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As is known, seventeen hundred skilled workmen remained behind – mostly men, and a small number of young women and children. There were also found a number of small children whose parents had managed to smuggle into the lager in sacks and satchels. However, according to the official position, there were no children in the lager. Each and every person bemoaned his own family tragedy – one had his parents taken away, from another – his wife and children, sisters and brothers. But the tribulations and difficult conditions in the lager didn't even permit people to grieve.

Almost everyone was involved in doing work outside the lager. Everyone slept in the lager itself, even those who used to sleep in the Polish lager in the city before this, were now required to return at night to the lager. In the morning, they were taken to work by the police, and in the evening they were returned under the same guard to the lager.

The members of the Judenrat and the Jewish auxiliary police would stay in the lager (about twenty men), with the doctors, the kitchen staff and the overseers of the bunkers.

At that time, there was a little more food in the lager, even if the portions that were allocated were the same as before. But the members of the Judenrat, who had freedom of movement, would buy bread from the Polish bakers, and bring it into the lager. The guard that accompanied them was bought off. Also, those who returned from work, would bring back bread and other food items with them. A loaf of bread had previously cost 150 marks, fell to six marks. For this reason the food situation became better.

Living conditions, however, got worse and worse. Seeing as how everybody had to go to work, there was no one to look after the sanitary conditions in the lager. Preparing warm food was not one of the easiest things to do either. There were no ovens there. A fire had to be lit out of doors, in the cold. The temperature would fall to 17 degrees [Fahrenheit], and people, exhausted from the forced labor, had to stand outside in the wind and storm to prepare something warm with which to assuage their hunger. The eyes would practically crawl out of one's head until one finally saw the potatoes cooked and the soup ready to eat. You can understand, that after a meal of this kind, and a hard days work, nobody was particularly concerned about cleanliness. Not only were the bunkers not cleaned, but also not even the bedding on which one slept. Every night, the people would return to the bunkers, drained from work, the cold, and hunger.

There was no shortage of aggravation, and often serious incidents, with the brutal Nazis, in whose hands lay the fate of the remaining Jews.

One such incident is described by our witnesses, Dr. Resnick and Yitzhak Tchopper. One Sunday, a German came into the lager and demanded five Jewish workers for Krisievich near the central station in Volkovysk. Among those who presented themselves to him were Motya Zilberman (the conductor of the fire-fighters orchestra); Yehoshua Epstein, from the glass business (a relative of Resnick's); the son of Meir the Glazier from the Neuer Gessel, and three other young men. Going about a couple of hundred meters from the lager, the German suddenly stopped and said to the Jews: “You stole my gloves. Return them to me immediately, and

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if you do not, you will be shot on the spot.” He gave them five minutes. The Jews argued with him that they knew nothing about it, and asked of him that he accompany them to the Judenrat, where they will give him a better pair of gloves. The German, however, didn't want to hear of anything, and continued to count the minutes: “Four more minutes, three minutes, two minutes!” And exactly at five minutes, he fired on the Jews, wounding a number of them, among whom was Epstein. Two were wounded by his bullets. Motya Zilberman was among the wounded. He was brought to the bunker hospital, where he remained for a few days. The Germans then administered a poison to him from which he immediately died. Incidents of this sort were a daily occurrence in the lives of the seventeen hundred Jews in the lager.

The winter by this time had reached its full strength. The greatest trouble was that the people in the lager almost all went around in bare feet. Life, however, slowly settled into a routine. The Judenrat set up a shoe shop in the bunker, and this eased the problem a little bit. The Jews acquired a number of ovens in the bunkers, and it became possible to warm up water for drinking, without having to stand outside in the cold. Warm water was distributed from the kitchen twice a day. In the evening, a portion of soup was distributed.

And in this fashion, days and nights went by, and people didn't even have the time to set aside in order to take stock of their circumstances, and their future.

A few facts were already known at that time about Treblinka. The Polish train employees and the conductors who rode the line to Treblinka, would from time-to-time communicate details about the gruesome extermination, the electric beds, crematoria and other brutal methods employed by the Nazis – where tens of thousands of Jews were killed daily.

Because of the bad sanitary conditions, the bunkers became thoroughly infested with lice. Even the disinfection methods did not help get rid of them. An epidemic of dysentery broke out immediately. People would lose their strength from this sickness. They could barely stand on their feet because of their weakness. At the same time, at the end of December 1942, an epidemic of Typhus Fever broke out. Tens of people came down with the disease daily. We were fearful lest the Gestapo find out about this, and in the beginning, the sick were not segregated from those who were healthy, because we were certain that if the Gestapo found out about the typhus epidemic, the entire lager would be closed down, and then everyone would die of typhus and starvation.

