Murder Story of Ozdziutycze Jews on the Makowiszcze Road

… After arresting a group of 82 Jewish residents, the Gestapo men took them to a clearing opposite the grave of the German pilot and, after setting aside 5-6 minors from this group, the rest were shot to death. Afterwards, they [the Germans] collected some [local] residents of Ozdiutycze village and made them cover over the bodies. The grave is located on the road [leading] from the village of Ozdiutycze to the village of Makowiszcze, on the left side. The width of the grave is 8 meters and its length 10 meters.…

… on the first or second day of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (i.e. June 1941) on the outskirts of the village of Woronczyn, Ozdiutycze Region, an enemy [German] aircraft was intercepted by units of the Red Army and the German pilot - a captain -- was captured. Shortly [afterwards he] died and was buried on the outskirts of the village of Ozdiutycze. With the capture by the Fascist invaders of the village of Ozdiutycze (approximately on June 26-27, 1941), with whom there also arrived Gestapo officials, a large massacre [of the Jewish residents] began, ostensibly under the pretext of taking revenge for the murdered German pilot, of whose death the Jewish residents were allegedly guilty. For this purpose the Gestapo men arrested over 80 Jewish residents of the village of Ozdiutycze and the surrounding localities, and on the same day [they] were shot to death on the outskirts of the village of Ozdiutycze. All those 82 Jews who were shot to death are buried in one grave located on the outskirts of Ozdiutycze village. …

... I was living in the village of Ozdiutycze when, on the fourth day of the war, the Germans captured the village of Ozdiutycze. By noon the German authorities had begun to force the Jewish residents along the roadway…. [At that time] I was in the town and saw people who were fleeing the place where the Jews had been collected and I heard shooting. I asked what the shooting was. Some of those who were fleeing told me that they [the Germans] were shooting Jewish residents to death, supposedly because the Jews had torn to pieces a German pilot whose plane had been intercepted … [by the Red Army]; … he was taken alive to Ozdiutycze. Afterward, he died and was buried near Jewish graves. Altogether, on that day 81 or 82 [Jews] were shot to death….

… 105 [sic] were shot to death on that day. There was no pit at that time. [First] the German authorities shot the Jews to death, and [only] afterwards did they force peasants from Ozdiutycze village to dig a pit [for the bodies] and to cover it over with earth. …

… Thus, after arresting a group of 82 Jews, they [the Germans] took them to a clearing opposite the grave of the German pilot. [We villagers] were not allowed to take their shoes and clothes; afterwards some 5-6 minors [in the group] were set aside, while the rest were shot to death. By this time, we had been taken half a kilometer from this killing site. After the shooting the Gestapo men assigned several people, including me, from the village of Ozdiutycze in order to cover over those bodies. When [we] arrived there, a German officer came over to us and told us that we were then allowed to take the shoes and clothing from the murdered ones, but we repeated that the Gestapo men had not allowed us [to do so], [thus] he ordered us to cover over [the victims]. After we covered over [the bodies], we each went home. I didn't know those [victims] that I covered over. The grave is located on the road [leading] from the village of Ozdiutycze to [the village of] Makowiszcze, on the left [side of the road]. The grave is 8 meters wide and 10 meters long….

… On the fourth day [of the German-Soviet war] the German invaders arrived in our village [of Ozdiutycze]. About 2 p.m. of the same day the German authorities drove all the Jews from the surrounding villages … past my house, at a distance of 70-80 meters from it. I looked through the window, but since I was ill, after seeing the group of Jews, I lay down again on my bed. Sometime afterward, I heard shooting. I looked through the window [and saw that] people had been shot to death. At this point a boy approached and I asked [him] what this shooting was about. He replied that the Jews had been shot to death for murdering a German pilot. There were about 80 Jews. After the shooting, my brother Nestor Kovalchuk was forced to cover the bodies [with earth]; some other residents covered over [the bodies] as well….