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The Monument in Memory of the Martyrs of Volkovysk at the cemetery in Nahalat Yitzhak

June 22, 1941	The First Bombing of the City by the Germans
October 14, 1942	The Murder of the Jewish Doctors
November 2, 1942	Concentration of all the Jews of Volkovysk in the Bunkers
November 23, 1942	The First Transport (Jews of Ruzhany) to Treblinka
November 26, 1942	The Second Transport to Treblinka (Jews of Zelva, Porozovo, Mosty', Piesk, Yalovka, Amstibova)
December 6, 1942	The First Transport of Volkovysk and Svislucz Jews to Treblinka
December 8, 1942	The Second Transport of Volkovysk Jews to Treblinka
January 27, 1943	The Final Transport of 1,700 Jews to Auschwitz

In 1938 I was drafted into the engineering division of the Polish Army. I was posted to the city of Lomza. At that time, the tension could already be felt in the relationship between Poland and Germany. Hitler demanded day and night that Poland return the ‘corridor,’ and his armies entered Czechoslovakia.

I recall my days of service in Lomza as being largely favorable. The local Jewish community showed considerable interest in the Jewish soldiers that were stationed in this city, they organized meals for us, many Jews would invite us to their homes for a meal, and on the Sabbath and holidays, we would receive permission to leave camp and attend services at the synagogue.

With the Nazi German invasion of Poland, we were sped to the East Prussian border. The Poles set up a line of defense on this border, and I served with the security guard. Not many days passed, and we began to retreat, but the Germans were reaching our fallback points ahead of us. Our command was left with no options. Many of the officers fled and disappeared. When we reached Slonim, we were left with only one officer, who began to a new reorganization. We began to fortify ourselves on the banks of the Shchara River.

It was on Sunday morning that I requested permission from my commanding officer to go into the city, on the pretense of visiting with members of my family. When I went down a street past a long

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line that had developed to buy necessities, a Jew of about fifty years of age approached me, looked into my face and directly asked, “Are you Jewish?” When I answered affirmatively and told him I was from Volkovysk he said to me: “The Russians have crossed the border, and you have no reason to wander about. A boy like you needs to be with his ‘mother.’ He took me to his home and gave me civilian clothing, and that's how I was transformed into a civilian, and I went out on my army bicycle and headed for Volkovysk.

The roads were full of soldiers and police that had deserted from all of the fronts, and they were armed. I moved along expeditiously, because I knew that if they detained me – I would meet a bitter end. In a pouring rain, and in torn clothing, I reached Zelva. I had relatives in this town, but when I reached them, I must have had an altered appearance. They recognized me only with difficulty.

I stayed in their home until the Russians entered in long columns of vehicles, tanks, foot soldiers and cavalry. There was a great deal of happiness in the town. The Russians were met with song and dance. The political officers of the Russian Army immediately initiated an explanation, and they spared no metaphor in describing all the good and plenty of the Soviet Union. The constant refrain on their lips was, “We have everything” – and the faithful are indeed fortunate…

In the course of walking the streets of Zelva, I met up with several friends of mine from Volkovysk who were fleeing through Zelva on their way home. They proposed that I join them. Together, we rented a horse and wagon, but even so, we did almost the entire trip on foot.

We entered Volkovysk by the road that went past Schlossberg's brick factory. When I reached the center of the city (Boulevard), I discovered some friends there, the newspaper vendor Mopsik, and my brother Berel was there too. The joy at this meeting was indescribable. I walked home with my brother Berel, and along the way, he told me about a pogrom that the Poles had organized against the Jews, the murder of the linen storekeeper Makov, and a Jewish soldier from Piesk. Among the rest of the news he relayed to me, he told me that a friend of my from the army, Mandelbaum, was a guest at our home.

The news about the pogrom organized by the Poles worried me greatly. Suspicions of predations that the Poles might organize against the Jews existed during the first days of the war, and even before that. I was told that several members of HaShomer HaTza'ir, among them my brother Berel, began to organize a self-defense force, in order to anticipate the imminent trouble, and when our friend Mandelbaum reached us by indirect means (he was from Sokolka, and was treated like a son in our home), he also joined this self-defense force. When they found out that in the station there was a train car at the unloading dock, full of abandoned military armaments, they did not lose the opportunity to arm themselves. Among those who carried out this step were: my brother, the son of the smith, Munya Lapidus, and several other young men. Even the workers in the brick factory, most of whom were communists, took weapons from the same place. The defense group that was organized did not get involved in any major actions, because the Polish brigade that was stationed in the city, scattered in the meantime, and the Red Army entered the city. They turned over their weapons to the new regime. There was no need for self-defense from this point on, since the new rulers (the Russians) began to run the city, and set up life in it, according to their will and taste.

