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FIGHTERS ON THE FRONT AND IN THE FORESTS 335
ing out in his place until the Jews selected for
driving horses had left town.
I stayed at the peasant's home for two nights.
On May 7, I started walking back to town. On
the way, I met my wife, who was coming to tell
me everything was back to normal in town and I
could return home. On May 8, I returned to my
former place of work.
Eight days before Passover, as I was approaching
the warehouse where I worked, I
found someone had broken in and, as I suspected,
pilfered honey and wax. When the proprietor
came, I reported the theft. He, in turn,
reported the theft to the police. At midday, I was
detained and arrested as the guilty party.
My incarceration in a cell where the walls
were smeared with Jewish blood, as well as the
entire frame-up about my robbing the warehouse,
had a frightening impact on me. My only
comfort was in the fact that the town commandant
was a close acquaintance of ours and I hoped
we'd be able to negotiate with him about my release.
The next morning, during the interrogation
by the commandant, I asked if he would permit
my wife to bring me food and in doing so hinted
that my wife "will take care of everything." After
the interrogation, upon returning to my cell, I saw
through the window my wife and older brother
strolling near the prison. A few hours later, I was
given food from home and I understood that my
family was negotiating with the commandant for
my release.
And finally, after Passover, I was released
from prison.
I was afraid to return to my place of work,
and I didn't want to work at the job in town
arranged by the Judenrat, so I decided to seek
employment outside the town's limits. Moyshe
Gershenberg (Avrom Reise's son), may he rest in
peace, a good acquaintance of mine, helped me
in my search for a job. With his help, I found a
position in Kokurubisht Forest, near the village
of Palap, where I and 21 other Jews were employed.
Twelve men worked at loading long and
short logs, three worked as forest inspectors, and
seven cut trees and prepared firewood.
I remember the names of the following for-
est workers: inspectorsGershon Grinshpan,
Mendl Meshkis, Moyshe Gurbratch. Workers-
Moyshe Gershenberg (deceased), Dovid Meshkis
(deceased), Motek Handelsman (deceased),
Yakov Ginzburg (deceased), Eliyohu Goldbursten
(deceased), Nute Bialer (deceased), Yakov Verbla
(deceased), his son Verbla, 14 years old, Mendl
Tsimerboym (deceased), Zalman Mulfeld (deceased),
Yehoshua Grimatlicht (deceased), and
IJoseph Karpus.
Moyshe Gershenberg (deceased) and I befriended
the forest ranger Nowakowsld. He informed
us that in the forest where we were presently
located there were Russian troops dropped
by Russian airplanes.
We conveyed the information to the rest of
the Jews in our group. We then decided to seek
out the Russian troops. To gain this objective,
two of our men ventured every morning into the
forest to reconnoiter the situation. So that the
overseer would not notice that two men were
missing every day, the remaining men had to
make up the assigned workload, something not
easy to accomplish.
We did not succeed in establishing contact
with the Russian troops. Consequently, as a precautionary
measure, we built a hideout in case
Gestapo men came to search the area. We also
agreed on a meeting place in the forest.
Mordche Handelsman and Yakov Ginzburg
took it upon themselves to secure weapons. In
two weeks, we had one rifle and two revolvers.
At the end of May, on a Monday, we were
ordered to load 12 platforms. On this particular
day it rained very hard. It was very difficult to
load because the logs were slipping from under
the ropes. When the overseer noticed that by
midday we had loaded only five wagons, he notified
Luboml.
At 3 p.m., four Germans arrived with two
dogs and asked who was responsible for the
workload. Yakov Verbla was pointed out. The
Germans started to beat him, together with his
son. When the two fell to the ground, the Germans
set the dogs on them. The dogs tore their
clothes and bit Yakov's son's leg. Then they beat
Eliyohu Goldburten and Motl Handelsman. They
ordered us to load all the wagons or we would