Monument to the victims of mass shooting in July 1941

In a forest not far from the Prut River, a big stone monument with a Star of David and a menorah commemorates the 400 Jews who were shot by German troops in early July 1941, in the first few days after German and Romanian troops had invaded the city. One of the victims was Abraham Jakob Mark, Chief Rabbi of the Bukovina Jewish community. Another victim was Theobald Engler, who was only eighteen years old. He was the brother of Sylvia Segenreich, who recalls the events in early July 1941 in her Centropa interview:

When the Germans came, the streets were blocked off and the Jews had to leave for work, including my father and brother. I can still see him standing on the street. The whole street was full of people, even Chief Rabbi Mark was there. They were taken to the Palace of Culture on Fischplatz. Jews weren’t allowed to go out during the day or in the evening. Only from 10am to 1pm in order to buy things. But otherwise they weren’t allowed out on the streets. They began to sort people at the Palace of Culture. Some were sent to the right, others to the left. A German captain was in charge. They said these were workgroups. My father went to my brother, but the officer noticed and sent him back. “You’ll stay where you are,” he said to my father.

My brother was taken with another group over the Prut where they were all shot. The group was seen the morning of July 9. There were hundreds of Jews. At first, they said they were being taken to work. Outside of the city, at a shooting range in Jucica, the Germans shot the whole group. Some farmers came by and said, “give us a photograph and money. Your family members aren’t doing well. We’ll give it to them.” My mother gave a farmer a lot of money for my brother, but later we learned that all of them had already been shot on July 9. My brother was killed, too. He was only 18 years old.