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In the year 1914, with the outbreak of The First World War, my father was drafted into the Russian army. I was still a young boy, and together with my brother, we supported the family. As early as then, I knew what it meant to suffer.

During the first winter of the war, heavy snows fell and a typhus epidemic broke out in town. There was no doctor in this location, and the only person capable of administering any help was the pharmacist, Abraham Kremen ז”ל. In our house too, there were typhus casualties, and I had to assist my mother in caring for them. At the same time, one of my friends in Belica, Shayna Galinsky ז”ל died, and this event affected me greatly.

The schools were all closed, and the severe winter caused the children to be concentrated in the old synagogue around the oven.

After Passover, a fire broke out in town. I awoke to the ringing of church bells, and I ran to the point of the blaze. The new synagogue was already engulfed in flames, and the fire had spread over to the old synagogue. My uncle, Yaakov Meckel, asked of people that they ascend with soaked sacks, and spread them on the roof of the old synagogue, in order to save it from being burned down. However, no one responded to him. Seeing this, I leapt onto the roof of the building, which I loved very dearly, and when the rest of the people saw a boy climbing, even they began to go up. This is how the old synagogue was saved. From that time on, I became a fire fighter.

After a bit of time, the Russians suffered a defeat by Prussia, and they began to retreat eastward, in the face of the stronger German forces.

The retreat, from the vicinity of Grodno, passed through Belica, and in a number of days, the retreating army appeared, with my drafted father among them. He advised us, along with others, not to leave the town, for purposes of traveling into Russia, because the plight of the refugees on the roads is very bad, and they are

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dying by the thousands because of the extreme conditions to which they are being exposed.

Despite this, not many took my father's advice, bought horses and wagons, and began to abandon the town, moving eastward.

The town was practically emptied of its residents. Very few remained behind. I can remember one time that Aryeh, the son of Yaakov Kotliarsky, and I, were wandering about the streets of the town, and we ran into the Rabbi Ozer Poniemansky, who occupied the position of being Head of the Jewish community. He detained us, and turned us over into the hands of two Russian soldiers in order to help them move a flock of cows to Russia. Having no choice, we continued to move with the flock, under the watch of the soldiers, up to the bridge at the Neman train station, and there, at our first opportunity, we fled and returned to Belica.

The principal reason for why the residents abandoned the town – was due to an incident that took place: the retreating Russian soldiers began to plunder the stores, and the officer of the city shot and killed a soldier on the spot. The fear of revenge by the soldiers caused almost all of the residents to decide to leave the town.

On Yom Kippur of 1915, the Russians confiscated the synagogue, and set up a hospital for those ill with typhus, and cholera, that had spread among the retreating soldiers. Lacking the use of a synagogue, we prayed in the home of Chaya the daughter of Moshe-David Stotsky.

A detachment of Cossacks was stationed in our yard, who were getting ready to leave behind a scorched earth. They told us that they had received an order to torch the entire town.

In the meantime, they had set fire to the bridge over the Neman. When we saw the fire, we all began to weep intensely. The officer in charge of the Cossacks, with the rank of a colonel, approached my mother and asked what had caused the crying. My mother told him her circumstances, that her husband was at the front, and we have no possibility of retreating with the army, seeing as we were counted among those poor who were going to stay, at the hour when the wealthy left the town in a timely fashion. When we heard – my mother said – from the mouths of the soldiers that they are preparing to burn down our house, we began to cry. The colonel was moved by what my mother had to say, and promised her that the town would not be burned down.

Two days after Yom Kippur, the Germans ‘fortunately’ entered Belica. Those Jews, who awaited them as if they expected the Messiah, were rapidly disillusioned bitterly. Immediately after they arrived in the town, they began to conduct searches through the houses, looking for foodstuffs, and confiscating everything that they found.

The Jewish residents – had their eyes opened, and began to concern themselves with preparing food for the

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pending winter. Everyone desired those parcels of land that belonged to those who had left the town, and were planted with potatoes and grain, and began to harvest them and transfer them to their homes.

The years of the German occupation from 1915-1918 were difficult ones. We suffered the pangs of hunger. A part of the Jews engaged in commerce, but most of the residents, especially the young people, were commandeered into cutting sown trees, and the clearing of roads. Despite the fact that I was of a young age, the Germans appointed me as the head of a group. I was paid three marks a day, and from this, I supported the entire family.

I received my appointment as head of a group, thanks to the intercession of Yitzhak-Moshe Gapanowicz, who was the head of the managers in the office of the chief engineer.

In the year 1917, after the October Revolution, my father returned, lightly wounded, from Russia.

After the German occupation, Russian soldiers remained in the vicinity, who had escaped German imprisonment, and hid out in the forests. At the beginning they would come to the villages at night, asking for food and clothing. However, with the passage of time, they organized themselves, obtained arms, and forcefully took the food from the villagers. They also murdered many of the peasants who resisted them in their endeavors. Periodically, they would fall upon travelers, and occasionally – even upon small units of the occupying German army, that was dispersed among the villages.

At the end of 1917, when the Germans were still in town, the ‘Bandits’ organized an attack against a number of houses. the first victim of this attack was Yehoshua Jasinowsky ז”ל, whom they killed. The ‘Bandits’ plundered the houses of Eliyahu Meckel and that of the family of Eizik Baranchik. The latter received very severe beatings and they tortured them very hard.

On a Saturday in 1918, the Germans left town, and the Jews were not able to organize adequate self-defense quickly enough. In their possession they had: a number of pistols, and one hunting rifle.

On Saturday night, the robbers attempted to capture the town, but the local protective forces began to fire in volley using the pistols and the one rifle, creating loud noise. The attackers shot a few rounds, and by their light, we saw them pulling back in the direction of the Neman.

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On the Thursday afterwards, there was a market day. I recall that somebody came and said that a number of the robbers, that took part in the prior assault on the Baranchik household, were in town. A discussion ensued among the men in the self-defense force, as to whether they should be detained or not. In the end, it was decided not to detain them, and this was a fatal mistake, because the objective of these infiltrators was to spy and discover how much arms the Jews had. They observed that the security force walked about with pistols, and not even a single rifle.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, approximately, the villagers began to quickly leave the town, and at that time, gunfire began to fall on the town, coming from several directions. Immediately afterwards, the robbers appeared. They advanced in military formation under the command of a Cossack, ‘Andrzejusza.’ The local self-defense could not withstand against their force, and dispersed. The robbers, that numbered about 250 men, well-armed with new rifles with much ammunition, pistols and hand grenades, plundered the entire town, and killed four people:

Chaim Grodinsky ז”ל
Yaakov Meckel ז”ל
Mordechai Kaufman ז”ל
Yehuda-Leib Radominer ז”ל

A few days later, the Soviets entered our town. They remained with us for a short time, because they were retreating from the Polish army. During the Soviet occupation, we caught two of the murderers from the village of Zachepichi: Bobrowski and Walyuk. The Soviets conducted a trial for them in Belica, and sentenced them to death by hanging.

