Murder story of Korzec Jews in the Kozak Forest

…The Jewish festival of Shavuot fell one day in May or June 1942. But in the early morning of the eve of the holiday, while it was still dark, we were woken up rudely by a loud string of multi-lingual curses: they flowed in German, Ukrainian, Russian, and even Lithuanian, even though no Lithuanians lived in our region. We could feel the earth shaking under our feet, at the hysterical calls of "Yids! Kikes! Out, get out; death awaits you!" The murderers were shooting indiscriminately, and, within seconds, there was death and destruction everywhere. It felt as if all the murderers in the world surrounded you. My first thought was that I would not live to see the sunrise. There was no time to dress. On that fateful night, I was sleeping next to my twelve-year-old sister, Nina…. Three-year-old Liuba slept between us. My gaze lingered for an instant on my beautiful sisters, with their blonde hair and big blue eyes…, just like in the fairytale pictures of angels. The murderers had come to destroy this beauty! My sisters were in shock, their mouths wide open, unable to utter a sound, or make a move. They were terrified and fixed their eyes on me, as if they could see nothing but me. I grabbed little Liuba and brought her to me; she came willingly and clung to me for dear life. But Nina could not be moved; she remained glued to the spot like a statue. I tried unsuccessfully to push her forward and ended up pulling at her as I would an inanimate object…. I tried to make my way to the back door of the house and get into the storehouse, but realized that the murderers surrounded the house. I thought I'd try to cross from the storehouse into the canteen on the opposite side of the street, but didn't really think we stood a chance of staying alive…. But I wanted us to die as human beings, without facing our murderers; two more doors. The doors were open and temporarily hid me from view. It was dark in the house. The sun was starting to rise outside as I made my way, slowly and quietly with my two sisters, to the storehouse. Just as I was ready to exit the storehouse, I saw that Father had arrived ahead of me. With him were my two brothers – eight-year-old Efi and five-year-old Leon, together with my four-year-old sister Raya. The murderers noticed Father and the children and started whooping in triumph. I heard loud curses, followed by a volley of gunfire. My heart sank, certain that Father and the children were dead, but a part of me envied them. Maybe they had been fortunate enough to be shot on the spot and killed outright, feeling no pain. In my confusion, I banged into a ladder and looked up. Suddenly, I realized that we could climb up that ladder to the attic! I was standing on a structure my parents had begun building, which would eventually have been a house for me, the eldest…. For some reason, I hesitated a few seconds, and then I saw my mother behind me, holding my youngest sister Batya by the hand. My lovely… mother… now appeared confused. Wordlessly, I motioned to her to climb the ladder. But Nina, who seemed unable to take in what was happening or to move of her own accord, had me worried. How would we get her up the ladder...? Finally, I pushed, and Mother pulled her all the way up the ladder. The other children followed, and I was the last one to reach the attic…. I had an excellent vantage point from which to observe everything around me; the streets and alleys near our house were spread out like a giant map. Chaos and utter confusion reigned, as people ran in every direction and filled the street. Almost immediately, I noticed Father being led by the murderers, with Raya in his arms and Efi and Leon walking on either side of him. The two boys were grasping Father's undershirt as they were led towards the Ukrainian municipal building, a building in our neighborhood that had once belonged to Jews. I followed the progress of my beloved relatives, until they disappeared from view at a bend in the road. My father had been a courageous soldier, a valiant and daring man who was always able to get himself out of danger. But now, at this critical moment, he was incapable of protecting his adored children, the foundation of his very existence... We stood in the attic watching, knowing that this was the end for us, too. But this did not alleviate the excruciating pain of watching, helplessly, as our loved ones were being led to their deaths…. It was almost sunrise, and I could now see more clearly what was happening in the street below. The streets and alleys were full of murdered Jews. The cries and moans of the wounded and the ear-splitting screams of people being dragged out of their homes filled the air. German soldiers sauntered around, surrounded by murderers in Ukrainian police uniforms and large numbers of plain-clothed local youths with distinguishing armbands. …We watched as entire families were dragged out of their homes. Even now, after so many years, I can still see the faces of those pathetic people, the small children clinging to their parents for salvation.