When World War II began, the Jews of Pavoloch lived in fear of the Nazi death squads, which had killed so many of their brethren in German-occupied countries.
On September 5, 1941, during Operation Barbarossa, their fears were justified, when an Einsatzgruppen squad drove into the shtetl.
The Einsatzgruppen, seeing that their work was done, quickly filled the pit to exterminate any evidence of the slaughter and drove away.
After World War II ended, a memorial was erected in the cemetery to commemorate those that were brutally killed by the Einsatzgruppen.
Also, the old synagogue, which survived the short-lived Nazi occupation, is now a museum that houses the records of those who were murdered and contains exhibits on village history.