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Yaakov, son of Rudia and Chanan Tchubok, born in Tuchyn in 1934. In his testimony are described the years of his childhood in the days of the Nazi occupation.

In July 1941, the Germans entered. The soldiers passed by next to our house. The combat soldiers did not harm us. The Ukrainians prepared a welcome event for the Germans. They laid out a red carpet and threw flowers towards the soldiers. Their blessings to the Germans were accompanied by shouts of “Death to the Jews.”

Ukrainians were appointed to the jobs of mayor of the city and head of the police and also took up the rest of the positions. Ukrainians were found who had served the Soviet regime as activists and with the entrance of the Germans were the leaders of the rioters against the Jews. In the first days it was still relatively quiet in our street. The Ukrainians still did not dare to harm the Jews. But the pogrom was not late in coming. They robbed, destroyed, and beat [Jews] cruelly. In the center of the city there were Jews killed.

A Judenrat was established, and at its head [was] Getsel Shvartsman and his assistant Meir Himmelfarb. As the head of the Jewish police was appointed Berel Zaltzman. An order was given to hand over to the authorities the furs, gold and objects of value, under the threat that the disobedient would be executed. A group of fellows from Tuchyn thought that in Rivne their lives would be safer and they decided to run away to there. The head of the police saw them while they were on their way, caught them, and returned them to Tuchyn. They were arrested. I remember that Michael Reznik was released after his family paid a lot of money.

In the workshops [or small factories] they continued working, and the workers received work cards that were then considered “life cards.” Holders of permanent places of work were not sent to work outside the city. It happened that those who were sent to work [outside the city] were not sure they would return. And many did not return.

My father was sent to chop down trees in the Shubkiv forest and returned after a number of weeks. The Jews were commanded to wear

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a yellow patch on the chest and on the back. It must be noted that most of the troubles were for the Jews in the center of the town. In our side road there was a temporary quiet. The peasants continued to come to the Jewish tradesmen, the shoemakers, the tailors, the blacksmiths, and so on. In return for their services, the tradesmen received agricultural produce. It is clear that this too was a breach of the law. It was forbidden for a Jew to come in contact with a Christian.

An exchange trade was created: food in exchange for an object of value. At the same time the main breadwinners were children. A fast child would leave the town without being seen, [and] ask for or take by stealth food and other needs. If he was lucky, he would bring home potatoes or a slice of bread. In winter the house had to be heated a little and there was no wood. A quick child would take a risk and bring a bundle of dry branches or broken planks from a fence. It is natural that on many occasions children were caught “red-handed.” If luck played in their favor they came home beaten and injured. A Jew who did not have objects to exchange and who was not able to ask the peasants [for things] would die of hunger and of cold.

The Jews of Tuchyn were “the lucky ones” in the area, because they were designated the last for extermination. While in other towns they set up ghettos and began killing the Jews, most of the Jews of Tuchyn sat in their houses and worked in the workshops. There was in the town an engineer by the name of Gross who had come as a refugee from Lodz in 1939. He influenced the German commandant that the Jews would work in all the workshops and the products would be sent to the Germans. Many Jews from towns in the area filtered into Tuchyn despite the harsh prohibition [against doing so] and were set up with work, and also received work cards.

The Germans established a Ukrainian gendarmerie. They issued them uniforms and weapons, and these [the Ukrainians] were happy to bother the Jews. Ritsak the lame was in the police. Stednik was head of the police. Prokop and many others who were active in the time of the Soviet regime were among the heads of the rioters against the Jews. One day, Prokop collected 11 Jews from the intelligentsia. Among them were the dentist Gamer and Goldberg, a refugee from Warsaw. The names of the others I do not remember. They led them to the police [headquarters] and shot them. One night Ukrainian rioters entered the house of Sioma Spozhnik. His wife Teivel, daughter of Gedalia Shatz, they murdered. The baby lay beside her and remained alive. The [female] neighbors looked after him for a time. I do not know what Sioma's fate was. The same night they murdered the two daughters of Volf Chisdo. Volf himself fled to Russia. Once Ukrainians caught my mother outside without a patch [the compulsory yellow star identifying Jews]. They beat her with murderous blows and said that if they were to catch her once more without the patch they would kill her.