… Our house stood in the middle of everything that happened on that terrible day in which the Jews of our town were annihilated…. A number of wagons began to draw up at the edge of the street, in the direction of the Ukrainian municipal building. They pulled up near our house, and I could see that they carried the bodies of murdered Jews, thrown carelessly one on top of the other like pieces of surplus baggage. My eyes and my brain took in every single detail. On top of a pile of corpses on the first wagon lay the body of my maternal grandmother. She was freshly murdered, and I had no problem recognizing her. She was wearing one of her beautiful long dresses with lovely decorative buttons that had been sent by her sister in Boston. She must have been too frightened to get undressed that night, and decided to stay in her dress. Jewish men were tied to the backs of the wagons – the same wagons in which their relatives lay dead. I saw Jewish men tied by rusty chains to the wagons in such a way that they could barely move or breathe.… I searched for my father, but could not find him. If he was among the corpses on the wagons, there was no chance that I would be able to see him. Mothers with babies in their arms and little children hanging to their skirts were led to their deaths under a hail of blows and cries of contempt and derision. Most of the Jews had not even had a chance to dress when they were woken up and thrown out of their beds. At such a critical time in their short lives, little children walked alone to their deaths, because the murderers had deliberately separated them from their parents…. I understood that as I watched the endless rows of women, children, and old people being led to their deaths, there was nothing I could do to help my unfortunate fellow Jews. Everything was lost, but I could not take my eyes away; I had to look for my relatives, to see everything…. The hours passed; it was already afternoon, I think. The procession continued on its way. Row by row, they moved past our house, close enough that I could see them clearly, and then they disappeared. But I did not take my eyes away; I was still looking for my father and the other children. Suddenly I saw them! There they were, Efi and Raya. In the middle of a row, my brother Efi marched along, holding the hand of his four-year-old sister Raya. She was having difficulty walking, and Efi supported her. Occasionally, he would turn to hug her, taking the place of his parents. It broke my heart to see so much love and compassion between those two children. They were barefoot and dressed in short, sleeveless… summer pajamas. The march was hard on their bare feet, I could see that; the road was covered with particularly rough stones. Crying bitterly, the two children gazed up at our house as they walked past; they must have believed that none of us was still alive and were silently saying goodbye. My mother stood at my side watching with me as her children were led to their deaths. We both knew that we would never see them again, and we could not turn our eyes from them. "Efi was born in December", he's still so young", my mother whispered.… "I should be there, with my children who need me, and not hiding here, watching." She was in agony, blaming herself relentlessly. We were like two wounded lions in a cage, with no way out. Our suffering was worse than death. Mother said she no longer wanted to live; her place was with her children. But we still had three children with us, so we did our best to avoid being discovered…. I have no idea how the drama in the attic would have ended, but Mother suddenly collapsed and fainted. I was actually happy, and thought, "If only Mother were to never wake up, she wouldn't have to suffer like all the others'.... Once I had noticed Efi and Raya on that march, it was as if the skies had fallen in on me and everything had become black and cold. Like my mother, I blamed myself for not joining them on their last journey…. My nails were still clinging to the piece of wood that kept me from falling. Suddenly, I began clawing at my face with my nails, tearing off bits of my own skin. The pain inside was so great that I needed something physical in order to stop myself from screaming. The blood that poured down my face mingled with my tears, until I felt I was crying tears of blood... Suddenly, a group of Polish youths appeared in the attic, right in front of us! There was something unreal about the encounter; the murderer comes face to face with his victim. Indeed, the Polish boys had decided to search the attic, but they were just as surprised to find us as we were to be found by them. Mother was still lying motionless in the wet earth, but at the sight of the Poles, she mustered all her strength to come to…. With trembling hands she grabbed baby Batya from the ground and held her close to her chest…. I recognized them all and they recognized us…; they were the three children of Paplawski the Pole…. At first, Paplawski's daughter appeared on the verge of passing out from the fright of seeing us, but the young Poles soon recovered and began discussing our fate with each other. Our lives depended on them…. "Admittedly", they agreed, "we have achieved all this bounty in return for the annihilation of the Jews, but we Poles are not to blame for their misfortunes…". "You must understand," they rationalized to us, "according to German law, you have no right to remain in this house, which no longer belongs to you. You must vacate the house immediately and go out to the road there the law enforcers are the only ones with the right to decide what to do with you." We went down from the attic…. We