However, the Soviets did not carry out the sentence, and were compelled to abandon the area. The sentenced defendants escaped from jail, but during the escape, Walyuk was shot and killed on the railroad tracks, on Ulica Kamenka in Lida, while Bobrowski managed to get away and disappear.

With the entrance of the Poles, the Jews, yet again, suffered from being trod upon, beaten and abused.

Some short time before they entered, when the Soviet-Polish front was around the line between Belica - Lida, some of the Belica residents decided to transport foodstuffs to Lida. Among these were: David-Zvi Meckel,

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Israel-Meiram Kremen, Aryeh Grodinsky, Leah, the daughter of Min'keh Wolkowysky, and a number of Jews from Zhetl. About eleven kilometers from Belica, beside the village of Drozdowa, the Jews were taken into custody by a Polish guard that accused them of spying on behalf of the Soviets, took them off the road, and brought them to the village of Savichi, where they were lashed. Aryeh Grodinsky received 25 lashes, Israel-Meiram Kremen 40 lashes, and one of the men from Zhetl – 30 lashes. Afterwards, they were taken to the village of Netech', and there, they were sentenced to death. The sentence was scheduled to be carried out on that same day, at eight o'clock in the evening. When the matter became known in the town, they immediately ran to the Catholic priest, to plead for their lives. Thanks to the immediate intervention of the latter, they were set free.

The only one who did not receive lashes was Leah Wolkowysky, however, out of great fear and weeping, a blood vessel in her heart was affected, and a short while later, she died, this despite the fact that up to that time she had been a very healthy young woman.

In the year 1920, after the end of the war, the economic circumstances of my family were totally bad. I began to think of how I could help out at home, and decided to engage in commerce in Vilna. I would bring foodstuffs to Vilna, and from there on my return – all manner of knick-knacks. Thanks to this, our circumstances improved.

In those days, the trip to Vilna took a long time, seeing as we did the trip by wagon. In time, I began to make the trip by train, and I would send only the merchandise by wagon.

My trips and experiences in Vilna taught me that life in the city were different from life in the town. In the meantime, I was drafted into the Polish army, and even during my military service, I would travel to cities and see different kinds of life. All this pushed me to do something of a community nature for our town, among which one of the more important endeavors, was the organization of a fire-fighting brigade.

The Fire-Fighters Orchestra

The Fire-Fighters During a Fire Drill Exercise

The Members of the Fire-Fighters Brigade at a Festive Gathering

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After the burning of the New Synagogue in the year 1915, the Pristav^[2] bought the fire-fighters a hand pump.

When the Germans entered the town, they established a fire-fighting group and promised its members that they would be excused from forced labor.

With the arrival of the Poles, the hand pump was kept in the bath house, and there was no organization worthy of that name.

In the year 1923, when I returned from my service in the military, I found a group of fire-fighters, at whose head stood the principal of the national school, the Pole, Rogowski. But there was no headquarters, and the organization was defunct.

I was selected to serve as Rogowski's deputy. I began to organize the institution along military lines, and thanks to the active members such as: Noah-Abba Gapanowicz ז”ל, Meir Zwick ז”ל, Ziss'l Kalmanowicz ז”ל, Chaim-Yitzhak Kremen ז”ל; and to be counted separately for long life – Ch. Lejzorowicz, Shmuel Shimonowicz, Dov Grodinsky, and others, we succeeded in transforming it into a living organization.

The pharmacist, Abraham Kremen ז”ל was selected to be the Chairman, and as secretary, separately mentioned for long life – the teacher, Mr. Dov Kaufman.

At the same time, in the year 1924, there was a bakery for matzos (podrat) set up in the home of Chaya-Esther Meckel ע”ה. Her husband who was a merchant of agricultural produce, stored a large amount of flax on his roof. From the excess heat, the flax once overheated, and burst into flame. The fire-fighter went to work, and thanks to the good organization, the fire was swiftly put out, such that no damage was done to the house itself. I set up a chain of people from the location of the fire to the two water wells nearby, and the people passed pails of water from the well directly to the fire.

After this incident, we called for a joint meeting between the committee of the fire-fighters with the heads of the Gmina, and we requested that we be provisioned with fire-fighting equipment, otherwise, we would be forced to disband.

And truly, with the passage of a bit of time, we received a new fire engine, and other fire-fighting equipment that we needed, from the ‘Starosta’ in Lida.

About a year after this, a fire broke out in the home of the priest, and again, we succeeded in putting it out quickly.

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On the Sunday after this event, the priest gave a sermon in church, where he described the work of the Jewish fire-fighters as a miracle.

As a prize for this successful undertaking, we received steel drums on wheels, for conveying water, from the central fire-fighters command in Warsaw.

In those days, the organization already numbered about fifty people.

At the same time, a huge fire broke out in the Parsal Forest beside the village of Zbljany.

Together with the police, we enlisted the entire population in order to interdict the blaze. The fire was so intense, that the wild animals fled the forest, showing no fear of human beings. In the middle of the fire-fighting, we cut down hundreds of trees around it, in order not to give it the opportunity to spread. For a whole day of intense work, we managed to succeed in putting out the fire.

The local authorities began to take note of us, and in every instance, we had free access to all the offices of the regime. In a pending meeting of this branch of the fire-fighters, we decided to request a central location of all the fire-fighting equipment in our possession.

And here is an appropriate place to tell about the erection of that location (Remiza-Serai^[3]): During The First World War, the synagogue served as a hospital for those who fell sick with cholera. The dead would be taken out of that building, and they were buried in a nearby location, in a pit that was covered in lime.^[4]

During this entire time, a fear lurked in the hearts of the Jews, that on one fine day, the Christians will hasten to erect a cross on this grave, which will rise exactly opposite the windows of the Synagogue.

It is clear, that the Rabbi and the residents of the town sought all manner of ways, and stratagems, in order to put something on this parcel, and here came the chance. We decided to build the premises for the fire-fighters on this previously mentioned grave.

We turned to the Starosta for his permission to use the lumber from the old bridge over the Neman, that remained unused since the time of The War, which we would transport using our own resources, and we will build the premises.

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Not only did the Starosta agree to this, but on his part, he turned to the ‘Wójt^[5]’ and the highway engineer, and requested that they help us in our undertaking.

On one Sunday, all the Jewish wagon drivers were enlisted, together with the fire-fighters, and they voluntarily transferred all the lumber required for the construction. The beams for the roof and the benches, we received from the Jewish lumber mill in the village of Sjalc (the Neman Station), from Mr. Shalit.

After this, we began to concern ourselves with the purchase of a siren.