No hospital existed in the lager before the outbreak of the typhus epidemic. Only a small dispensary functioned, with a few beds, which Engineer Y. Fuchs and the Pharmacist, Nakhum Kroll had set up. The director of the dispensary was Dr. Horn from Voltzlavek, who later lived in Volp. The following doctors worked in the dispensary: Noah Kaplinsky, Yitzhak Resnick, Eliezer Epstein, Marek Kaplan and Yitzhak Goldberg. When the doctors Horn and Epstein also got sick with typhus, the direction of the dispensary was taken over by Dr. Chaim Salman from Yalovka. Apart from those already mentioned, there were other doctors in the lager, such as Dr. Joseph Wallach, Dr. Shulman, Dr. Alfred Schmutz, Dr. Rosenbaum, and Dr. Schneiberg, who was sent from Bialystok to Volkovysk after the arrest of the Volkovysk doctors. Dr. Schneiberg immediately took ill at the onset of the typhus epidemic, and died. He was actually the first victim of the Typhus Fever.

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As quickly as it was perceived that the typhus was gaining strength with each passing day, a special barracks was set up in one of the Volkovysk bunkers with one hundred beds, which were immediately filled.

The Judenrat arranged for the provision of medicines and also helped assure that the sick would get better nourishment. Despite this, the typhus epidemic got more intense, even if the death rate at the beginning was not high.

Dr. Yitzhak Resnick, one of our witnesses, tells that he was also among the first ones who got sick from typhus. However, in his case, it only lasted a few days, and he shortly afterwards was able to return to work. The disease affected him in a milder form, because in 1937 he had immunized himself against a strain of Typhus Fever.

Among the seriously ill were: Bialosotsky, Sokolsky, Pesach Bayer, Goldenberg, Engineer Mulya Pshenitsky, Dr. Kaplinsky's brother, and others.

In time, all of the doctors, except for Noah Kaplinsky, contracted typhus. Fortunately, however, they were not all sick at the same time, and those who began to feel better, immediately would return to work. The doctors worked day and night. The dedication of the doctors and nurses, who were among the first to contract the disease, was completely out of the ordinary.

Among the seriously ill, there were those who developed neurological complications. These patients became completely delirious. Among the victims were Engineer Mulya Pshenitsky, the wife of Dr. M. Kaufman (he had been shot together with the Volkovysk doctors), and Fishl Goshchinsky the Ironmonger.

At about the middle of January 1943, over eight hundred people were already ill with the disease. From thirty to forty percent of all the skilled workers were down with typhus.

When the disease began to claim larger numbers of people, three bunkers were designated for use only by the sick, with a disinfection division. The living conditions in these bunkers for the sick, were not any better than the regular bunkers. Despite this, not all those ill with typhus could be accommodated in the three hospital bunkers. Many of the sick lay in the regular bunkers, where the doctors would come and minister to them. Many would do this in order to create a subterfuge that would prevent the Nazis from finding out about their illness.

Dr. Marek Kaplan took charge of one of these three hospital bunkers. Dr. Alfred Schmutz also worked there; the head of the second hospital was Dr. Noah Kaplinsky and for a period of time, Dr. Horn. Dr. Yitzhak Resnick looked after the third hospital. There were about thirty sick [patients] in the first hospital; about sixty in the second hospital, and in the third hospital, under the direction of Dr. Resnick, between 120 and 140 sick people. Dr. Joseph Wallach handled the sick people in the [regular] bunkers. And so it was, that out of the seventeen hundred people, about eight hundred got sick at various times, but at all times, during the last stages of the epidemic, there were about four hundred people who were ill in the bunkers proper. Up to the time that the lager was finally liquidated, that is, on January 26, 1943, about two hundred people had survived the illness and were already back at work.

To the end of the epidemic, the momentum of the disease was unabated, and the daily death toll ran into tens

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of people.

Dr. Resnick tells, that among the people in his hospital who died, and whose names he remembers well, were:

Aizik Werner (had a writing office); Fishl Goshchinsky (an electrical technician, the Ironmonger's son); Shlomo Shkolnik (from the saloon in Zamoscheh).