were exhausted by now and indifferent to everything around us. All we wanted was to rest. No Jews remained anywhere near our street. The policemen started to press us to run in order to join other small groups of Jews, who were accompanied by armed policemen. We were like a flock of frightened sheep, surrounded by vicious watchdogs on all sides…. We all knew that this was our last day on Earth; it was no secret that we were being taken to the murder pits of Kozak. We had seen so much death that day and were annoyed that we were not even allowed to die with dignity. We were ordered to walk the eight kilometers to the Kozak pits. We had no choice but to obey, even though our legs refused to carry us, and we didn't have the strength to endure the murderous blows that were inflicted on us if we dared to stop. Dragging our legs as if they were inanimate objects, we prayed to die and thus end our misery…. Slowly, we dragged ourselves to the Kozak Forest, which was adjacent to a village of the same name. That's when we saw the three enormous pits, full of the corpses of Jews of all ages. The murderers had just completed their day's atrocities and the corpses were still warm. Germans had been responsible for the murders of the Jews, enthusiastically assisted by policemen from Zhitomir, who used the Jews for target practice, together with policemen from Lithuania and local Ukrainian policemen. But I must point out that the German forces were the ones to carry out the mass murders. The others, policemen and Ukrainians, were allowed to torment the Jews, to beat, and even kill them, but it was the Germans who were responsible for the mass murders. At the site of the pits, we saw extremely drunk German soldiers who told the policemen who had accompanied us that they "have worked harder than planned and now have to prepare for a party." As they murdered the Jews, they drank large quantities of alcohol and ate delicacies, right next to the pits that were filling up with Jewish corpses. We waited at the pits. The local murderers were in a festive mood, so drunk they could barely drag their feet. Many policemen were busy rummaging through the piles of clothing that the victims had been forced to remove before being shot. There was a large selection, and they had a hard time deciding what to take. I suspect that those policemen were happy to stay behind in order to look for hidden treasure or jewelry among the victims' clothing. It transpired later that the people of Kozak had welcomed the unfortunate Jews making their way to the murder pits by falling on them screaming and shouting hysterically, to check their clothing and shoes for valuables. They ripped good jewelry off them, and even checked their hands for wedding rings and other pieces. We waited, our gaze fixed on the corpses of our neighbors. Tensely, we followed every move of the German murderers…. They said that the Jews had been murdered in accordance with a special agreement. They complained that some of their helpers violated the agreement by continuing to send small batches of Jews, thus forcing them to work overtime, past the time they had set themselves for their day's work. They had no choice but to liquidate all the Jews who had succeeded in hiding themselves during the day…. This time, the murderers were furious because it was already 4 PM, or so I believe…. We waited tensely, as the murderers talked among themselves. We sat next to the pits, stroking the ground that was wet with Jewish blood. As they poked through the piles of clothing, our tormentors talked about the parties they would be going to that evening. Although they said they wanted to leave already, they didn't seem to be in any hurry. They had time to jeer at us and mock us, to make snide jokes about our miserable appearance. My lacerated face provided them with plenty to laugh at, and they sneered at the naked victims. However, one thing gave us a little hope. The murderers were comforting those of their colleagues who were impatient to leave: "Alright, let's get out of here; we've done enough for one day. These Jews are finished anyway; why should we stick around any longer to do away with those lice? They can spend the night looking for their relatives in the pits. I say, they have nowhere to go; nothing's going to happen if they spend a few more days here, and then we'll kill them." Shortly afterward, the monsters disappeared…. As all this took place, we were sure that no one out in the big world knew about the Jewish nation being systematically annihilated. Our fear was that this terrible crime perpetrated by the German monsters would remain a secret until the end of time…. In the meantime, we knew we were living on borrowed time. Having survived the Kozak murder pits, we were afraid to stay together, and each went in a different direction…. [After the murder of the Jews of Korzec in the Kozak Forest in May 1942,] Jews begged the German murderers for permission to seal the open pits into which our loved ones had been thrown. After a while, they were given the names of people whom they could pay large sums of money in return for the privilege of closing the mass graves. Eventually, the permits arrived. Each permit enabled ten men only to go to the site. However, wives and others also felt impelled to visit the mass grave of their loved ones. On the other hand, some people were