At the time of the wedding of Rachel Wolkowysky (the daughter of R' Joseph son of Moshe), I went with Noah-Abba Gapanowicz ז”ל and we organized a levy to raise the funds for purchasing a siren. We gathered so much money, that we even had some left over after the purchase. This was a hand-operated siren, and its sound could be heard for a distance of several kilometers.

The sound of the siren would communicate a fire. If the tocsin was short and intermittent, it was a signal that the fire was outside the town, and if it was continuous – everyone knew that the fire was in the town itself.

There was no lack of fires, and one of the reasons for this was the ‘land allocation^[6]’ statute, for the transfer of peasants to ‘villages^[7]’ that the Polish government had constructed. The peasants were interested in burning their old dwellings instead of dealing with them, and to get insurance money. Needless to say, there was an interest in having us protect their valuables.

At the same time, we decided to organize an orchestra, that might breathe a bit of life into the town. A meeting was organized, with the Chairman, Abraham Kremen ז”ל, and it was decided to organize a Drama Circle, whose income will be dedicated to the purchase of instruments for the orchestra.

The writer of these lines, along with Shmuel Shimonowicz, traveled to Vilna, and there we picked out the instruments at a wholesaler of musical instruments.

We collected 1000 zlotys from donations and levies among the members, and we took an additional 1000 zlotys as a loan from the bank, for which all the members signed, with the pharmacist A. Kremen ז”ל providing the guarantee.

This was the way the instruments got to the town. We brought in an orchestra leader from the nearby town

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of Iwje – Joseph Beksht – who began to teach the ‘group’ how to play.

On May 3, 1932, we gathered all of the residents of the town, and a host of peasants from the surrounding villages, beside the house of the pharmacist A. Kremen ז”ל, in order to observe the presentation of the flag of the fire-fighters that had been guarded in the house of the pharmacist. Suddenly, the sound of music was heard, and everyone was awed by the fact that a group of Jews succeeded in a short time, to organize an orchestra that performed at a high level of quality.

The orchestra participated annually in the parades of the Independence Day of Poland on November 11, and similarly – in parades of the Hebrew school to the forest on Lag B'Omer Day. At that time, the orchestra would accompany the Jewish children, to the Riuszt Forest, who were outfitted in blue and white stripes, and armed with wooden swords.

From time-to-time, dances were organized, whose revenues were earmarked for the organization of the fire-fighters, and for charitable institutions such as: Bikur Kholim, and others.

I remember, that on the Purim of 1939, a marvelous party was organized at the home of Chaim Baranchik. Half of the income was dedicated to the fire-fighters, and the other half – to Bikur Kholim.

The party was organized because of the effort of the local sitting Rabbi, The Rabbi Gaon R' Shabtai Fein זצ”ל, and the organizers were: Vikhn'eh Fleischer ז”ל, Baylah Baron ז”ל, Sarah Yosselewicz ז”ל; and mentioned apart for long life, Charna-Baylah Shimonowicz, and Tova Zlocowsky.

The party was very successful, and a lot of money was collected.

For whatever reason, this seemed like a going-away party for a life of peace. Truly, this was the last party before the outbreak of The Second World War.

During a Mustering at the ‘Serai’ (1933)

Thanks to the organization of the fire-fighters, the government began to take notice of us, and the chairman and his deputy became spokesmen, and helped the Jews in this way, to get taxes lowered and fines set aside, etc.

In 1936, we obtained a mechanical pump with which to fight fires, and we dug an Artesian Well with a hand pump. After the sudden death of our chairman – A. Kremen ז”ל in April 1933, I felt, as the deputy, that the

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support for the organization began to decline from what it once was. On May 3, when there was a need to take out the flag of the fire-fighters from the home of the deceased, there were tears in my eyes. After that, we returned the flag to the fire-station of the fire-fighters.

From that time on, the organization began to go over into Christian hands. J. Rodziewiec was selected as the Chairman, and as the Secretary – Balabanski. Despite this, we tried, with all or might, to keep the organization in Jewish hands.

As was usual, fires broke out from time-to-time.

On one Friday in 1936, a huge fire broke out on the street of the Christians, in which nearly half the town burned down, even as not a single Jewish house was affected. To help our fire-fighters, the fire-fighters from Sjalec and Lida came, who worked under my command. On that Sabbath, some pleasure circulated in Jewish homes.

After the conflagration, the Christian residents accused me, as the officer in charge of the fire-fighters, that I only looked after the homes of the Jews, and because of this they were not burned down.

With the help of the police, I succeeded in proving that I acted properly, and after an investigation, I received a citation of merit, and a bronze medal from the ‘Voievode.’

Our comrade, Dov Grodinsky led the orchestra after Joseph Beksht. After he made aliyah to The Land – our comrade, Yitzhak Kamenetzky ז”ל led it.

During the time of Soviet rule, in the years 1939 - 41, the organization continued to function, until the Germans entered in 1941. As is known, that upon their entry, the Germans burned down the entire town, and with it, the Remiza along with all of the fire-fighting equipment. And this is how our work of many years came to an end.

A short time before the outbreak of the war in 1939, a specific part of the young Jewish men in the town were drafted, among them my brother Joseph, Aryeh Halperin, Eliyahu Milikowsky, Eliezer Mayewsky, Shlomo Mayewsky, and others.

On the eve of the outbreak of the war, I took my leave of the draftees at the train station in Lida, and I saw how they boarded the train cars. I sensed that the era of peace had been exchanged for a period of war and chaos. Before dawn, the war broke out (September 1, 1939).

Approximately two weeks later, the Polish authorities and police left town, and we were again left without

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protection. Noah-Abba Gapanowicz, myself, and the Polish teacher Nowicki, received arms from the fleeing Polish police, for purposes of guarding the town. The Christian residents immediately ran to plunder the Christian cooperative store, but we warned them, that whoever began to plunder – will be killed. This is the way we continued for a number of days, until the Soviets arrived. We were very happy at their arrival, considering what we had heard the Germans were doing to the Jews [elsewhere] in Poland.

During the period of Soviet rule, the Jews of the town experienced a lot of trouble. Regarding their private property, informers appeared, and especially – the cessation of their source of income – commerce. Everyone began to look for work, but it was difficult to come by, because there was no manufacturing in the town.

A little bit at a time, everyone got accustomed to this way of life. In place of private stores, a cooperative store was organized and established. For leadership, three Jews were selected: Baron Hirsch, Eliezer (Lejzor) Shmulewicz, and myself, and the rest – were non-Jews. The secretary was Miriam (Mer'eh) Ratnowsky, and her assistant – a Christian. Being on the audit committee of the cooperative store, I tried to set up the selling so everyone, regardless of whether he was a Jew or a Christian, would receive a fair share of the required necessities, even when there was a shortage. My thought process was, that the war was going to end soon, and there is value in living in peace with one another.