The following died of typhus in Yitzhak Tchopper's bunker: Elkeh Gallin (daughter of the Bialystoker Baker); Volper the Pharmacist; Shayn'dl (Dodzhkeh's); Klempner-Shchupak, and others. His wife and child also were ill with typhus in Tchopper's bunker. They didn't go to the hospital, first, because there was no more room there, and second, Tchopper was able to look after his own sick better in the regular bunker.

Among the many other typhus victims were: Dodzhkeh Smazanovich, Shmuel Yitzhak Spiegelglass (a grandson of Leizer Shaliota) and many, many more.

This condition persisted until January 26, 1943. Because of the severe epidemic, the Nazis decided to liquidate the lager before the appointed time.

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The Order to Abandon the Lager

On January 23, 1943 the former familiar Tsirka re-appeared in the lager. Before people became aware of the purpose of his visit, his presence alone threw everyone into a state of great panic. The “good” news spread from bunker to bunker with lightning speed, and everyone instinctively felt that a new danger was blowing in the air, that the Angel of Death had come to town…

Tsirka came to the Judenrat, where he told the members that all the prior transports were settled, and the time had come for the seventeen hundred Volkovysk people. He emphasized that for the first of the transports, it was difficult, but for this last transport, it will now be easier. The people will be transferred to another lager, where they will work and live normal lives and under better conditions.

He requested an accurate list from the members of the Judenrat of those found in the lager, by their family names, age, occupation, etc. He also promised that the sick would be transported to the train station on stretchers.

The tumult grew from minute to minute.

On January 25^th, an order was given to be prepared for transport on the following morning, the 26^th. The sick were ordered to be ready a few hours before everyone else. The intention was to take them along at nine o'clock at night. Most of them, who had obtained a bed only with the greatest of difficulty in one of the bunker-hospitals, girded themselves with strength as if by magic. Running high fevers, they left their beds, and began to walk between the bunkers, as if they wanted to demonstrate that they had strength. Because, as sick people, they feared that they would get a death sentence on the spot.

The rest of the confused and downtrodden people prepared themselves for the way, straining themselves to take along only a loaf of bread and one more package.

But many people, during those two days, sought a variety of ways to save themselves by getting to Bialystok. The ghetto there was known to be the best in the area, and [reaching] it was the dream of every individual in the lager. According to the reports, Jews there had a better life, slept on beds, worked in factories, and had sufficient food. In fact, it was possible for several hundred Jews, during the various phases of life in the lager, to get to Bialystok, even though the end turned out to be the same, regardless.

Now, more than ever, the Judenrat stood in their way, whose allied Jewish [auxiliary] police unfortunately kept a very strict watch over this, that any such attempts to escape in this manner would not succeed. And in fact, a number of such attempts to escape were stopped by them. The Judenrat argued that the only ones capable of fleeing were the financially productive Jews, and their money could better be used in the current place, in order to extend the existence of the lager [as much as possible].

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During those days, it was made possible for a number of families to escape by carrying Aryan [identification] papers. Among them were: Nakhum Kroll the Pharmacist, and Moshe Matskevich (son of Yaakov Matskevich the Pharmacist) with his wife, Nieta and child. Nakhum Kroll took advantage of a chance to flee and hide in a Christian home on the Svislucz Gasse – Zamoscheh. He was betrayed, and the Germans shot him, along with the Christian in whose house he had hidden. Yitzhak Tchopper tells us about Moshe'l Matskevich, since he had spoken with him a short while before Matskevich and his family left the bunkers on Aryan papers. Moshe'l communicated to him about his plans for leaving the bunkers. He told him that he still had a little bit of jewelry in his possession, in which he placed a great deal of hope that it would be of use in carrying out his plans. He was able to flee with his family to Lisokovo. A short time afterwards, however, he was recognized by a Polish policeman, who paid no attention to Matskevich's entreaties and his offer to buy him off, and turned them over to the hands of the Nazis. Moshe'l went to the execution with his child in his arms, accompanied by his wife, Nieta. Tchopper also relates the following episode about Chaim Yud'l Shipiatsky and his wife, Rachel. She fled the bunkers together with her child, to her husband and older daughter, who were in Lisokovo, where they had hidden themselves at a Christian's in a potato storage pit. But she could not stand the frightful conditions there, and returned to the bunkers with her younger child. Shortly before the liquidation of the bunkers, she had another opportunity to get away from there. She returned to Lisokovo, and from there, their entire family fled into the forest. However, Rachel and her younger child were at that point already infected with typhus from the bunkers, and both died of their illnesses a short while after fleeing into the forest. Yud'l, and his older daughter Ruth, remained in the forest with the partisans and survived.