suspicious of the Germans' motives. "Who is to say if we'll ever get out alive from that place?" they asked. Eventually, as a compromise, a number of Jews went to the forest one night and split up into small groups. Thus, in the early hours of the morning, small groups arrived from different directions at the murder site. I was there, too…. Before dawn, we reached the open pits in the forest, near the village of Kozak. What I saw has been carved forever in my memory. All three giant pits were completely covered by wild forest animals. So numerous were the animals, and so densely crowded, that it was impossible to distinguish between them and the corpses of the murdered Jews. We were dumbstruck at the sight of those animals falling ravenously on the dead bodies of our loves ones. But the predators did not compete with one another or fight among themselves. Clearly, there was enough food for them all, and there was no need to fight. Hovering overhead and standing next to the animals on the ground were great numbers of large, swollen ravens. I felt absolutely sick, but, like all the others, forced myself to swallow my emotions and do what had to be done. Some of the men took charge and commanded us to break branches off the trees, to scare off the animals. Eventually, even the women recovered from their revulsion and began to help to the best of their ability. But the animals refused to budge. Our next tactic was to cover the pits and the animals with earth; only then did the predators start to retreat into the forest. It was hard work, because we had no tools of any kind; we were even forced to step on the corpses in order to access the center of each pit and cover it with dirt. The men recited the Jewish mourning prayer, Kaddish, and the women repeated the words. We had completed our task and sat down on the covered pits. Not a word was uttered; everyone was wrapped up in his or her own inner grief. We had no more tears left; the silence could have continued forever….

…On the last night before the holiday of Sukkot [i.e., late September 1942], I fell asleep, since I was tired from the hard work [forced labor], and I was lying on the ground like a dead man. In my deep sleep, I heard knocking on the door. I felt terrified in the darkness, and tried to grasp by uncle, who usually lay [sleeping] by my side. To my horror, I realized that my uncle wasn't [there]; he hadn't come back from work. When I opened the door, a non-Jewish boy, an acquaintance of my father's, entered [the house]… and told me the terrible news: The Germans had decided to eliminate and annihilate the remaining Jews of the town. Soviet POWs were already digging the pits [in the Kozak Forest]; the town was under lockdown; the Jews were being taken from their hideouts; they were being collected in Witman's house [i.e., the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police building], and taken from there to the pits in Kozak. My uncle, too, had been imprisoned, and was awaiting his death. This boy advised me to flee the house immediately and find a hideout. As I was on my way out, I saw that the town was surrounded by a large number of German soldiers and Ukrainian [auxiliary] policemen. It was inconceivable for me to run away from the town…. Under cover of darkness, I evaded them and climbed to the attic of Shmaryahu…. I lay there for three days and three nights, without any food or water. I ate the dry hay that I found in the attic. [As I was lying in the attic], I took out two roofing tiles…, and I watched what was going on in the town through the gap. I heard many shots, and every time I saw groups of Jews being led in an unknown direction [sic]. Mitka Zawierucha was in charge of this "work"…. On the fourth day, I felt my strength ebbing away. I decided to climb down from my hideout, reasoning that, since I was about to die anyway, it would be better for me to die together with my [Jewish] brothers and sisters. In front of me, there was a canteen of Volksdeutsche. They weren't interested in me, and let me eat the leftovers of their meal. But one Shikse [i.e., repulsive non-Jewish woman] had recognized me, and she proceeded to denounce me to the [Ukrainian] police. The [Ukrainian auxiliary] policemen climbed up to the attic, searched for me, but didn't find me. But this accursed Shikse kept stomping her foot, shouting loudly: "A little kike is hiding here!" Then, the Ukrainian policemen climbed up to the attic for the second time, looking and rummaging in all the corners, until they found me. I was brought to the (former store) of Zalman Witman. Its second floor housed the headquarters of the Ukrainian [auxiliary] police. Some 200 people were packed inside, and it was terribly overcrowded. There was no floor space for even a single foot. We stood there crowded and shrunken, like poultry in a cage. We weren’t given any food or water, and there was no air to breathe, since the store was closed and windowless, and was under heavy guard by dozens of Ukrainian policemen. The Jews arrived in Witman's house broken and crushed – living skeletons…. Suddenly [early in the morning], we heard the deafening noise of bicycles approaching us. The doors were opened immediately, and we saw a large convoy of 20 carts…. We were going to our deaths. And then I witnessed a horror that cannot be described in words. With shouts and cries, the unfortunate