When a year went by, there were again elections for the leadership of the store, and this time they did not choose Baron Shmulewicz. As for me, the commissar opined that despite the fact that I had previously been a storekeeper, he saw in me an honest person.

Despite all of this, in order to support my family, I became a bicycle repairman.

Immediately upon their entrance, the Soviets opened two schools: one was Byelorussian, in place of the Polish public school (die szkola), and one – Jewish, in place of the Hebrew school that was there previously. As the principal of the Jewish school, they appointed a Jewish refugee from Lodz, and old-time communist named Frankel.

The following were selected for the school committee: Aharon Bussel, Eliezer Shmulewicz, Baron Hirsch, Aryeh Baranchik (Leib'keh Ber'keh's), and myself. We dedicated ourselves to the school to assure that it which developed very beautifully.

At the same time, the workers organized, and set up cooperatives. In this way, cooperatives were set up for tailors, shoemakers, etc. The secretaries of the cooperatives were R' Shmuel Joseph Itzkowitz ז”ל.

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The Exile of the Osadniki^[8]

In 1940, the Soviets began to arrest and exile all the local Poles (Osadniki) in the area. Most of them were volunteers in the ranks of the Polish army in the period 1918-20, and after the end of the war, they received land in Byelorussia and Polish Ukraine, in order that they provide a counterweight to the local non-Polish populace, and also to dilute it.

Regarding the issue of the exile, the Poles accused the Jews in collaborating with the Soviets. In order to undercut this idea, and also to give substance to the saying ‘cast thy bread upon the waters,’ I greatly helped out those among these residents that remained behind, and especially the families of those who were imprisoned. These latter, organized themselves into an underground committee, that gathered up donations and clothing for the prisoners.

At the same time, I received an invitation to come to Lida, in order to take on the leadership of all the fire-fighters in the district.

Slowly, and little-by-little, everyone settled into this new life, even though now, there also was no lack of anti-Semitic incidents.

And here is a representative example:

One time, there was a general gathering, whose purpose was to select a representative to the district Soviet in Lida. Everyone selected the wife of Elazar Savitzky. The commissar himself offered his verbal support as a person committed to order. When two days had gone by, a general assembly was called again, and the same commissar this time requested not to permit the candidacy of Mrs. Savitzky, because her father was a big-time merchant in Vilna, this despite the fact that all of us knew very well that her father was no prosperous person. The commissar then spoke to facilitate the candidacy of the son of Elyuk the Drunkard.

This incident worried us very much, and was a disappointment to the Jews, who saw that even from the ‘East’ justice gets bent…

On June 22, 1941, on Sunday morning, the war between Germany and Russia broke out. The Jews – their desire was to flee, but only few succeeded in doing so.

At six o'clock in the morning, the Germans bombed the railroad bridge over the Neman, the Neman station, and the airfield in Lida.

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On that same day, a draft was announced for everyone up to the age of 38, and the draftees had to go in the direction of Lida. In fact, it was no longer possible to get in there, since Lida was in flames, and the entire city burned. A week later, the first of the Germans arrived in the vicinity.

In that same week, R' Meir Shimonowicz died. Afterwards, we all envied him, and his death by natural causes…

On Saturday morning, on June 28, it was already difficult to assemble a minyan of Jews for prayer in the synagogue, because many were afraid to leave their homes. When worship was concluded, we each wished one another ‘may we live and be privileged to see one another again on the coming Sabbath,’ in synagogue.

On that same Sabbath, I invited my entire family, and my parents to the main Sabbath meal. During the meal, my father said: ‘Master of the Universe, who knows if we will ever again be able to sit at this table for a Sabbath meal,’ As he foresaw, so it came to pass, this was truly the final Sabbath of ‘brethren sitting together’ on the Sabbath.

At four o'clock, the Germans entered in armored vehicles, and when we saw them in their steel helmets, we sensed that the Angel of Death was drawing nigh. At that same time, there were still Russian soldiers at the airfield in the Riuszt Forest.

When it became known to the Soviets that Germans were to be found in the town, they came in a transport vehicle, and attacked the Germans beside the house of Chaim-Reuven Baranchik. The Germans came out and shot at every citizen they met on the street. Nathan Baranchik was killed in this shooting. The Germans seized Shmuel Shimonowicz, and Eliezer Gapanowicz, and a number of other Jews from Lida, and stood them against the wall of the house of Ze'ev Shelyuvsky (Der Nahardavicher) and shot at them. Shmuel Shimonowicz fell to the ground before the bullets reached him, and he was not hit. Eliezer Gapanowicz was wounded in his hand. The feigned death, and when the murderers left, they fled the place. After that, the Germans went from house to house, and set them on fire. All of the Jews fled to Stoky. I don't know why they specifically chose Stoky, but this was the place everyone turned to. We spent the whole night in Stoky.

From what is worth noting, we were told by Dworian's house, who always would join the Jewish girls, she said: ‘Enough already that you are behaving like nobles, today you can go already to work for the Germans.’ The gentiles of Stoky drove the Jews out, and lacking any alternative, all returned to Belica. When we returned, we found the town completely burned down.

As to the Germans, who were the arsonists, we didn't find them in Belica any longer, and we immediately began to occupy ourselves with giving the dead a proper Jewish burial.

Apart from Nathan Baranchik ע”ה, there were a number of Jews from Lida for whom we arranged a funeral.

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When a day had passed, the Germans picked Balabanski, who was an assistant to the deputy in the town council, to be the Burgomaster. On his end, he selected ten ‘shkotzim^[9]’ from the town, and appointed them as the local police. the latter took advantage of their position to exact revenge from the Jews of Belica, for ‘accounts’ from the past.

All the people in the town went to live on the Netech' Street and on part of the Lida Street.

Everyone gathered together in those of the houses, those that had escaped the fire. A day later, an S. S. unit reached the town, gathered all the men beside the house of Reuven Baranchik, and there they announced that Jews stood outside of the law. Every non-Jew has permission to do whatever he likes to, to the Jews, because they are worse than dogs. The chose ten Jews, and among them – Rabbi Fein זצ”ל, Meir Baranchik, and a few others, tied them into a wagon, and sent them to Porech'ye, which is where their headquarters were. Along the way, they assaulted them, and gave them a beating.

A week after this, beside the Catholic church, they organized a ‘sporting of the Jews’ (Judenspiel). Once again, this time, they gathered the men, and ordered them to pass through two ranks of Germans armed with staves and boards that had been torn out of fences that surrounded houses, and everyone that went by was ‘given the honor’ of a murderous paddling. Many Jews were severely wounded in this ‘sporting.’

And the assaults did not stop. Each and every day, the Germans and Balabanski issued new decrees.