On the evening of January 2^5th, after finding out that the lager would be shut down the following morning, a great deal of movement was observed among the families of the members of the Judenrat. The womenfolk began to pack, the children were dressed in warm clothing and they were ready to flee. However, the Jewish police noticed this. After they surrounded this specific bunker, and conducted a search, they discovered that even the Judenrat members were prepared to send their families to Bialystok. The overseers, however, canceled this plan, and told them that they would not be permitted to leave the lager. The head of the Jewish police immediately arrived on the spot, and he warned that they should not attempt to escape.

Despite this, the doctors, Noah Kaplinsky and Yitzhak Resnick managed to take an opportunity, and escape from the bunkers. Both hid themselves in Krzemienica with Christians, until the Red Army entered and liberated the city.

On the 26^th of January at about three o'clock in the afternoon, the bunker where the office of the Judenrat was located was overflowing with people. They walked back and forth, as if they were waiting to hear from “higher authorities” that the order had been rescinded at the last moment. The mental state of everyone was one of confusion. Everyone looked at one another wildly.

The sick, wrapped in blankets and eyes burning from fever, walked around like wraiths from some other world. Those who felt a bit stronger already, went outside on their unsteady feet, seeking a place where they could hold on with their hands. The only ones remaining in the bunkers were those who were unable to lift themselves up from their sleeping places.

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The Historic Night of the Last March of the Volkovysk Jews to the Train Station

That same night, in compliance with the order, those who were ill with typhus were made ready. They were dressed and led to the entrance of the bunker, in order to make it easier for them to be transported. A number of them had a very high temperature, but they girded themselves with all their might to stand on their own two feet and not to remain behind with the delirious in the bunkers, whose fate was most certainly already sealed. Among those who died that day from this exertion were: Shayn'dl Shchupak, and Nissan Zapoliansky (Shmuel Chaim Bayl'keh's from the yeast).

According to the order, all of the sick were made ready for departure from the bunkers before all the others. Stretchers were obtained for them, and about two hundred sick, and weak were transferred quickly in this way to the central train station. Among them was also our witness Herschel Roitman, who at that time was still infected with the typhus disease. However, there were not enough stretchers for the sick, and others among them had to be led along supported under the arms, or carried altogether, in order to save them from certain death that awaited them if they would have remained behind in the bunkers. Yitzhak Tchopper tells us about the following incident of that night: His son and wife were also ill with typhus. He got them ready for the trip, but regrettably, he could not procure stretchers for them. So, he stood in the cold with his two sick family members, and waited for stretchers. Suddenly a stretcher bearer went by, and he bought off the owner, who promised to carry his two sick family members. Standing in this way outside, he suddenly espied Rosa Einhorn-Pshenitsky. It was about one o'clock at night. She ran over to him, full of tears, telling him that she had lost a package in which she had all her valuables. This was the last time Tchopper saw her.

The people were ordered to gather in a single place, and arrange themselves in rows of ten. Suddenly, Nazi soldiers surrounded the bunkers on all sides, in order to prevent anyone from escaping. It was already one o'clock at night, when there was a sudden burst of gunfire with shouted orders of: “Out of the bunkers! If not, everyone will be shot!” They then really did shoot a few people, who lay ill on the bunks. Among them were Melekh Khantov and his wife; the wife of David Joseph Kaplan, Khien'keh Schein (Nakh'keh's wife, the daughter of Yitzhak Galansky), and others. Among those whom the Nazis shot while they attempted to flee, were Nakdimon's son from Karczyzna, ‘Nioma Lemkin's son, ‘Tromba,’ Berel Kotkovsky (the artist), and others. The shooting in and around the bunkers continued without stopping. The sick were shot, who could not move from their bunks, those who could not move quickly enough were shot. Under the force of the bullets, they began to drive the assembled ranks of the Jews in the direction of the train station.

The historic night of January 26, 1943, when the final liquidation of the Volkovysk bunkers took place, and the Volkovysk Jews were ordered to be ready to depart with the last transport to be sent to Auschwitz (as was later discovered en route), sealed the last page of the history of the Jewish community of Volkovysk.

