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half-hour. Suddenly, an SS man with a wounded
hand appeared, riding a motorcycle. He got off
and asked: "Who knows German?" There was a
dentist among us and he got up and spoke to him.
Afterwards, the dentist told us that no one was
allowed to leave the place until the Germans
finished checking and searching our pockets and
bodies. When they finished, we were released. On
the way, I saw some of our boys (who'd been
drafted into the Red Army and who had been
captured by the Germans) holding their rifles
with both hands over their heads. Among them, I
saw Moyshe S okolovsky, Yitshak Ravchuk,
Moyshe Ravchuk, and a few others I knew as
well.
At five in the evening the bombing started
again Fierce battles took place between the Red
Army and the Germans. We saw Chelm Street
and the street next to the synagogue in flames,
which spread to the railroad street. We ran to the
railroad station and stayed until morning. Then
we went home, but it no longer existed. Then the
Germans appeared again, placed us into four
long columns, and took us on the road to the
slaughterhouse. We thought this was our end and
we started to cry and to say goodbye to one
another. But when we got there, they told us: "Go
wherever you want."
My family and a small group of Jews walked
wherever our legs would carry us. On the way we
stopped to rest behind the house of a non-Jew,
but he chased us off, shouting: "Get out of here
before I call the Germans!" With no choice, we
stayed in the fields until Friday morning and
then decided to go back to town. By chance, a
relative of mine (my uncle, who was a villager)
found us on the way and took us all to his village.
Several days passed and then I decided to go
into the city and see what was happening. I got
there just as there was a funeral for three young
men who'd been killed. I saw that most people
had returned to their homes, and so after a week
my family and I also returned. After a few weeks,
my brother Moyshe and his friend, who had fled
the Russian army, arrived home.
One day my brother's friend came and told
THE ANNIHILATION 273
me excitedly that many trucks had arrived. My
father and brother escaped immediately and hid
in the flour mill My sister and I remained. Through
the window I saw an SS man beating Moyshe
Weysman. I also saw many Ukrainians pouncing
on the Jews and beating them. Suddenly, a German
wearing a helmet with the death's-head
symbol entered our house. He started searching
all over, even under the beds, and was
constantly shouting: "Where are the men?"
When he found no one, he left and went to
another house.
At three in the afternoon, I ran to the flour mill
but saw no one. I was certain that they had taken
my brother, his friend, and my brother-in-law. I
ran to where they were assembling all the Jews but
I saw no one from my family. I understood they
were taking them to work, but the non-Jews
thought otherwise: "Finally, it's their end," they
said. After a while we learned that the Ukrainian
policemen said that if we gave them vodka, they
would release all the men. We believed them and
started to collect the vodka. But in the meantime
they disappeared, and only after many weeks did
the news filter back that they had taken them to a
field near the cemetery and killed them.
The situation in the city was very bad and the
Germans continued their frenzy. Our clothes
were in tatters. Bread was rationed and there was
no contact with the villages. People went out to
work and didn't always return. One day there
was a rumor that they were capturing Jews, and
everyone tried to hide. I hid in a large bakery oven.
But my parents were sick and couldn't get out of
bed. My brother's friend was caught. It turned out
that the Germans were sending the men to the
front with horses. Of all the Jews sent with the
horses only 10 returned after two weeks, among
them my brother's friend. It's hard to relate what
they suffered.
In the beginning of winter, 1942, there was
an edict that all gold, warm hats, and shoes had to
be turned over to the Germans. Soon there was a
second round-up. The men and women they took
this time were taken outside the city and all were
shot.