Ilya, Belarus
Encyclopedia
Ilya - a somewhat Jewish village in Belarus
. First mentioned in historical records from 1475. Between the end of World War I
and 1939 it was part of Poland
.
It was featured in Episode 3 of Who Do You Think You Are?
TV series with Lisa Kudrow
in which she finds out what happened to the Jews who lived in Ilya (one of which was her great grandmother). They were marched from their home to a pit in the middle of the town. There, German soldiers lined 3 or 4 at a time at the edge of the pit and shot them, resulting in them falling into this pit. Locals were said to have heard the screams from the Jews who did not die from being shot.
There is a mass grave in Ilya for the Jewish who died in this incident.
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. First mentioned in historical records from 1475. Between the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and 1939 it was part of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
It was featured in Episode 3 of Who Do You Think You Are?
Who Do You Think You Are? (U.S. TV series)
Who Do You Think You Are? is an American genealogy documentary series that premiered on NBC on March 5, 2010. The show is an adaptation of the British series of the same name, aired by the BBC. Each week a celebrity goes on a journey to trace his or her family tree. Lisa Kudrow is executive...
TV series with Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Valerie Kudrow is an American actress, best known for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the television sitcom Friends, for which she received many accolades including an Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards...
in which she finds out what happened to the Jews who lived in Ilya (one of which was her great grandmother). They were marched from their home to a pit in the middle of the town. There, German soldiers lined 3 or 4 at a time at the edge of the pit and shot them, resulting in them falling into this pit. Locals were said to have heard the screams from the Jews who did not die from being shot.
There is a mass grave in Ilya for the Jewish who died in this incident.