It was in this manner that the last Volkovysk transport, of those that yet remained alive out of the large Jewish Volkovysk community, was driven away from their home town forever.

Arriving at the train station, they were quickly driven into dark cars of a long freight train, that was already waiting for them. The cars of the train were wrapped in barbed wire, and guarded by Gestapo troops, in order to prevent anyone from escaping. Apart from this, after every several cars, there was a car filled only with Gestapo troops.

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The people were driven into the cars literally like sheep, under the continuous blows of the Gestapo. At the point of entry into the cars, many families became separated, in order to avoid the beating by the Gestapo, and there was no opportunity to say goodbye to one another. In this manner, for example, a wife would be separated from her husband and children, who might be driven into a second car. This happened to the wives of Cooper the Carpenter and Mulya Cantor. Mulya Cantor, for example, entered the same car as Tchopper, with one child, and his wife with a second child got dragged off somewhere into another car. He didn't even have any food for the child. Another misfortune also befell him. He later lost his mind. His child would speak to him, but the father couldn't understand him. This was just one of the completely tragic scenes in that wagon.

At five o'clock in the morning on January 27, 1943 (24 Shevat 5703), the train left the station. The people were at that point certain that they were being taken to Treblinka, the Malkin station.

The freight cars in which the people had been crammed worse than animals were very filthy. There was snow and mud on the floors. The sick people who walked about, received no special cars. They were put together with everyone else. More than eighty people were crammed into as single car in this manner. They only looked through the cracks in the barb-wired windows to determine the exact way the train was going.

When day began to break, only a few rays of light filtered through the narrow windows of the cars that were wired shut. The air there was bad, and stank. Those sick, who were still suffering from a high temperature complained of thirst, even though it was freezing cold outside. But there was not a drop of water in the wagons to give to them. In the indescribable congestion of the wagons there was no place to even attend to bodily functions.

Among the people in the wagon, where our witness Dr. Marek Kaplan was, the following were people were found: Rosa Einhorn-Pshenitsky (the dentist, who was at that time already sick and broken), the Shevakhovich family, Burdeh, and others.

Meanwhile, the train drew further away from the home city of Volkovysk. They were traveling at great speed to an unknown destination, even though everyone in their own heart knew that it meant death.

Through the cracks in the wagons, people looked out at the names of the passing stations. And when a name was seen that was different from Malkin, everyone's heart was eased. When they arrived at Malkin, everyone became almost lifeless. People began saying goodbye to one another, knowing that these were the final moments of life. However, suddenly, instead of ordering the people to disembark from the wagons, the train, with a lurch, began to move yet again. The hapless Jews began to kiss one another out of joy, because a ray of hope had come to fill their tear-filled eyes. Perhaps the Nazis had changed their decision at the last minute, and instead of the gas chambers of Treblinka, they are being sent to work in Germany, just as the Germans had themselves said.

They traveled for yet another night, in this fashion, in the suffocating, crowded wagons. It became more and more difficult for the sick. The high fever of the typhus made them suffer, and all that they wanted was water. But unfortunately, there was no water in the wagons. On the following morning, their groans became even more frightening. Those who were healthy, gave up their water on account of the sick, but even this did not alleviate the water shortage.

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Coming to a station, the people would beg the watchers, who came to look at the wagons, that they should bring a bit of water for the sick, or a little snow from the ground. A few did this, and others looked at the people on train as criminals behind the barbed wire, and refused to offer a helping hand. When the forces would observe how many would throw in a bit of snow into the wagons, they would quickly drive the people away.

The state of a number of the sick worsened because of the frightful conditions in the wagons, an part of them died along the way. When the sentries found out about these incidents of death, the dead bodies were immediately flung out onto the open field. For this reason, the people on the train exerted themselves to try and conceal the deceased, with the hope that when they would arrive at their destination, they would be able to give them a proper burial. The condition in the wagons was so frightful, and the crowding so unbearably great, that the bodies of these dead served as a bench on which the living could sit.

Among the people who died on the train were: Millie Kaplan-Solkovich; Zlatkeh Berg (Velvel Berg's wife – daughter of Solkovich the Butcher); Tevel Sukenik (the Teacher's son)-- he died in the same wagon where Tchopper was; Fira Botvinsky (Yaakov Jesierski's daughter), and others.

The trip lasted an additional two days until the train reached the Auschwitz station.

Even though people were told in Volkovysk that they were being taken to Auschwitz, they still believed that they were being taken to Treblinka, because at that time, they still did not know anything about Auschwitz, and what it meant.

