives.
Orthodox priest of the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Pechera, originally from the village of Zabuzhzhia. During the Nazi occupation, he risked his life to save Jews from extermination — hiding them in the church, providing food and forged documents.
Despite mortal danger to herself and her family, Sofiia regularly brought prisoners food, warm clothes and medicine. She helped several Jews escape from the camp, hiding them in her home and arranging their transfer to safe places.
The Maikusy couple risked their lives to save Jewish children. They took exhausted children from under the camp fence, raised them as their own, and hid them in cellars during raids. After the war, they helped those they had saved to find surviving relatives.
Anonymous Ukrainian villagers risked their lives every day, throwing food over the camp fence. Many never received official recognition, but their actions saved hundreds of lives — true heroes without names.
Righteous Among the Nations are non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Israel honors their memory at the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem.
How the landscape created the "dead loop"
Pechera's geography created a natural trap. The camp stood on the territory of the former Potocki estate — a high plateau above the Southern Bug River, surrounded on three sides by the river and stone walls.
East — a steep slope to the river with 160 stone steps. German soldiers on the opposite bank shot at those who descended for water.
West and North — a high stone fence of the estate, which became the walls of the camp.
South — Romanian guards and barbed wire. Beyond — the German occupation zone, where Jews were shot immediately.
Leaving this "loop" alive was virtually impossible.
Territory of the former Potocki estate, today the Pechera Regional Rehabilitation Hospital
Memorial sites in Pechera
Installed at the entrance to the former camp territory, near the main gate of the Pechera Regional Rehabilitation Hospital. Visitors can light a candle or lay flowers here.
48.859661, 28.710343Burial site of thousands of camp victims, located within the village. The place calls for silence and respect.
48.8598, 28.7102Historic cemetery of the Jewish community of Pechera (17th century), area about 0.9 ha, 101-500 gravestones. It includes mass graves of Holocaust victims from 1941–1942.
Located on the north-northeast edge of the village, to the left of the road on a hill; access is open, the fence is destroyed.
Exact coordinates require on-site verification
Light a candle in memory of the victims of the "Dead Loop" concentration camp
"Whoever saves one life — saves the entire world"
— Talmud
This page is dedicated to the memory of all victims of the "Dead Loop" concentration camp and in gratitude to those who risked their lives to save others.