Bronnaya Gora hill became last stop for tens of thousands of people during WWII

Bronnaya Gora is a small, almost deserted station in the Berezovsky District. There are trees and silence all around. Only sometimes it is broken by the noise of a passing train. During the war it became the last stop for tens of thousands of people. And the picturesque pine forest became the entourage of death with the largest mass grave of civilians in Europe.

A beautiful girl smiles from a black and white photograph. Neat hairstyle, fashionable dress: the picture was taken back in peacetime for Soviet documents. A few handwritten lines and a fingerprint. That's all that remains of Heli. We will never know, where she lived, who she wanted to be. The fate of the girl and all her relatives was cut short by a cruel fascist hand, which pressed the trigger of an automatic gun.

Anna Karapuzova, director of the Brest Region State Archives:

"The record and control book of the residents of Brest for 1942-1944 has been preserved. It was kept daily. As of October 15, 1942 the number of "Jews" is 16,943 people. Since October 17, 1942 there is a dash in the column "Jews". And up to the end of the occupation such national group as the Jews was not listed in Brest."