One day, the Germans seized Chaim-Yitzhak Kremen and Schraga Stotsky, who limped, and ordered them to gather eggs for them. When the eggs were gathered by them, the Germans took them in the direction of Zhetl, and close to the village of Nesilovtsy, they killed them.

After the ‘sporting’ beside the church, we sensed the onset of bad times, and the young

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people began to hide.

In those same days, word began to reach us about the slaughter being perpetrated in the vicinity, and in particular, we hear about the murder of a Rabbi among the Jews of Razanka, where similar to Belica, there was a battle between the Russians and the Germans, and a number of Germans fell. It is clear that the blame was placed on the Jews.

We heard that the S. S. wanted to carry out a slaughter in Belica as well. We gathered, most of the young people and the older ones, and we decided to flee into the Riuszt Forest. Together with me, came Yitzhak Kamenetzky, Zvi Baran, and one person from Lida. We lay down in Riuszt, and at that point Kamenetzky stood up and said: ‘Nothing can be heard, come, let us return to the town.’ When we returned, my mother ע”ה came to me and implored me to flee yet again from home, since it was dangerous to remain at home at this time.

On my way to the forest, I again entered the house of Baran and Kamenetzky, and asked them to come with me, but they labeled me a ‘scaredy-cat’ and remained in their home. In the meantime, night fell. I did not want to go alone, and I went into Herzl Fleischer. We took along sacks with which to cover ourselves, and we headed in the direction of the forest. Seeing that silence reigned in the area, before dawn, we returned to town. On the way, we bumped into a wagon in which two Germans were sitting, and with them – Yaakov Kotliarsky, Abraham Novogrudsky, and a few other people from Lida. We froze and made ourselves look like a stand of grass for cows to graze, and we were able to get by them peacefully. Only R' Yaakov Kotliarsky raised an eye towards us. Beside the town, I parted from Herzl Fleischer, and I planned to enter the town from a different direction. As I got closer to the houses, I went off into a field, and remained between mounds of potatoes. I lay this way until three o'clock in the afternoon, approximately, at which time, I suddenly heard gunfire. I could no longer lay there, and I walked to town. On the way, I met up with a Christian woman who said to me: ‘Where are you going? They are killing every Jew that is caught at the hands of the Germans.’ I did not know what to do: I stood behind Zelig Bussel's smithy, and then espied the peasant farmer Wytoczko from Kriwiec, and he said to me: ‘Why are you standing here? Flee! – the Germans have killed twenty Jews.’ I fled back to the Riutsz Forest, and hid there until night. I approached one of the little huts, and the peasant to whom I turned, drove me away from him, saying that he did not want a dead body beside his house. And in this way I wandered about in the forest, until I met one of the townspeople, a Christian named Szendryk. He received me cordially, and invited me into his home, and said that I did not have to fear him. I lodged with him for the night, and on the following day, he went into town to learn what is going on there. He entered to my wife, Taib'eh and told her about me. My wife returned with him, and she brought me warm clothing. She told me, that on that day, the Germans had killed thirty-six Jews, among them the Rabbi, R' Shabtai Fein זצ”ל. We wept bitterly about their fate, and ours, and my wife returned to town, while, for the time being, I remained with Szendryk.

At that same time, the representatives of the Jews appeared before Balabanski and he promised them, that going forward, there will be tranquility. He also told them to select a committee so that he could have someone with whom to communicate. We organized a gathering in the home of Dvora Galinsky, and the committee was selected there. I refused to participate, but as soon as Balabanski saw that my name did not appear among those selected, he added me personally, saying that Zlocowsky is compelled to be on the committee.

On the same day, two policemen came and invited me to see Balabanski. When I arrived, I asked him: ‘What did I do that was bad, that you are arresting me?’ He replied that he was not arresting me, but that he is interested that we establish communication and that no harm will befall me. As a sign of his good will, he took out four packs of tobacco (which was at the time very expensive) and gave them to me as a present.

[Page 161]

Life Settles Down

Life began to follow a regular routine. The Jews went to work each day. The leader of the work contingent was Noah-Abba Gapanowicz. The Jews, once again, began to go to the villages and engage in commerce with the peasants. In general this trade was of the barter variety.

I was the ‘Soltis’ and Eliyahu Sokolowsky was my deputy. These circumstances persisted until the Sukkot holidays. We had a regular prayer quorum during the holidays, and everyone worshiped.

I circulated between the houses day and night, and kept watch over them. If by chance, the police entered one of the houses, in order to assault or to plunder Jewish assets, I would immediately come, and threaten them with informing Balabanski, and then they would leave the house.

During Sukkot, Balabanski secretly informed me, that he had received an order to transfer all the Jews of Belica to the ghetto in Lida after the Sukkot holiday.

Seeing that we had heard, from other towns, that Jews were abused and beaten murderously during the transfer, I told the Jews not to wait for the previously mentioned order to come, and that each individual should vacate the town with all deliberate speed. When it became known to the Germans that part of the Jews had gone to other ghettoes not in accordance with their orders, they levied a punitive tax (‘contribution’) on the Jews. They took 24 hostages, and announced that if the tax was not paid on a specifically designated day, all the hostages will be shot to death.

We collected whatever we could, but the amount was insufficient. I went to Balabanski, and began to plead for mercy, and he lowered the sum that was being demanded. The remainder of the amount we brought from nearby Zhetl.

The committee to collect the funds was composed of the following: Zalman Yosselewicz, Israel-Meiram Kremen, Shmuel Shimonowicz, Abraham Maggid and myself. Malka Kremen, the wife of the pharmacist Abraham Kremen ז”ל, brought a clutch of gold coins and said: ‘Take the gold that I have, and save the people!’ Ziss'l Kalmanowicz was our contact with the Judenrat in Lida. After the sum was collected, the people taken hostage were let go, and freed from a certain death.

All of the citizenry traveled to wherever they wanted to go. Most traveled to Zhetl, and a part – to Lida. I took care to observe that during all this time, the police would not abuse those who were leaving.

Two days before we left the town, all of us gathered in the house of Eliezer Kreinowicz. There, each of us

[Page 162]

took leave of one another, and all of us wept, not knowing if we would ever see each other alive again. On that same day, I went to say goodbye to Mr. Chaim-Noah Kamenetzky, who afterwards left to go to Lida. He said to me: ‘You, perhaps, will survive the war, and you will have a home, but Hitler will not have a home.’

I was among the last to leave the town. I took out Esther-Baylah Koppelman and her crippled daughter, and sent them to Zhetl. I then went through all of the abandoned houses in the town, went to the fresh grave of the thirty-six martyrs, took my leave of them, and left Zhetl, on my way to the ghetto in Scucyn.

