Murder Story of Łachwa Jews at the Łachwa Fish Farm

In mid-August 1942, news of the murder of the Jews from neighboring Mikaszewiecze and Lenin reached the ghetto. On August 27, 1942, pits were dug in the area of the Perunowo Farm, 1.5 kilometers from the ghetto, 50 meters west of the Lachwa-Perunowo Farm Road, and 40 meters south of the Łachwa -Mikasziewicze railway tracks. Reports of this activity reached the ghetto on September 2. That day, Germans and local police surrounded the ghetto. On the morning of September 3, 1942, five trucks loaded with armed Germans and Ukrainian policemen arrived at the gates of the ghetto (they had come from Kożhangródek, where they had already killed 850 Jews). The armed men included: a platoon of Company 4 of Reserve Police Battalion 69 (Reserve-Polizeibataillon 69); platoon 3 of Company 2 of Police Battalion 306 (Polizeibataillon 306); a cavalry unit; men of the Pinsk branch of the SD; and Belarussian, Ukrainian and Lithuanian policemen. During the murder operation in Łachwa, the revolt began. Many Jews trying to escape were killed by German fire; the ghetto itself burned to the ground. Six Germans and eight policemen were also killed. The Germans rounded up whoever was left and brought them to pits that had been prepared near the Fish Farm. When they arrived, the Germans chose ten people, and ordered them to undress and descend into the southern part of the pit, using a ladder they had brought specifically for this purpose. There they ordered them to lie down in one direction, and then shot them. The second group was ordered to lie in the opposite direction. The killing operation continued for a number of hours. Afterwards, local civilians came with carts laden with the bodies of those Jews who had been shot in the streets of the ghetto and its surroundings during the outbreak. This continued for a number of days; all the bodies of those found were thrown into the northern part of the murder site, which the Germans had not yet covered with earth. On the same day, after the ghetto revolt had been suppressed, the Germans murdered all those who remained alive, and buried their bodies. Some of the escapees found later by non-Jews were murdered and buried in the same place (according to one testimony, the bodies of the escapees are found there, but hundreds of others who did not participate in the revolt were shot and buried elsewhere). German sources indicate that at least 500 elderly people and women were killed there; according to the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission data, 1,946 Jews were murdered, including 698 women and 724 children.