My father obtained a work card for a payment and most of the time was at home. My mother was occupied with the exchange trade. She exchanged various objects for foods, and sold the food to [other] Jews. In effect, my mother supported the family.

There was great fear among the Jews. The fear of extermination was hanging over our heads. This situation continued until September 1942. Before Rosh Hashanah 1942 the Germans collected wood from the wood storehouses of the Jews and forced the Jews to build a fence of boards around an area that was designated for a ghetto. On top of the boards they stretched strings of barbed wire. The gate was next to Kritsman's fabric house. Before Yom Kippur an order was given to the Jews to move to the ghetto. Most of the residents of the town entered the ghetto. Our house was at a distance from the center of the town and we did not know about the order.

Yaakov Tchubok with a friend (1944)

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Mother wanted to go buy milk from a neighbor. I accompanied her from a distance and I saw two Ukrainian policemen. They did not see us and I managed to warn Mother and we returned home. I went into the house of my uncle Itsia the blacksmith. Hershel, Itsia's son, ran away in the direction of the river. Ukrainian policemen chased after him, shot him, and he fell on the spot.

Policemen came into our house and ordered us to move to the ghetto. We gathered up a few objects and food and together with our neighbors walked to the ghetto. The Ukrainian neighbors were waiting for us to go so as to plunder all that remained in the houses. When we arrived at the gate of the ghetto, standing there was Aharon Kaplan and he said we had made a mistake by not running away. They were going to kill everyone. It was already known that in the Kotovsky woods pits had been prepared as mass graves for the Jews. Rumors spread that at night they would execute all the Jews in the Kotovsky wood.

It was clear that this was the end. It must be noted that when it became known that a fence was being erected around the area of the ghetto, a number of young people were found who told all the Jews to equip themselves with kerosene. The public did not know for what the kerosene was needed. There were quantities of kerosene in the houses of the Jews and when they moved to the ghetto they also took with them the kerosene.

After Yom Kippur they no longer took Jews out [of the ghetto] for work. Ukrainian policemen and German soldiers arrived close to the ghetto. The ghetto was not far from the cemetery. They placed themselves on a hill next to the cemetery and they saw from a height the doings inside [the ghetto] and they could also shoot from there. Around noon [or early afternoon] the Gestapo man came and demanded that the young people present themselves without delay for work. The head of the Judenrat replied that it was not possible for him to collect workers without some sort of time to do so. Outside the ghetto a great bustling was seen. Ukrainian civilians came to plunder. In the ghetto a rumor spread that the head of the Judenrat had been shot to death.

From the morning it had been said to the Jews that from the moment they saw a house burning in the ghetto, each person should pour the kerosene in his possession on his house or on the fence and set it alight. Suddenly flames were seen rising from one of the houses, and within a few minutes fires broke out from all directions. Shots were heard. Jewish fellows were shooting too from a tiny number of weapons. A group called to the Jews to break through the fence and run away from the ghetto. There were incidents of suicide. Hundreds of Jews thronged to the fence, which was broken in a number of places. Next to the fence hundreds of people fell [dead or injured] but many broke out and ran away. The Ukrainians and the Germans chased after them and shot [at them] the entire time. Most of those who fled ran in the direction of the cemetery. From there they hoped to go out to the fields and the forest, but firing opened against them also from the cemetery. Despite this, about 2,000 Jews managed to get to the forests.

Mother told my father to run away with me, and she would stay with my little brother. She had no strength for this. I ran away with my father. My mother and my brother also ran away, afterwards. The two of us managed to get to the forest next to Kodrinka. My mother ran with my two-year-old brother.

Ukrainians came out with pitchforks to rob the sparse property of the Jews. There were those who stripped the clothes off from Jews and also took their shoes. It was good when this ended only in robbery because in many cases they murdered those they robbed.