Faygl Meckel

This situation continued until 6 Shevat 5702 (1942). On that day, the first slaughter in the ghetto of Scucyn took place. In this German slaughter, my aunt Faygl Meckel and my son David were killed.^[10] Earth-shattering days ensued in the ghetto. People suffered from hunger, and especially those who had arrived in Scucyn as refugees from the towns of Belica, Razanka, and Orlowa. On the eve of Passover of 5702 (1942) R' Eliyahu Sokolowsky came to me along with a few other Jews, and proposed that I organize a community kitchen.^[11] With the help of the Judenrat, a kitchen was organized, and I stood at its head. On the imminent Passover holiday, the people from the above-mentioned towns were given three meals.

On May 9, 1942, 22 Iyyar 5742, the Germans, and their local accomplices, surrounded the ghetto. They took all the Jews out to the marketplace, and began to implement a Selektion, some to the right ,m and some – to the left. Nobody knew which side was for the living, and which – to death, despite the fact that we knew the separation implied this. I was listed as a locksmith, and was therefore saved, and sent with other Jews to Lida, most of these being craftsmen also, whom the Germans needed.

More than 2000 Jewish lives were taken in that massive slaughter in the Scucyn ghetto. In this slaughter,

[Page 163]

most of the people from Belica were killed, including: My brother Tanhum and his family, my brother Moshe and his family, my parents, etc. From my immediately family, only my sister Chaya-Sarah and her husband, Yaakov Poniemansky remained alive, and Eliyahu Sokolowsky.^[12]

In Lida, they quartered us in the jail, but we were not part of ‘Organisation Tot.^[13]’ During the day, we would go out to work on the train, and at night -- return to the jail.

Thanks to the connections of my brother-in-law David-Zvi Meckel, and Yaakov Kremen with the highway overseer (‘Dronik’), I was able to receive letters while in the jail.

One day, Rachel Itzkowitz, Eliezer Meir Savitzky, and Michael Gruznik (from Ruda) came to the ghetto in Lida from the forest, and passed me a note with directions to follow in order to get out into the forest with them. That same night, I fled into the forest, and with me – my son Yaakov.

Apart from us, they extracted [an additional] fourteen people. The way from Lida to Belica was difficult and burdensome, but in the forests on the other side of the Neman, we met up with Belica townsfolk that had lived there for some time already. In this way, a new life started for me, in the heart of the forest, in the ambit of the partisans.

One day, the scout, Nathan from Lida met me, and proposed that we quickly flee, seeing that on the other side of the Neman, in the village of Zbljany a large force of White Poles had assembled, who were planning to cross the river and to organize an assault against those Jewish families that had found their refuge in the forest. He immediately mounted a horse, and with an intense gallop, hurried off to notify all the partisans that they should flee for their lives in the direction of the Lipczanka forests.

For us, who remained in the family camp, no time remained for us to flee, and for this reason we came together to discuss what we should do. I conceived of a subterfuge: let us dress two of our group very nicely,

[Page 164]

and send them to the bank of the Neman. At that point, the women peasants would come three times a day to milk their cows that pastured on our side. Our messengers were to notify the women of the village, that two units of Russian paratroopers had landed the previous night, and their plan was to cross the river and attack the Germans. And seeing that their intention was to destroy the village, that was why they had come to alert all the men of the village to flee for their lives at the earliest possible opportunity. And that is the way it happened. The women crossed the rive and with crying and screaming, they told the men of the village what was about to happen. When the matter became known to the enemy, they opened fire from all points on the opposite side of the rive, and we lay down without firing a shot, because we were afraid that our subterfuge would be revealed, besides which, we only had 23 rifles in our possession. The murderers continued with their fire until it began to get dark, and then fled, under cover of darkness, fearing that, we would surround them and attack them. in this way we were saved, and remained alive.

On the following morning, when the women came to milk their cows, our two messengers went out again, and explained that we had not returned the enemy's fire, because we were concerned that the village would be set fire and be destroyed. The peasant women thanked them in the name of the village, and they said that they deserved this, because the members of the village behaved well towards the Jews that lived in the area, and this type of attractive relationship will be expressed in the assistance they will continue to provide.

Up to Rosh Hodesh of Elul, there were no attacks against us. From time to time, there were attacks by the Germans, and in one of these, the following were killed: Masha, the daughter of Eliezer Kreinowicz, and Tul'yeh Maliniak (from Bialystok), the husband of Chaya Kreinowicz.

During this period, we suffered greatly at the hands of the ‘White Poles’ (A.K.). these forces organized themselves in Belica, in the vicinity of the village of Nieciecz , and the core target of their fighting was aimed at the family camps of the Jews on the opposite side of the Neman, and we would attack them occasionally.

On the day of the Fast of Gedalia 5703 (1943), the White Poles organized an attack on the place where we were camped, seized Schraga Savitzky ז”ל, and beat him with staves until he expired. In this manner, they also killed my brother-in-law David-Zvi Meckel. When we went to bury David-Zvi Meckel, they opened fire on us, and we were forced to retreat. Only after they left, did we return and cover the grave.

The death of David-Zvi Meckel worsened our situation.

In the role as the quartermaster of the ‘Burba’ brigade, he would take advantage of his position to help us out with food and clothing. He looked after us like a father.

The winter of 1942-43 was very hard on us. We were in constant fear of the Germans, and especially – the ‘White Poles,’ who increased their level of attacks, and every time we were compelled to change our place of domicile, and dig bunkers when the ground was frozen solid and hard.

[Page 165]

How I Became a Doctor

In the winter of 1943- 44, they brought me Batya Stotsky, the daughter of Chaim Yitzhak, with an enormous wound in her chest. As I understood it, she already had blood poisoning, or something like it. I was entreated to try and save her. There was not a doctor in the entire vicinity, and to look for one was impossible. The roads were impassable, and the snows – heavy. Seeing as I had some knowledge of first aid, which I had learned while being in the ranks of the fire-fighters, I took a razor, sterilized it with fire, and made two cuts in her chest in the form of a cross. A large amount of pus spilled out of the wound. Afterwards, I put a bandage soaked in hot water on it, and spread a bit of soda I had in my possession, beside the wound for it to absorb. Thanks to this cutting, she stayed alive.

One day, Aryeh (Leib'keh) Zhukhovicky came to me with his little son, Bezalel, he too – with blood poisoning in a finger. The hand was badly swollen and black. I did the same procedure on his finger with success. From that time on, I became the ‘doctor’ of the camp.

One time, Yaakov Molchadsky (Der Mocevcyer) came to me, with one cheek swollen from the inflammation of a tooth. He asked me to extract the tooth. I took a dentist's tongs from R' Zalman Yosselewicz that he had, and I pulled Yaakov's tooth. This matter became known in the nearby villages, and the peasants began to come to me for tooth extractions. As payment for this, I would take tobacco from them.

Here, it is worth telling about something that could be construed as a joke.