A wave of Jewish refugees cascaded over Volkovysk. Most came from the center of Poland, that was already under German control. The Russians saw no need to close this border. Overcrowding was great, and there were refugees in practically every Jewish home. After several months, when the overcrowding became excessive, the synagogues were transformed into gathering places. Wit the consent of the heads of the Jewish community, the army erected a wooden gate around the new and old Mauer Synagogues, and the Ein Yaakov Synagogue (the Large synagogue was left outside the gate), and it was in this way that

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several hundred beds for lodging were added for refugees. On a daily basis, an army field kitchen would arrive at the gated square, and the refugees would receive bread, warm soup, etc., without charge.

At the direction of the new regime, various cooperatives were formed, government and municipal marketplaces, and the factories of Barash were used to repair train cars and engines. In the town of Ros' near Volkovysk, they began to build a military airstrip, and many of the refugees were taken in to work on this project and others in the nearby towns. Political activity was also conducted according to the direction of the new rulers. All parties that existed under the Polish regime – were declared to be illegal. Various Jewish institutions, and also non-Jewish institutions, were taken over by the government, and the Jewish communists that were underground emerged from hiding, received appointments, and became ‘close to the regime.’ In order to help with maintaining order and policing, communist party operatives arrived from Minsk, among them many Jews. The communists were especially active in the police force, and in setting up the cooperatives. One of these was Mulya Schein, a carpenter by trade, who organized all the carpenters in the city, and set up a large cooperative for carpentry. Meir Lidovsky was appointed as the head of labor (Meister), and those that worked in special areas such as wood-carving and furniture making, included myself and Moteleh Shifran. After completing a number of jobs well, and submitted several artistic samples – I received a permit and was even sent for training in Minsk.

In the course of time, the new regime established itself, and Soviet citizenship was extended to the residents of the city, and a temporary, limited citizenship to the refugees. Those deemed by the new regime to be ‘capitalist elements,’ were exiled into forced labor, and a voluntary draft began among the refugees to go work deep in Russia. One day, the regime announced that any refugee interested in returning to their former home should register with the police. Many among the refugees, most of them Jews, went quickly to sign up, because they knew what awaited them from the German regime. The Russians provided trains surrounded by guards for the refugees that were signed up, and the refugees that were crammed into the cars were not taken westward, but rather into the heart of Russia… many young Jews were drafted into the Red Army, among whom as I remember were: my brother Berel, Shmuel Epstein, Naphtali Golder, Daniel Lemkin, and many others. My brother Herschel and I worked in the cooperative, my father worked in the government butcher store, and somehow we survived intact.

When I was notified that I was selected for training in Minsk, I obtained a letter from Chaim Berel the shoemaker to his sister who lived in Minsk. The letter was a form of introduction and entreaty to take me in, and to assist me during the time of my training in Minsk. All the members of my family came to see me off at the train station – and that was the last time I ever saw them.

During my time in Minsk, everything went along calmly up until June 22, 1941. That was a Sunday, and I could sleep to a later hour. When I got up and turned on the radio, I discovered that war had broken out and that Germans had managed already to bomb cities well within Russia, and are advancing at a fast pace. At a later hour, I managed to get a taste of German bombardment, because Minsk was also bombed. The electrical generating plant was also hit, and the city was plunged into darkness. In a number of days, all supplies into the city had stopped, and the city was in flames. I had no news about Volkovysk or my family there. I convinced the family with whom I was living, the Shelovsky family, that we should leave Minsk together and head to the east, but they refused, since they wanted to wait for their son, Vovka. On June 26, 1941 I left Minsk, and under the direction of Mr. Shelovsky, I headed in the direction of Volkovysk.

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The first detachments of German troops marched into Volkovysk on Saturday, June 29, 1941. Their arrival instilled great fear into the Jewish community of the city. The SS Division immediately distinguished itself by its barbarism, and shot at any Jew that they saw along the way. The first victim was Israel Tzemakh (Alibuder's son-in-law) who was shot in the streets on June 29, and many Jews were shot after him. The Jews remained crammed into their partly burned out wrecked homes and in barns, three and four families crowded in at a time, fearful of what awaited them in the near future. Many families sent their children off to nearby towns – Svislucz, Izavelin, Lisokovo, Mosty', and others. The largest percentage of the Volkovysk Jews, together with those who had saved themselves by going into the fields, and then returned later to the city, accommodated themselves anew on the Neuer Gessel, in Karczyzna, and in Zamoscheh, and in the few remaining houses on the other streets. Because of the shortage of housing stock, overcrowding became severe. Signs of hunger began to appear in the city. The Christians pillaged all the stores, and they lacked for nothing. However, the Jews suffered severely from hunger.