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The Tumult in Being Driven from the Wagons

On the third day, nightfall of January 29, 1943, the last Volkovysk transport with Jews arrived at the Auschwitz station.

The train came to a stop. With bated breath and beating hearts, everybody waited to see what else was going to happen.

It was a bit of a distance from the Auschwitz station to the ramp of the lager. The crowd readied itself to disembark. They stood around with packs on their backs holding the sick under the arms, and waited for the German order. Suddenly, the doors of the wagons opened, and the sound of the order, “Everyone quickly off the wagons!” was heard all around. “Leave your packages,” – the order rang out again. The group dropped their packages down, and began to jump from the wagons in a disorderly fashion.

The sick and infirm, who could not get off under their own power, were literally tossed out of there.

After leaving the wagons, everyone was ordered to go in a specific direction, escorted and driven by German truncheons. Arriving at the ramp to the lager, the men and women were ordered to line up separately in rows of five.

Those sick with typhus were immediately taken out of the wagons, and they were laid out on the ground in cold snow. The driven people often were forced to step on the living bodies of the sick that were their own flesh and blood.

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In the mass confusion and uncertainty, people were unable to give each other the required help. In this vein, our witness, Yitzhak Tchopper, tells us this characteristic episode. He left the wagon with his wife and child, who were both still sick with typhus. He had to hold them under the arms, because they were unable to stand on their own feet. When the men and women were ordered to fall out into separate rows of five, Tchopper approached a number of women, and asked that they look after both of his sick ones for a short period. The only one who offered to help was Sonya Rossiansky, the sister of Noah Fuchs.

Several meters from the arrayed rows, stood SS officers. One of them, with a stick in his hand stood in front, looked over each passer-by, and gave an order in which direction to go – right or left.

Those who looked exhausted, old, and incapable of work, he ordered to the left, and those who looked young and capable of work, were sent to the right.

Our witness, Roitman, who was still infected with typhus, was sent to the left. Even though he didn't know which side was the good one, he had the instinctive feeling he was not being sent to the good side. Not even taking account of what he was doing, he said to the officer that he was an electrical technician. The officer looked at him again, and ordered him to go to the right. Joseph Kotliarsky's young wife was ordered to go to the right. But when they wanted to separate her from her child, she refused, and went with her child to the left.

Our witness Dr. Yitzhak Goldberg, was standing in line and saw how a number of the doctors are being sent to the left. He didn't know whether to identify himself as a doctor or not. But seeing that Dr. Marek Kaplan, who was in the same row ahead of him, had identified himself as a doctor, and was sent to the right, to life, he decided to identify himself as a doctor. In addition, observing that a healthy appearance would definitely help in the selection, he began to pinch himself in the cheeks, in order to draw blood to the surface, and give him a healthy appearance. When his row came up, he was ordered to the right. His brother, however, had to go to the left.

Those on the right were immediately ordered to form up in rows of five. The ones on the left were just gathered together in a group.

Suddenly an order was heard “Count off.” And when the SS man announced that in the right group there was a count of 280 men, they were immediately ordered to march away on foot. The rest were gathered together near waiting automobiles. The bodies of the sick still lay on the ground, in the snow.

Meanwhile, the people began to clearly understand the new tragedy. A new outcry and wailing began. The people wanted some more time with their kin.

Our witness Zvi Roitman remarks on his feelings at that moment. That especially he, who still was weak from the typhus, was included in the number of those who were sent to the work camp, at the time when such strong and healthy young men, who looked as strong as lions, among them Katz, Mordetsky, Botvinsky, Saroka, and hundreds of others, were sent to the left, only because the quota for those who could remain alive had been filled.

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The Tragic Fate of the Last Volkovysk Transport

From the last Volkovysk transport of seventeen hundred people, there remained 280 men and 87 women. The remainder were immediately sent to the gas ovens.

This remnant of Volkovysk Jewry in the amount of 367 souls was sent under close guard to the work camp, which was found approximately three kilometers from the Auschwitz railroad station. The place was called Birkenau, and in Polish –Brzezinski.

The 367 men and women, going in rows on foot, were passed along the way by the packed automobiles full of Jews from Volkovysk – the last relatives and friends, the dearest and most beloved, who were now on their final journey of pain.