On one occasion, they brought me a Russian partisan with very severe abdominal pains. He was suffering from constipation, and his cries reached the heart of the heavens. It was clear that he had to be given an enema, but I did not have a rubber tube in my possession. So what did I do? I took an electric cable, and carefully removed the wiring from the sheath, heated up some water with soap, and then created a reservoir from heavy paper, and this is how I administered the enema.

But the Russian partisans were hardly grateful to us, for the medical help that we provided to them. One night, they fell upon us, and confiscated all of our rifles, and in this way, we were left without rifles and because of this – without any possibility to defend our lives.

At the end of 1943, as the front drew closer to us, the partisans were transformed into a significant factor in the disruption of all means of transportation used by the Germans, and so these latter decided to bring down the traitorous general from the front, along with his troops, to implement a huge sortie against the partisans in the forest.

These latter troops took up stations in the villages of our vicinity, and would conduct assaults on the forest.

[Page 166]

Because of this, our freedom of movement in ‘our’ forest was constrained, because the Vlasovites occupied Zachepichi, and from that vantage point, dominated the area.

At that same time, we had with us a young boy from Zhaludok, approximately fourteen years of age, who had been left with no one in the world, without a relative or a guardian. My son, Schraga, who was his age, befriended him. One day, we noticed with surprise, that the young boy was not with us. My Schraga started to look for him, and found him in a bunker, sick with spotted typhus. All night (since during the day we stayed hidden) Schraga would bring him food and water, and once, upon his return from the bunker, Schraga told us that, in the forest, he had met up with a Christian boy. We understood that this boy had been sent by the Vlasovites to spy on us, and to reveal the place where we could be found. We immediately went to seize the boy. We ambushed him, and seized him. He admitted that he had been sent to spy on us.

We decided to kill the spy by drowning in the Neman, since even one shot will attract the enemy. We brought him to the river, and I, along with Niss'l Baranchik were supposed to drown him. Niss'l did not have the patience to tie his hands, and pushed him into the river. Since the boy knew how to swim well, quietly forded the Neman and fled. After the liberation, I ran into him, healthy and unharmed.

After the incident with the boy-spay, we were afraid to remain in the Zachepichi Forest, and we decided to transfer ourselves over to the forests beside Lipiczanka. This was in the beginning of 1944, when the winter was at its fiercest.

In these forests, we found many Jews that were known to us from surrounding towns, many of them sick with the spotted typhus (many people died in this epidemic). Apart from this, we suffered from hunger. It was impossible to come out of the forests, because the area swarmed with Germans. Apart from this, the young German pilots in this area would bomb every suspected area in the forest and its vicinity.

I located myself with my family close to the camp of the division of partisans named ‘Suborov.’ I worked with them in a variety of black market activities, in order to obtain for them and my family.

After Passover, the typhus epidemic reached our bunker as well. My entire family was sickened, and I had no means with which to save them. I met the doctor, Dr. Miasnik from Lida, and I entreated him to give me medicines for my sick ones, but he answered me: ‘I have heard that you too are a doctor, so beg for healing from The Master of the Universe, seeing as I too have no medicines.’

The only one who came to us to help us, with a good piece of advice, and a good word, was Rachel Itzkowitz. I will always remember her for good. I would have to run for kilometers to procure a bit of milk, and when

[Page 167]

I didn't have any – I would give the members of my family a sort of herbal brew from all manner of leaves (such as from strawberries and other plants) steeped in water, like a tea.

One day, I sensed that I was running a high fever. This was the thing I was afraid of the entire time, thinking in my heart, that were I to come down with typhus, then all of us will die in the bunker, because there will be no one to come and deal with us. I felt like I was burning up with fever. I decided to immerse my head in the well that was beside our bunker. The well was not deep, seeing that the bunker was in the area of a swamp. I held my head under the water for about five seconds, until I felt some relief. Immediately afterwards, I ran off to get food for my sick ones.

After a time, I, once again, ran into Dr. Miasnik, and told him about this incident. He said to me, that this succeeds maybe one time in ten thousand, because at the very least, it could bring on a heart attack…

In the meantime, the Germans, and their allies, began to organize assaults against us on a daily basis. Every day, we would flee deep into the swamps, and towards nightfall – return to the bunker. Those of my family who were sick, were weak, and I was compelled to leave them several kilometers in the swamp.

This situation continued for several weeks, until news reached us one day, that the Germans began their retreat, and had decided to ‘clean out’ the partisans of the Lipczanka Forest. To accomplish this, they enlisted the entire host of General Vlasov and sent them to comb the entire area. All the fighting units of the partisans immediately left their places, and retreated in a different direction, and we, the ‘family men’ lacked any means of escape, and we remained without food, and without protection.

One time, I saw a peasant putting potatoes into a pit in the ground not far from us. I arose in the night, and I took a burlap sack with me, and went down into the pit. The pit was very deep, and the potatoes were about two meters beneath the surface. I filled the sack with potatoes, but when I attempted to raise the sack by means of a rope, that I had previously attached to a tree, it tore, and I was stuck in the pit, without any means of getting out. I knew that if I was delayed to morning – this meant certain death. I began to think about what to do. I did not see any alternative, so I began to dig out steps with my hands, on one side of the pit, and this way, I got out. So the question remained before me: how to get the potatoes out: I tore my shirt into strips, and tied them to the torn rope. In this manner, I was able to get the sack of potatoes out.

One day, the reverberation of noise reached me from the forest. I very carefully approached it, and saw the ‘Orlansky’ Brigade approaching. I encountered Hasia Baranchik (daughter of Chaim Reuven) from our town there, and she related that the camp of Vlasov is drawing near to our forests, and tomorrow they are going to launch a sortie, and because of this the partisans are leaving their bases in this forest.

[Page 168]

The Great Flight

In the forest, we had a well-camouflaged bunker inside a hillock. We gathered a number of families together, approximately – 25 souls, and in the middle of the night, we went into the bunker that was built in the form of three sides of a rectangle. I entered last, and closed the cover over me, that was camouflaged with a large amount of brush. Before dawn, the shelling of the forest began. Apparently, we left a trail behind us, because we heard two of Vlasov's men getting close to the entrance of the bunker, and one said to the other: ‘There are partisans here.’ They opened the cover, and one of them glanced inside. When the Vlasovites got close to the bunker, we fell back to the second corridor. In my haste, I had left a pair of sandals that belonged to my son, and a slice of bread. When the Vlasov soldier saw the sandals and the bread, he said to the other: ‘Come, let us go, there is not a living soul here,’ and they left.

We sat silently in the bunker, and after a stretch of some time, I came out together with Yaakov Fleischer (son of R' Zalman). Upon observing that there was nobody in the vicinity, we quickly exited the bunker and fled to a nearby swamp. Rain fell throughout the entire night, and we lay down in the swamp, literally in the water. Before nightfall, we came out of there, and returned to our bunker, and dried ourselves out, washed ourselves, and left the forest in order to find another place that would be more secure.

