[1] Prior to Operation Barbarossa, an estimated 928 Jews lived in the city of Rakaŭ, now in Minsk Region of Belarus.

[1] Violent repressions soon followed; on 14 August 1941, 45 Jews from Rakaŭ were taken 2 km (1 mi) from the city and forced to dig a hole, in which they were then laid down and shot to death.

[3] Yasinsky, a farmer located nearby, was appointed commander of the Rakaŭ Auxiliary Police in September, and his assistant was a local citizen named Survillo.

[3] In 1955, a sign commemorating the victims of the Rakaŭ Ghetto was erected on the site of the "Cold Synagogue", in the form of a chopped tree.

This place of massacre was discovered by the Commission to Perpetuate the Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, established by the leaders of the Jewish communities and organizations of Belarus.