A Bombing in Odessa Becomes the Pretext for a Massacre

On the evening of 22 October 1941, an explosion destroyed the Romanian military headquarters in Odessa. USHMM records that the blast killed more than 60 people, including the Romanian general commanding the city, other Romanian soldiers, four German naval officers, and civilians. Who planted the bomb was not established. Romanian authorities blamed Jews and Communists and began hanging people that same evening.

The killings continued for several days. By the end of 23 October, Romanian authorities had hanged an estimated 5,000 people, mostly Jews. On 24 October they moved thousands of Jews to Dalnyk, where soldiers shot them and set buildings on fire, and on 25 October they destroyed at least one of those buildings with explosives. USHMM estimates that this massacre killed at least 25,000 to 30,000 Jews in Odessa and its suburbs.