ones getting out of [Witman's] store fell upon each other's necks, begging for forgiveness. The Jews spoke their "confessions" [recited prior to death or on Yom Kippur] in a voice that pierced the heavens. The Ukrainian [policemen] ordered us to climb onto the carts. There was a [Ukrainian] policeman with an automatic firearm seated on each cart, and other armed [Ukrainian] policemen, mounted on bicycles, were accompanying the carts from both sides.... When Leah Markovtski was loaded onto the cart, she started singing "Hatikva" [the future national anthem of Israel]…. Everyone joined in, and we were all singing – crying – together with her…. The death journey began. There was [a distance of] 7 kilometers from Korzec to the Kozak [Forest]. As we passed through the town, we saw [some] Ukrainian [residents] standing and crying bitterly. There were also [people] like them! They were mourning us…. We reached the [murder] site. I was sitting on the last cart. The deep pits had already been prepared. We were ordered to undress – the men, the women, and the children all together – and to arrange our clothes in one pile. The unfortunate ones were standing, unable to speak, and seemed petrified. No one was speaking or shouting. With the horrible fear etched on their faces, they were waiting peacefully for their souls to be taken from them. They were shocked, lost in a reverie that was beyond existence, beyond life itself. These human shadows were standing on the edge of the pit – sick, tortured, anguished, depressed, and broken…. My heart was beating inside me as though it wanted to leap out of my body. I wanted to run to the pit first, since you know what it meant to stand on the edge of the pit, surrounded by the executioners, watching your nearest and dearest, your lifelong friends, being taken to their deaths, and knowing that your own death was fast approaching? When everyone was stripped naked, they were all lined up in [groups of] six. The first [group of] six were ordered to jump into the pit and lie with their face down. Among the first to go down into the pit, there was a little girl from [the city of] Zhitomir. She innocently asked whether the bullets would hurt. While she was still standing in the pit, having had no time to lie down, she was hit by several bullets. Berl was lying near her…. Despite having been hit by several bullets, he was still breathing, clinging to life. Yehoshua Nudelman was lying in the pit, reciting [the prayer] "Hear, O Israel." But he was unable to finish it, since the bullets punctured his heart. A six year-old boy was lying near him; his brain had been pulverized, and it spilled over his father's body…. I was the last one to get down into the pit, which was already more than half-full. I looked at the smashed bodies and heard some indistinct voices emanating from the edges of the pit. I almost drowned in the big puddle of hot blood that was streaming endlessly. The spilled brain matter stuck to my naked body. A woman lay near me; she still showed some signs of life. Her body was twisted in her death agony, curving across the pit. With each spurt of blood that gushed out of her punctured heart…, a terrible yowl issued from her mouth, freezing my heart. Her lips were mumbling some fragmented syllables, choked off in her death rattle. I was sitting in the pit, leaning my head on my arms and waiting for death. Mitka Zawierucha approached me and shot me twice. One bullet hit my right rib, and the second one hit the left rib. Luckily, those were light injuries, since the bullets didn't penetrate deep into my flesh. Losing consciousness, I fell onto the dead bodies, wallowing in their blood. The [Ukrainian] police left the site immediately, and the [local] non-Jews came to cover the pit. Suddenly, I realized that I was alive, since I heard some footsteps approaching the pit. I heard one non-Jew ask another: How should we cover the pit? The second one replied: "Cover it with a thin layer of earth, as you did yesterday, since new Jews will come tomorrow." It seemed to me that one of them noticed that I was alive, but he paid me no mind. They covered the pit with a thin layer of soil. I lay there, showing no signs of life. With great difficulty, I cleared some space for breathing. When I heard that the non-Jews had finished their work and left the site, I got up and stood on my feet. I was wounded, but I felt that I had some strength left, and that I could flee. Leibel Kaminshtein was lying nearby. I removed his underwear, which the murderers had missed for some reason, and covered my nakedness with it. I climbed out of the pit, soaked in blood. I remained at the edge of the pit. Its occupants still showed some signs of life. The smashed organs of the dead were still fluttering…; I looked at their frozen eyes, which seemed to be watching me, asking "why?"; the dull voice of Leibel Kaminshtein echoed in my ears; his last word had been "Kaddish!" [the sanctification prayer]; he had wished the Kaddish to be recited in memory of his soul. The day came to its end, and I felt cold all over my body. Suddenly, a warm hand fell on my shoulder. I turned my head and saw the forest-keeper… crying bitterly. He told me: 'Child, run away! Flee into the forest, since here, enemies will ambush you everywhere. Run away, and you will stay alive'. Filthy with blood, I ran away into the forest….