In the Kodrinka forest we lay for four days and we did not know where we were. We were hungry and we were scared to go out to ask for food. We were not the only ones. With us were many Jews from Tuchyn and from towns in the area. In the end we took a risk and we went into the house of a Pole. He gave us food and said that inside the forest, deeper, additional Jews were hiding. We wandered in the forest and arrived in the Pustomyt forest. After much searching we found Mother and my little brother. Mother was wearing a torn dress and was trembling with cold. She told us that they robbed her of her clothing and of the little food she had.

We returned to Kodrinka. There tens of Jews had gathered. Mother would sit at a distance from the group

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because the Jews demanded that she strangle the baby so that he would not cry and give away the group.

The Poles indeed did not murder like the Ukrainians, but food they did not want to give us. I, a boy aged eight, had already learned to steal food. I knew the schedules of when the storehouses in the villages were closed. It was acceptable to hide the key next to the storehouse. I would find the key, take a small amount of food, and close it [the storehouse]. I took small quantities so that they would not be noticed.

The winter approached. Mother did not have clothes. We decided to go to a Ukrainian with whom we had left our things, to take a few clothes. The Ukrainian came out towards us with a pitchfork and set his dogs on us. We barely managed to flee.

We saw an announcement [from the Germans] that the Jews who remained alive were authorized to return to the ghetto. They would not be harmed any further as they were needed for work. We did not believe the words of the Germans and we went into the ghetto to take clothing for Mother. I knew that many Jews had hidden clothes in different places. In the ghetto there were not a few Jews. Some believed the Germans and others could not continue wandering in the forests. The cold and the hunger broke them.

During our stay in the ghetto the Germans appeared by surprise. They raided by force the Jews who had returned out of a lack of choice. Mother and I went into the bunker and closed the cover over us. There were candles and water there. I do not know how much time we remained there. We did not know if it was still day or if night had come. In the end I opened the cover. It was a late hour at night. All around was quiet. We ran away in the direction of the forest and walked along its edge. We still had another five kilometers remaining to our bunker, but here trouble was waiting for us. We walked into an ambush. Two Germans who seemed very tall to me appeared suddenly in front of us. They led us to the town. The soldiers took smoke breaks [along the way] and when they took out their cigarettes and matches I decided to run away. I was small and thin. It was dark and around me were bushes. I jumped into a ditch and I was already in the forest. The soldiers shouted that if I came back nothing would happen to me, but if I continued my escape they would kill me. They shot and I ran, stumbled, fell, and continued to run. I did not notice that I had been injured in the knee. I reached my father.

I was in shock, I did not catch the significance of the matter: I had gone out with my mother and I came back by myself. Slowly, slowly, I began to understand that a terrible thing had happened to us. Mother would not come back. For some time [after that] I stammered. Normal speech was taken from me. We remained, the three of us, in the bunker throughout the entire winter. Father fell into depression and I took care of supporting the family. When the snow melted the bunker filled with water. Next to our bunker were two other bunkers. The residents of those bunkers lit a fire to warm up and to dry their clothes. We wanted to join them [in their bunkers] for a time, but they did not want to accept us, they argued that it was crowded even without us. We wandered without a goal.

As we were leaving we heard shots. Afterwards we learned that German soldiers had appeared in the forest and the Jews did not hear. They were all murdered. We reached Kodrinka. The peasants did not allow us to enter their homes. They said the Germans were in the area and they did not want to endanger themselves. We continued walking. My little brother caught a cold and turned completely blue. We went into the house of a peasant who took pity on us. He did his best to help the sick boy. My father and I managed to dry our clothes and to warm up. We stayed there the whole day. At night we left again for the wandering path.

Through lack of choice we returned to the bunker where we had been the previous day. On the way a horrifying sight was revealed to us. In the place were scattered the bodies of the Jews we had seen the previous day sitting around the fire. We organized ourselves in their bunker. Snow fell and covered the bodies of those killed and the many puddles of blood next to them. The concern for the supply of food was placed on me. One day I went on my way to ask for a little food. Snow fell all day and a snowstorm began. I could not get back to the bunker. I stayed in a village and hid in a hayloft without the knowledge of its owners.