Suddenly the cry of a father was heard from one automobile, who recognized his son, Shlomo Frack, marching in the lines. His father called out to him: “Look, there they go to life, and we – to death.” It appears that in the automobiles, the people already understood the fate that awaited them.

From one automobile, another heart-rending cry was heard from Miss Panter, who called out: Jews of Volkovysk! If you remain alive, tell the world about our end! Take revenge for our innocent, spilled blood!”

With each passing automobile, the people in the lines became increasingly more certain about the fate of those victims packed in the vehicles. The heart-rending screams and crying of the bewildered martyrs carried over the entire distance.

SS troops on motorcycles escorted the automobiles. After them, came a whole phalanx of vehicles from the “Red Cross.” This “Red Cross” which should have bee used to serve as a calming sedative and palliative to the exhausted among the victims, regrettably, served an entirely different purpose – it carried poisons and gases, that were used to take tens of thousands of people from this world on a daily basis.

[Page 386]

The Men A Amstibovsky, Berel (Dr. Amstibovsky's brother) Arkin, Feivel , the Technician (Rutchik's Brother-in-law) B Bakher (from Piesk) Bashitsky, Katriel (“Bish”) Bayer, David (Pesach's son) Bayer, Shmuel (A wagon driver) Beckenstein, Itcheh (son of Leibeh Beckenstein the Tailor) Beckenstein, Boruch (second son of Leibeh Beckenstein the Tailor) Beckenstein, Gershon (of the Kanovals) Belsky, Abraham – Alive Bereshkovsky, Itcheh (son of Abba) Birnbaum, Herman Birnbaum (Herman's son) Borodetzky, Michael (“Koshmetch”) Boyarsky, Hosea – Alive Burdeh, Alter (Watchmaker from Svislucz) D Daniel, Abraham (Avra'sheh – Shammai's son) Daniel, Herschel (son of Yerakhmiel the Headmaster of the Yeshiva) Danya (A son of the Wagon Driver) E Elyeh – A Carpenter Ehrenburg (the soccer player from Warsaw) Epstein, Dr. Leizer (from Piesk) F Feitelevich, Shepsel (a Hair Dresser) Fitkovsky, Moshe (Bashitsky's son-in-law) Fitkovsky, Moshe (from Ruzhany) Frack, Shlomo (Yoss'eleh's son) Fuchs, Noah G Galai, Israel (The Butcher's son)] Ginsberg, Eliyahu Motya (the Hassid, from the Hotel) Glatt (from Lemberg) Gokhovsky, Joseph Goldberg, Dr. Yitzhak – Alive Goldenberg, Min'yeh Goldrei, Abraham (the Ironmonger) Goshchinsky, Yud'l (from the Smokers) Guskin, David (the Artist's son), Abraham Bayer's son-in-law) H Hochman, Mendel – Alive Hoffman (a relative of Moshe Meir Shkolnik) I Itzkowitz, Berel – Alive Itzkowitz, Moshe – Alive Ivensky, Moshe (Fruma Movshovsky's son-in-law)

[Page 387]

J Jesierski (the Photographer's son) K Kagan, Isaac Kaplan, Chaim Yitzhak Kaplan, Gedaliah (son of Joseph the Tinsmith) Kaplan, Leizer Kaplan, Dr. Marek – Alive Kaplinsky (a son of Yaakov Kaplinsky the Baker) Kaplinsky, Dr. Itzel Kass, Moshe (a Tailor) Kessel (from Lemberg) Khananovich, Fish'keh (from Porozovo) Kossowsky, Ziss'l (Dr. Marek Kaplan's brother-in-law) Kossowsky, Joseph (a Carpenter from the Wide Boulevard) – Alive Kossowsky, Shakhna (son of Aaron Kossowsky) Kravchik, Leibl (a Hair Dresser) L Lapidus, Leizer (Shmuel the Smith's son) Lapin, Chaim (Zelda's son from the Wide Boulevard) Lashowitz, Aharon (from Volp) Lashowitz, Meir (Moshe'l the Butcher's son) – a Butcher Lashowitz, Raphael (son of Taleh[1] Lashowitz) – an electronic technician Leshchinsky, Daniel (a Bagel Baker) Lev, Zaydl – Alive Lev, (Shmuel Kravshchik's son-in-law) – Hair Dresser Levin, Mottel[2] (“Koval ” – son of Shlomo the Smith) Levin, 'Nioma (from Svislucz) Levin, Nakhum (a brother-in-law of Kossowsky the Carpenter) – a Carpenter Livkin, Eliyahu (a Porter) Lipshovich, Meir (the son of the Horse-hitcher) M Margolis (from Svislucz) Melamed, Yaakov (Son-in-law of Botvinsky the Shokhet) Mezheritzky, Yeshayahu (the Stone Paver's son) Mopsik, Shalkeh (a Newspaper Vendor) Mordetsky (Abraham the Artist's son) Mordetsky, Herschel (Abraham the Artist's second son) Movshovsky, Alter (a cut goods merchant) Mushatsky, Chaim (Shimon the Tailor's son) O Offenberg, Abraham Olshevsky, Lova[3] (A son of Yisrael from the Tobacco) Olshevsky, Nakhum (son of Yisrael from the Tobacco, came to the Auschwitz camp from Skidel) P Pisetsky, Meir (a Watchmaker) Pisetsky, Shlomo (Meir's son) Pshenitsky, Mulka (a Watchmaker) R Reisner, Zhenya (a one-time fiddler) Rosenbaum, Dr. Alexander (Nionia Kaplan's husband) Rosenberg, Sevik[4] (from Warsaw) Rosenblum, Aharon son of Nakhum from the lemonade factory)

