A moving and impressive ceremony was held in recent days in the Jewish section of the Verkhnezarechenskoye Municipal Cemetery in Volgograd, Russia, formerly Stalingrad, marking the dedication of a new memorial to the Jewish Holocaust victims murdered by the Nazis during World War II.

The ceremony was led by the city’s Chief Rabbi and Chabad emissary, Rabbi Zalman Yoffe, with the participation of dozens of members of the Jewish community—from young children to Holocaust survivors and elderly residents over the age of 80—who gathered to pay tribute to the victims and perpetuate their memory.

The memorial was erected at the site where the remains of 43 holy Jews who were brutally murdered by the Nazis in the autumn of 1942, near the village of Vodino in the Oktyabrsky district, were brought to their final resting place and reinterred.

Historical records demonstrate the scale of the tragedy: Of the 43 victims, 23 were children and teenagers under the age of 18. The oldest among them was 74 years old, while the youngest was an infant just eight months old.

During the ceremony, participants recited chapters of Psalms, and the Kel Maleh Rachamim memorial prayer was said. Speakers emphasized the responsibility to preserve the victims’ stories and pass their memory on to future generations.

The city’s rabbi, Rabbi Zalman Yoffe, noted that the establishment of the memorial reflects the Jewish community’s commitment to preserving the memory of the martyrs and giving them a place of honor, decades after they were murdered. He called upon members of the community to continue strengthening Jewish life in the city, expressing the belief that this is the ultimate answer to those who sought to harm the Jewish people.

The memorial was funded by the Russian Jewish Congress PEK foundation, whose support made the establishment of this lasting tribute possible.