On the following morning, we again hid in a swamp, that was in the middle of a immature forest, but close by. Part of the families got separated from me, and went a different way. They argued that since they were younger, they didn't want to remain with me, since I was tied down with the elderly and the young. I remained with Yehuda Baranchik and his family (absent his son), and Eliyahu Szeszko, with the son of his brother Eliezer-Chaim, who today is located in Degania, and with his sister Yehudit, who [at the time] was a little girl, and today is located in Israel.

These were days of very heavy rainfall. I took everyone into the swamp and piled leaves and branches on them, so that the Vlasov troops, who were crawling through the swamps, looking for partisans, won't notice them.

I spread apart the people with me, at a distance of 10-15 meters from one another. Szeszko had a rifle. I took it from him, and went to the edge of the swamp, lay down under a bush, and kept watch over everyone.

To this day, I have difficulty understanding the purpose of why I stood guard? With what was I going to be able to help them, were the Vlasov troops to arrive? As I lay on watch, I heard steps coming close. I arose, and went towards those who were coming toward us, with the thought that if they catch me first, they won't be able to search for the rest. ‘In this manner,’ – I thought in my heart – ‘by sacrificing my life, I will be able to save the rest of the members of my family.’ However, in the end, as I drew nigh, I saw there were a few solitary peasant women: one of them recognized me and told me the Vlasovites had already passed their village, and now they were heading in a different direction. Despite this, she advised me to be on guard. She gave me bread.

I returned to my people, and I took off the camouflage cover. I helped get them out of the swamp, and distributed the bread among them.

[Page 169]

At night, I decided to prepare a small bunker for the children of about 1x2 meters. My son Schraga helped me with moving the sand, and spreading it out at some distance away. In the morning, I put my son and daughter in the bunker, and camouflaged it. Despite the fact that my wife and I went off a distance of about 200 meters, the children reached us. They opened the bunker, and ran after us crying, arguing that they did not want to be left alone. At that instant, we heard horsemen drawing close.

I ordered everyone to run for their lives. We had enough time to jump through the side step and scatter among the underbrush, and we saw the Vlasov cavalry passing by nearly beside us. They did not take note of us, and we established that this was one of the pursuers looking for us during these terrible times.

Many Jews who hid in that same forest were caught and killed.

This sortie went on for about a week. One time, I met up with Shmuel Shimonowicz and his family. We were all hungry. I had several potatoes in my possession, we boiled them, divided them amongst us, and we ate them as if they were a feast fit for kings…

One day, I heard a rider approaching. I hid, and saw that it was the scout, B. Baran from Lida, that at one time warned us about the enemy, when he found us beside Zbljany. He said to me, ‘Zlocowsky, in another day or two, the Russians will be here. There is nothing to fear any longer, but despite this, be careful.’ We came out of the bunkers, and that night, we slept under the open skies. When a couple of days had passed, the Red Army arrived. This was in June 1944. We assembled our belongings and turned towards our town of Belica.

The first thing that every one of us did spontaneously, upon our return to Belica was – to prostrate ourselves on the graves of the 36 martyrs, interred beside the Christian cemetery, and unite ourselves with their memory.

We began to look for something to do. We had no work, and the transition to routine life was difficult. The first to get work in Belica were: Rachel Itzkowitz, and Chaya Kremen, that began to work at the flour mill that had not been damaged in the war. They convinced me that I too should work at the mill. The remainder went on to Lida to look for work. After a while, they let Rachel and Chaya go from the mill, and they also went off to live in Lida. Only solitary families remained in Belica.

Along with us, the following arrived from the forests: My older son Yaakov, and the son of my wife's sister, Yaakov Kremen. They were immediately drafted into the Red Army.

[Page 170]

Poland – Austria – Israel

In the summer of 1945, we heard that an aliyah from Poland to Israel was in existence. In a like manner, we heard about the repatriation agreement from Russia to Poland, for all Polish citizens (Poles and Jews) that lived in the territories of Poland, defined by its 1939 borders.

Even I made plans to travel to Poland, but I did not want to be separated from my son, and from the son of my wife's sister, who were now serving in the Red Army, and accordingly, I waited for them, out of the hope that I would see them returning healthy and whole. In the meantime, the sone of my wife's sister, Yaakov Kremen, was wounded, and was hospitalized in Russia.

A short time after that, the bitter news reached me, that my son Yaakov fell in the battle to take Berlin.

After receiving this news, and after Yaakov Kremen returned from the hospital, we went over to Lida, and from there – we got to Poland by means of repatriation.

We were in Poland for the sum total of about two weeks time, and there, we fled (by way of Czechoslovakia) to Austria. In Austria, the Partisan Organization פח”ח was organized, and I was among its founders. There, I was also active in the Zionist Federation. At the time of the visit of the Anglo-American Committee for Israel in Vienna, I was nominated with the delegation – together with the lawyer Wiesenthal and Dr. Teller – who appeared before the committee to explain why the Jewish refugees specifically wanted to make aliyah to Israel, and not to emigrate to other countries.

In the year 1949, I, along with my family, made aliyah to the Land of Israel.

Translator's footnotes:

1. Israel Zlocowsky has also provided testimony in the Scucyn Yizkor Book, which is reflected in this memoir as well. Return
2. A municipal official, perhaps a police inspector, or the like. Return
3. The fire-station Return
4. This was a minimal precaution against potential spread of the disease. Return
5. The elected mayor of a rural commune (Gmina) Return
6. Called ‘parcelacja’ in Polish. Return
7. Called ‘chutory’ in Polish. Return
8. The residents of the Osad – a term applied to the local Polish citizenry. Return
9. An epithet of distaste for a male gentile. Return
10. This is confirmed in the Scucyn Yizkor Book as follows:
    “On that very same Sabbath, approximately 20 people were murdered – men, women and children (among them also Bezalel Koppelman, the second son of Chaim Yoss'l and similarly Faygl Meckel and David Zlocowsky, who were in the same residence). That Saturday night, the bodies of those who were murdered, were collected by the Jewish police, and taken to the cemetery, but because of the extreme cold, and the snow that fell all night, these martyrs were not buried properly until the next day.” Return
11. This endeavor is also cited in the Scucyn Yizkor Book. Return
12. From the Scucyn Yizkor Book:
    “It was in this way that the Hell of annihilation was consummated in Scucyn, with 2,060 bodies of martyrs, of men, women, and children – people from the communities of Scucyn, and Razanka (and the nearby villages), and Belica, who were sacrificed on a defiled altar on that ‘Sacred Sabbath,’ of 22 Iyyar 5702.” Return
13. The name given by the Germans to this labor camp. Return

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