The Gully of Petrushino is a quarry situated near Beriev Aircraft Company, which was formed in the early 20th century after extractions of clay for a no longer existing brickworks.

On October 22, 1941 the Ortskommandant issued an order for all Jewish people to wear a Star of David sign and to register at the Ortskommandantur.

Alberti explained this measure as necessary due to alleged rise of antisemitism among local population, and that the German police and Gestapo would better manage the question if the Jewish population were separated into a certain district of the city: In order to implement this measure, the Jews of both sexes and of all ages, including the persons born of marriages between Jews and not-Jews must be present on Wednesday, October 29, 1941 at 8 o'clock in the morning at Vladimirskaya Ploshad of Taganrog.

We highly recommend the Jews to take with them all valuables and cash...(excerpt)[1]On October 29, 1941 all Jews of Taganrog (around 2,500 people) were gathered on Vladimirskaya Plaza, promptly registered at the building of the school no.27 in front of Vladimirskaya Plaza and taken by trucks to the Gully of Petrushino near Beriev Aircraft Factory, where they were shot to death by Schutzmannschaft collaborationists under control of Otto Ohlendorf's Einsatzgruppe D. Of all the Jewish children who lived in Taganrog in 1941 only a 14-year-old boy Volodya Kobrin (Russian: Кобрин, Владимир Моисеевич) managed to escape the certain death, thanks to the help of various people in Taganrog and especially Anna Mikhailovna Pokrovskaya, who was awarded the title of the Righteous among the Nations by the Professor Alisa Shenar, Ambassador of Israel in Russia on July 19, 1996.

The Secretary of the Taganrog City Communist Party committee Alexander Zobov held a speech before the gathered citizens.

In May–July 1967 the project of a memorial complex designed by architects from Rostov on Don was displayed for public at the Taganrog's house of culture.

The next design was suggested by the architect Vladimir Pavlovich Grachev, which was partially realized in 1973 for the 40th anniversary of Taganrog's liberation by the Red Army.