I arrived at the bunker only four days later and I found my father and my brother dead. There were no

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signs of violence on their bodies. They died it seems of the cold and of hunger. I remained alone, the only one in a hostile world.

I distanced myself from that place and reached Pohorylubka, a village of nationalist Ukrainians. The village was empty of people because the Germans had exterminated all the residents. I lived there for a few weeks. There was plenty of food. Afterwards I moved to a house of Poles. It was an isolated farm, far from the village. They were not interested in my ethnicity and were happy to accept me for work. Again a number of weeks passed of a life that was “almost normal.” Despite their good relations to me, I was always under stress. I knew that at any moment an unpleasant surprise could bob up. All the time I felt as if I was standing on the edge of an abyss.

At the same time the Ukrainians started to persecute and to murder the Poles. Many Poles ran away to an area populated by Poles and others dug pits and built bunkers in the forests and moved their property there. They lived there most of the time with their families. Over the course of time the Poles came to some sort of arrangement with the Ukrainians. Then the Poles returned to their houses and to their normal path. Even so, they kept guard in the nights. I lived with a Pole and I would shepherd his cattle. The house was next to a grove that continued on to sprawl into the forest. In the room where I slept there was a window that faced the grove. I became used to being half awake in my sleep.

One night I heard a strange noise that came from the grove. I jumped through the window outside and quickly crossed to the forest. I heard shots and shouts. I moved deeper into the forest. In the coming days I learned that they had killed all the residents of the village. Of course I did not return there.

In one place I ran into a group of Jews. They did not want to take me in. Each one was worried about himself. I continued in my wanderings and I arrived at the farm of a Ukrainian. In the house and in the yard there were large quantities of Jewish property and also Polish. I asked the peasant to accept me for work. He knew that most of the residents of the village had been murdered and accepted me for work. The peasant had two sons who were heads of gangs. I stayed in that house for many months. The farm served as a center and a meeting place for the Bandrovists [followers of far-right Ukrainian militant leader Stepan Bandera].

It did not occur to the rioters that I was a Jew. I spoke Ukrainian well. They called me Jan [Yan] or Yasha. When they would return from an activity they would offer me sweets that they had robbed from Poles. I shepherded the cattle of the peasant. Food was not lacking there. From time to time I would leave a little food in the forest. I knew that Jews would find it.

I became used to the lifestyle of Ukrainian peasants. I behaved like them. One day the peasant invited me to bathe in the lake. He took off his clothes and I entered the water in pants. The peasant began to suspect that I was a Jew. At night I heard him telling his wife that I was a cunning Jew and that I had led them on. I knew everyone and their deeds and he suspected that if the Soviets returned I would inform on them. He had decided to go with me to a swamp and there to exterminate me. I had no choice but to get away as soon as possible.

A few days passed and I told the peasant that I wanted to visit one of the neighbors. He allowed me to but warned me that I had to return early. I went out and the peasant came out after me as if to accompany me. As I left I cast a look back and he was watching me the entire time. When I got further away and could no longer see the peasant I changed direction. I turned my face to the forest and sped up my steps. I reached an abandoned Polish village. There were bunkers there and food aplenty. I stayed there until the winter.

When the winter came I went to look for Jews. I arrived in Kodrinka, which was also an abandoned village of Poles who had fled from the Bandrovists. And indeed the Bandrovists did not then bother the Jews. Jews were living there in a number of houses, truly a “community,” mainly of tradesmen who had begun working for the Ukrainians. They organized themselves

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in houses and slept in beds. Many began to believe that here ended the troubles. That was in the winter of 1943-1944.

The Tchubok family on a Jewish holiday

I had wooden sandals and as I ran they knocked against the frozen ground. There were those who became angry and shouted that if I did not stop the knocking they would strangle me. I ignored their threats and ran behind them not far from them. In the meantime I lost one sandal. I discarded the second one and ran barefoot. We entered the forest and stayed there about two weeks. There was no shelter there and we had to stay in the open forest in the intense cold and in the snow. The adults obtained food. My legs froze and I was not able to walk to ask for food. There were those who took pity on me and gave me something to revive my soul.

