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THE ANNIHILATION
CHRONOLOGY OF DESTRUCTION
By Nathan Sobe!
The beginning of the destruction of Luboml dates
to June 22, 1941, 3 a.m., when the Nazis invaded
the Soviet Union. On that day, the Germans
opened up with artillery fire for the first time on
our hometown. It was also on that day that the
first Jewish victims fell. The Germans entered the
shtetl on June 25. On that day they burned down
the entire Jewish center: Miesna Street, Zhabie,
Bath, Synagogue and Ribne Streets, almost the
entire Chelm Street, half of Railroad (Golden)
Street and half of Novy-Svyat Street.
On the second day of the occupation, the
Germans posted all over town the following
orders for the Jews:
Money, gold, stocks, and all foreign currency
must be delivered to the headquarters of
the commandant.
Jews are permitted to be in the street between
7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Jews must wear on their right sleeve a
white band with a blue Star of David.
By tomorrow the Jews must elect a Judenrat
[Jewish Council].
Whoever does not obey the orders will be
shot at once.
A week later, the Germans issued an order for
all Jews to gather in the marketplace. The streets
were full of Ukrainian police and Gestapo. The
panic among our people cannot possibly be described.
Because the Judenrat had bought off the
Gestapo, "only" five Jews were shot in front of all
gathered.
Exactly a month after the occupation began
there was a sudden turmoil in the streets. We
immediately understood that there was a chapun
[catching Jews in the streets or in their homes].
Anyone able to hide remained alive for the time
247
being. Those who were caught, about 400 of
them, were taken in Mercedes trucks beyond the
town. The Gestapo then demanded whiskey and
told us that the abducted Jews would come back
in a couple of days. But the arrestees were then
already dead. They lay under a layer of earth and
a big table stood on that place, around which the
murderers (the SS Gestapo and the Ukrainian
policemen) were sitting and drinking to the success
of the first "action."
Some of the shtetl's Jews immediately realized
the kind of fate the arrested Jews had met,
while others still thought they were alive, as the
murderers wanted them to believe. The dreadful
truth became clear to all when a short time later a
few Jewish boys dug up a white band with a blue
Star of David.
At first the Germans rationed a half-pound of
bread per person, but later only those who worked
got that much bread. The workers were between
12 and 60 years of age. There were constantly new
laws and different conditions: if anyone had
some food in the house it was taken from them, so
the Jews' food allowance grew ever smaller. At
times Jews swelled up from lack of food and died.
And yet the gentiles rejoiced over the struggle of
the Jews.
Two months later there was a second chapun,
which lasted a whole week. They caught men,
women and children from age 11. Every day they
caught Jews and took them out of town. About
500 Jews were murdered then. Whoever could do
so hid in various hideouts where they would
remain for a longer time (unless the Germans
found them).
After the second chapun a new order was
given: Jews who owned horses, cows, poultry,