…Loud knocks on the door woke me from a deep sleep. We were already used to knocking of this kind…. But this time it felt different. It was still dark outside. It seemed to me that I had also heard some shots. Was it a dream? When I regained my composure, I realized that it wasn't a dream, but actual gunfire. I don't know who opened the door [of the house], but several seconds afterward a German soldier dragged me out, toward the staircase that separated the two wings of our two-family residence. My mother was standing there, shivering in her nightgown. Ruchl Berman, our neighbor, and her youngest son Yosel were standing nearby. I put my hand in my mother's hand, and thus we stood together, shivering with cold and fear, clinging tightly to each other. From the house, one could hear the sounds of furniture moving and shouts in German – the [Germans] seemed to be looking for Jews who had tried to hide…. Suddenly, little Yosele fled back to the house, and a German soldier [ran] after him. Without thinking twice, I took a chance – my last words to my mother were: "Mame (mother), they are going to kill us"; I snatched my hand out of hers and ran away for dear life…. Several days later, I learned what had happened in the town during those hours. That accursed day, May 21, 1942, was the eve of the Shavuot holiday. It was an irony of fate that the festival of the giving of the Torah, in which God had given His major commandment "Thou shalt not kill", had been chosen as the day of the mass murder of Korzec's Jews. During the weeks before the [Shavuot] holiday, a rumor circulated among the Jews, according to which the Germans had ordered Russian [Soviet] POWs and peasants from three nearby villages [Kozak, Helitchevka, and Morozovka) to dig three large pits in a grove near the village of Kozak…. This rumor originated from highly-placed Ukrainians, who had told their Jewish associates that the Germans intended to annihilate all the Jews of the town. The diggers were kept under a heavy guard and forbidden to go back home, to prevent the Jews of Korzec from learning the purpose of these pits. The terrible news became known to the Jewish community [of Korzec], but the Jews didn't want to believe it. Was it possible? Just like that, to take innocent people and shoot them? It is true that Jews were being shot here and there, but such had always been the fate of the Jews. But here, we were faced with total annihilation, and this seemed incredible. [Jews were saying that others] were raising a false alarm, and they calmed themselves down in this fashion. Some other Jews asked their German employers whether the rumor was true, and they [the Germans] firmly denied it, claiming that the pits were being dug to produce sand for road repairs. On May 10, the pits were ready. Ten days passed, and nothing happened; life returned to normal; the Jews calmed down and began to prepare for the Shavuot festival. On May 21, the eve of that holiday, the town was surrounded by Ukrainian [auxiliary] policemen, who were assisted by [Ukrainian] policemen from [the city of] Zhitomir and some Gestapo men. At 4 AM, they broke into the Jewish houses, and the Jews – threatened with guns and facing the prospect of harsh violence and death – were taken to the town square. Some 200 young [Jewish] boys and girls, who had been designated as essential workers, were put aside. The rest were divided into two groups: the men to one side, and the women and [little] children to the other. In the meantime, as the Jews were being collected from their houses, some Ukrainian men and women wandered about with sacks in their hands. Like hungry jackals, they invaded the abandoned [Jewish] homes and looted everything they could lay their hands on. When their sacks were full, they tore up the mattresses, emptied them of the feathers, and filled them with clothes and household items. About 8 AM, [the Germans] began to lead the Jews in groups to the Kozak Forest, 8 kilometers from the town. The elderly and sick individuals, together with the babies who couldn't walk, were thrown onto carts and driven to the same site. A forest keeper told us what