Again the wanderings began. I lagged behind a long distance from the group. I made efforts to keep eye contact with them. One day I reached a critical stage and I could not move any more from my place. And then appeared Fishel Rozgovits z”l, who loaded me onto his back. After a number of kilometers he grew tired and then Yitzchak Kornfein took me. It is not impossible that these two people saved me then from death. In the meantime I gathered strength and I continued with the remnants of my strength. My legs were frozen and injured.

We reached a fork in the road and we could not decide which way to turn. Meanwhile we saw a man riding on a horse approaching in front of us. In the first moment we panicked. But when I saw a five-pointed star on his hat I understood that he was a Russian partisan. I shouted to him with all my strength. He came closer and saw my injured legs. More partisans came. He seated me on a cart harnessed to oxen. All our group walked behind the partisans. They organized us in the houses of peasants. They took me into the house of a Polish peasant in which there were already at least five Jews. Each one took a corner in the house. There was no room left for me and I placed myself under the table. There was terrible crowding there. My legs, on which the wounds had opened, were covered with blood and pus. I could not move from the place.

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The [female] owner of the house began to get angry. There is no doubt that it was not comfortable for her with us. One day she demanded of us to decide who would leave the house and who would stay, because there was no room for everyone. One woman told me that they were going to take me to the doctor of the partisans. Of course I did not object. The next day the peasant's daughter together with a Jewish woman took me and they led me in a hand cart into the forest, dropped me into a deep ditch, and ran off.

The winter was at its peak. I was barefoot. The wounds on my legs bothered me and the cold did not let up. I felt that this was death. I screamed with all my strength. A Ukrainian woman heard my shouts and came to see what was happening. She asked why I was crying and what I was doing in the ditch. I remember that I answered, because I was cold …

The woman invited me to her house but I was not able to walk. She carried me in her arms. In her house there was a Jewish family from Tuchyn. Today they live in Canada. The head of the family asked the peasant to bring me the partisans' doctor. The doctor decided that my legs were frozen and they had to be amputated. I did not agree. I argued that I was the only one remaining from my family and I did not want to remain alive crippled. The doctor agreed to treat my legs but he had no means [to do so]. One day he suggested that I travel to Moscow and there prove that even cripples could have a use. I was moved to another house in the same village and all day I lay without moving on the stove. The pains were terrible and I could not fall asleep in the nights. I crawled on all fours [when I needed to go] to relieve my needs.

One day Russian parachutists came to the village and among them were two [female] Jewish paramedics. They could not help me but they gave me fabric from parachutes. The house owner sold the material and was able to buy foodstuffs. In that way at least they helped me from an economic aspect. I stayed there almost two months. The peasant did not want to take care of me and the head of the village moved me to another house. Meanwhile time passed and the Russians liberated all of Ukraine. My legs healed a little. I could hardly stand and I began to practice walking. I obtained crutches.

The summer of 1944 arrived. Each time they would move me from house to house. They sent me to shepherd the cattle. One day I met a Jew from the Soviet Union who served in the Red Army. He took me to Rivne. At the checkpost at the entrance to the city he asked the policeman where there was an orphanage. The policeman directed us to his Jewish friend and he [the Jewish friend] walked me to his house. From there I moved to the house of another Jew in which there were concentrated five orphans. They divided us up among the Jewish families who had returned to Rivne. In this way I was absorbed into the house of a woman by the name of Pola who was very good to me, really as though to a son. When I became sick with dysentery they moved me to the hospital and Pola visited me regularly. I recovered and returned to her house. Pola went with me to a tailor and ordered me a suit. At the tailor I met a nurse from the Red Army, and in this way entirely by chance I heard from her mouth that my cousin Yocheved was serving in the Red Army.

Yocheved came to me after about a week. She moved me to the house of her mother and together we moved to Berezne. There I began learning [at school]. With my aunt I arrived in Poland.

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