[Page 388]

Rosenblum, Bonya (second son of Nakhum from the lemonade factory) Roziansky, Ahareh (son of Alter) Roziansky, Feivel (younger son of Alter) Rutchik, Avreml (a son of Leib Rutchik of the Wagon Drivers) Rutchik, Yoss'l (a second son of Leib Rutchik) Rutchik Yitzhak (a third son of Leib Rutchik) Rutchik, Yekhezkiel (Pesach's son) Rutchik, Meir (Pesach's second son) Rutchik, Pesach (a Wagon Driver) S Saladukha, Moshe Shiff, Hona (Meir's son from the watch business) Schmutz (Dr. Schmutz's son – the Veterinarian) Shaliota, Yehuda (a son of Bora) Shaliota, Yisrael (a son of Bora) Shchupak, Isaac Shevakhovich, Leizer (a Smith) – Alive Shtumer, Isaac Shtumer, David Sulkes, Zalman (a son of Shmuel) – a Hair Dresser T Tchopper, Yitzhak – Alive Teacher (lived in Lisitsky's house) Tropp, Zaydl (from Porozovo) Tsigelnitsky, Chaim Turiansky, Yisrael-Nott'l (David the Butcher's son) W Weiner, Moshe (son of Shmuel-Sholom the flour merchant)

[Page 389]

The Women A Amstibovsky, Sarah, Mir'el and Helen (sisters of Berel and Dr. Amstibovsky Applebaum, Tcherneh – Alive Arner, Fruma B Boyarsky, Chas'sheh (the Hatmaker's daughter) – Alive E Ein, Rachel (Yoss'l Ein's daughter) Epstein, Gittl (Berel the Tank Repairer's daughter) Epstein, Sonya (Granddaughter of Tailor from Rosh) Epstein, Shayna (from the glass business) F Fan'keh (e.g. Fanny) from Slonim Faralder (wife of Dr. Faralder from Rosh) Feitelevich, Elkeh (the Miller's daughter) – Alive Ferevolnik G Geldner (from Slonim) K Kaplan, Dr. Dora (Dr. Kaplan's wife) Kaplan, Nionia Kaplinsky (a sister of Dr. Kaplinsky) Kimmelman, Paulia Kossowsky, Sulka[5] (from Slonim) L Lifschitz, Shayn'eh – Alive Lifschitz, Elkeh (Shayn'eh's sister) Lev, Zaydl M Maliakovsky, Sonya (from Porozovo) N Nishvitsky, Rachel (from Lisokovo) P Pomerantz, Mikhlah (from Ruzhany) Pshenitsky, Dora (Rosa Einhorn's daughter) R Resnick, Khemeh S Schulman, Tzil'eh (wife of Dr. Schulman from Podoroisk) Sedletsky, Ed'zheh (Dr. Sedletsky's daughter) Shereshevsky, Shifra (a sister of Moshe Shereshevsky) Shevelevich, Alta (from Svislucz) Shidlevich, Alta (from Svislucz) Slonimsky, Guta (granddaughter of Shmuel the Tank Repairer's) Smeizik, Masha – Alive W Weiner, Chaya (a daughter of Yaakov Weiner) – Alive Wolsky (Moshe Wolsky's sister)

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