had happened in Kozak. His home was located not far from the pits, and he witnessed the event. At 4 AM, the chief of the Gestapo, accompanied by German soldiers and Ukrainian policemen, came to his home and ordered him and his wife to slaughter as many geese and chickens as possible and to prepare a sumptuous lunch, since his employees would work the whole day long. Some of them were posted on guard duty in the grove around the pits, while the rest opened some bottles of wine…, and began to get drunk. At 9 AM, the first group, which consisted of men alone, was brought [to the killing site]. They were tired after marching 8 kilometers, and some of them were injured and battered. The men were forced to strip naked, and then lined up in a row and ordered to get into one of the pits, [in groups of] six each time. They descended into the pit by means of steps that had been hewn for the express purpose of letting the victims get down "comfortably." Near the pit, a small table with refreshments and several bottles of wine was laid out, and a German soldier with an automatic rifle was sitting in a nearby chair. He ordered the [group of] six Jews to lie face down, and a volley of shots was heard, followed by heart-rending cries. These six [men] weren’t alive any longer. Immediately afterward, [another] six Jews were taken into the pit, ordered to straighten the bodies of their predecessors, and forced to lie atop them face down, waiting for their turn. Throughout that time, new groups of people kept arriving from the town, and more and more Jews were lowered into the pit. At 10 AM, the first transport [group] of women and children arrived; they were murdered in the same fashion, but in a separate pit. From the pits, one could hear the screams and cries of the children who were held in their mothers' arms, and who had been untouched by the bullets of the murderers. The awful voices could be heard from afar. The murderers kept drinking wine all the time, to get the courage [to kill], becoming more and more wild. By noon, hundreds of Jews were standing near the pits waiting for their turn, and, in order to keep them busy, the Germans made them sort through the clothes left by their murdered fellows. There were some who found the clothes of their own children. Some of the people were in such a terrible mental state that they were looking forward to their turn to be shot, and, when [the next group of] six was ordered to get into the pit, several dozen had been pushed inside it. It was a beautiful spring day in May, and the natural world that had come back to life stood in stark contrast to human nature, which was exposed in all its heartlessness and brutality. However, this day also witnessed [a display] of the human spirit it all its splendor, with people supporting each other. The Germans offered to spare the life of Dr. Yakov Hershenhorn, a physician of the [Korzec] community. He asked them to spare his wife, as well. When his request was denied, he went to the death pit together with her, in accordance with the Biblical formula [David's lamentation over Saul and Jonathan]: "Saul and Jonathan, the lovely and the pleasant in their lives, even in their death they were not divided" [Samuel 2, 1:23]. Exactly at 4 PM, an order came down from the Gestapo chief: The murder operation was over. With typical German punctuality, the great slaughter that had begun at 4 AM ended at 4 PM – "Ordnung muss sein!" (there must be order). Ukrainians covered the pits with a thin layer of soil and left the site. Two of the [three] pits were completely filled with 1,600 women and children; the third pit was half-filled with 600 men. All in all, 2,200 Jews of Korzec were murdered on that day in the course of 12 hours. A mere few hours prior to that, they had been breathing, loving, dreaming human beings, full of plans and hopes. All those who remained alive, skilled workers in high-demand professions, were ordered to return to their homes and report to their workplaces on the next day, "as usual". "The murder operation has ended," the Gestapo chief told them. There were traces of congealed blood on his brushed boots…".

