1941 Odessa massacre
| 1941 Odessa massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Holocaust in Romania | |
Column of Jewish civilians deported to Transnistria escorted by Romanian soldiers | |
| Location | Odessa |
| Date | 22–24 October 1941 |
Attack type | Mass murder, genocide, ethnic cleansing |
| Deaths | 34,000–100,000 |
| Injured | Unknown |
| Victims | Mainly Jews, also Romani people |
| Perpetrators | Kingdom of Romania Support: Nazi Germany |
The Odessa massacre was the mass murder of the Jewish population of Odessa and surrounding towns in the Transnistria Governorate during the autumn of 1941 and the winter of 1942 while it was under Romanian control. It was one of the worst massacres in Ukrainian territory.
Depending on the accepted terms of reference and scope, the Odessa massacre refers either to the events of 22–24 October 1941 in which some 25,000 to 34,000 Jews were shot or burned, or to the murder of well over 100,000 Jews in the town and the areas between the Dniester and Bug rivers, during the Romanian and German occupation which took place following the massacre. As of 2018, it was estimated that up to 30,000 people, mostly Ukrainian Jews, were murdered in the actual massacre, which occurred 22–23 October 1941. The primary perpetrators were Romanian soldiers, Einsatzgruppe SS and local ethnic Germans.