…On the eve of the Shavuot [holiday], the German murderers and their helpers, the Ukrainian [auxiliary] policemen, attacked Jewish homes, dragged all the family members out of their beds, and took them, naked and barefoot, to a certain place. A German officer accompanied by a Ukrainian policeman broke down our door and took me, my wife, and my son, together with the Bernstein family, who lived in one house, [out into the street]. A woman named Malka, the wife of Aharon, lived in the second wing of the house. She was sick and unable to stand. The murderers shot her, killing her on the spot. We were concentrated in a plot of land on [Stara] Monastirska Street, near the house of Dudia Feldman. There, I saw a great number of men and women, young and old, naked and barefoot. They were sitting on the ground, terrified; one of them cautiously asked his neighbor what lay in store for them. Everyone felt that something awful and terrifying was about to happen. The women were separated from the men. The bloodthirsty Nazi beasts began to interrogate the victims, demanding to see their work permits. Out of the crowd of the lost ones, 200 young boys and girls were selected and assembled in a separate place. My son was among them. Out of the older people, the [Germans] miraculously spared me and Dr. [Yaakov] Vulach. Meanwhile, our wives, together with the remaining men, women, and children, were loaded onto trucks and carts and taken to the forest [located] 7 kilometers from the town, near the village of Kozak. There, pits had ready already been dug for the murder of the tortured victims. Rabi Leizar Yeruzalimskii and his family were among those executed. On that Shavuot eve, he was taken out of his house and sent away to die, together with all the other Jews. Rabi Leizar Zafran and his wife Bluma were also taken to the slaughter. He was sick, paralyzed…. When the sun rose and bathed the green "Kozak" forest in its bright light…, the German-Ukrainian beasts in human shape attacked the pure and holy victims, and slaughtered and butchered them mercilessly. Nursing infants were snatched out of their mothers' arms and thrown with great cruelty into the trenches. The terrible noises and cries [of the victims] were in vain. The German-Ukrainian beasts slaked their thirst in pure Jewish blood, until all the weeds in the forest were soaked with the warm blood of our dear ones…. Dr. Hirshhorn and his wife were among those taken to their deaths. The Germans were willing to [temporally] spare his life, since he was a physician, but he asked that his wife be spared, as well. When his request was denied, he went to the death pit together with her….

…The second year of the "New Order" had come. In the summer of 1942 (I don't remember the exact date), early in the morning, on the eve of the [Jewish] holiday of Shavuot, we could hear cries and gunfire. All the Jews, beaten with whips, clubs, and [rifle] butts, were driven from their homes into the street, toward the local administration building, which was located on Stara Monastyrska Street. Among the Jews that had been herded there were my parents, with their daughters-in law and grandchildren – six-months-old Sheisale and three-years-old Goldale…. I was standing near them; I was almost 15 years old. Many, like my father, wore their prayer shawls, lifting their hands to heaven, with the "Shma Israel" prayer on their lips. We were lined up in [columns of] some 150-200-300 people, and the SS men with the dogs and the [Ukrainian auxiliary] policemen, who had arrived [from the city of] Zhitomir, surrounded us. It was a very dreadful sight when little children were snatched away from their parents and taken to other columns. There were shouts, cries…. Women were fainting, and some dropped dead, their hearts having given out. Those who had fallen upon the ground died under the feet of those [Jews] who were marching, driven on by the executioners, over their bodies. Four carts were standing by the side of the [main] road, and bodies were thrown onto them like firewood. This "cortege" followed the columns. The unfortunate ones were going toward the forest that was located 8 kilometers from Korzec, not far from the village of Kozak. There, mass graves had been dug…. After our arrival at the police station, as we were being formed into columns, I noticed some 200 young men and women with whom I was acquainted. They were sitting a little way off the place where our column was standing. A sudden thought occurred to me: They had been left to perform some kind of work. I managed to sneak away from the column that was about to go toward its death, and crawled toward this group of youngsters. Several young women instantly sat down upon me, covering me with their dresses. I lay in this way for four hours. During this time, all the columns (as we would later learn, there were 2,500 Jews in them) were driven [toward the Kozak Forest]. Only when this was over were the youngsters released to their homes. On our way [home], we met carts with the clothes of the murdered: These clothes were taken to the local administration yard…. On the second day [after the annihilation of the Jews in the Kozak Forest], a group of 30 people, including myself, went toward the site where our loved ones had died [i.e., the Kozak Forest]. We carried shovels, and were accompanied by members of the Judenrat and Ukrainian policemen. Already at the edge of the forest, some 20 meters from the [main] road, we saw the bodies of the victims. There were 22 [bodies of] people. Among them, there were children with shot skulls. Apparently, these unfortunate ones had tried to run away from the column. Near the death site, in the glade, we saw children's prams, toys, shoes, socks, machine gun shells, cigarette butts, and empty bottles of schnapps. There were traces of blood everywhere; the shot individuals in the uncovered mass graves were swimming in puddles of their own blood, which was quickly evaporating under the scorching sun. We carried these 22 bodies over there, as well. We measured the mass graves by steps. They were 20 meters long and 20 meters wide. We recited the Kaddish and went home in torment. Toward sunset, we returned to the ghetto, not believing that we had escaped the fate of those who were lying in these terrible pits….