The Germans were unable to construct a ghetto as they had done in almost all other Jewish cities and towns, because of the awesome and thorough destruction wreaked by the bombing of the city, there simply was no place where such a ghetto could be constructed. All of Volkovysk, and in particular, the Jewish quarter, looked like one big devastation. In order to set up a ghetto, the Germans would have had to drive the Poles out of that section of the city that had remained intact, from Zamoscheh, Volya, or Karczyzna – and they did not want to take such a step. Six German leaders were appointed to direct the security work of the city, and it was on them that the role fell of carrying out the systematic administration of the local Jewish population.

Regarding the first decrees by the Germans against the Jews, these have already been covered in other chapters incorporated in this book, and we will not repeat them. We will only mention that many fines and punishments were levied for the slightest ‘infractions,’ and the Germans attained their goal in this way – to prevent any possibility of resistance or uprising against their regime.

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The Judenrat

A Judenrat was established in Volkovysk a short time after the arrival of the Germans, but this was quickly transformed into a tool of the Nazis. On one side, the Judenrat directed the internal and external lives of the Jewish community; and from the other side, it was tasked by the Germans to provide Jews for forced labor and carry out all of the cruel decrees of the Nazis.

The entirety of Jewish life became concentrated on the Neuer Gessel in those times. The seat of the Judenrat was found there, in a small building, on the left side of the street, which the Jews referred to as “The White House.” All the departments conducted their activities from a larger building to the right. At the entrance to the yard, was the Secretariat, and the management center of the “Ordnungs-dienst,” from where the Jewish Support Police were called.

The head of the Judenrat was Dr. Yitzhak Weinberg. He served in this position from the day the Judenrat was established up until the time that the Germans arrested him, and later killed him. After that, Noah Fuchs, who had previously been the Deputy Head, took over the position. Dr. Weinberg's closest co-worker was Dr. Yaakov Sedletsky. Both of these doctors, who were so different in their character, nevertheless, joined together in a really harmonious fashion. Dr. Weinberg, previously an assimilated Jew, looked like a gentile, an aristocrat; Dr. Yaakov Sedletsky – a man of the people, was beloved by everyone, and was very popular. Both, however were distinguished in their decent character, commitment to the community, diligence and unusual energy. Both worked ceaselessly, abandoning their personal interests, and because of this, both became very revered by the Jewish populace.

The director of the Secretariat in Dr. Weinberg's time was Noah Fuchs. Assisting them were the heads of different sections who filled various posts.

Because of the shortage of housing stock, the Judenrat also directed effort in this area. It allocated housing on the basis of family size, distributed food, organized free medical help, and had oversight regarding the hygienic and sanitary conditions. For a long time, it also concerned itself with the refugees from White Russia, providing them with the necessary papers and transportation to a variety of more distant cities and towns, primarily to Bialystock. The Judenrat also had a Jewish Support Police, headed at the beginning by M. Khantov, and was later led by a Galician Jew by the name of Glatt.

The Jewish Support Police stood at the behest of the Judenrat and serve the interests of the Jews of Volkovysk. But in reality, it served an entirely different purpose. The reason for this, is that the police body was composed mostly of individuals from the underworld. They made use of the privileges given to them for their own benefit. In particular, one of them named Khiller, “distinguished himself” in this regard, and caused the Jews a lot of trouble. He could not even shame the worst of the Nazis in the way he related to and dealt with the Jews.

The arrests began immediately after the arrival of the Germans in Volkovysk. The arrests were in reality carried out with the use of lists, which had been prepared in advance by anti-Semitic Christians in the city. It was enough when a non-Jew would represent to the police that so-and-so, a Jew, was a communist during the Russian occupation, such a person was immediately arrested and shot the next morning. The arrests were carried on without stop. Those arrested were brought to the “white jail,” which had remained intact after the bombing of the city, and from there, they would be conveyed by buses to the Mayak forest, where they were shot on the spot. In that small forest, ready graves had already been dug for them, prepared by Jewish slave laborers. When it happened that one of these unfortunate young people managed to get out of the clutches of German hands and try to escape, the Poles would catch them and again turn them over to the Nazis.

The arrest of the innocents intensified the feeling of terror and hopelessness among the Jewish populace. One simply was totally uncertain about one's own

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life, and before it was even possible to calm down from this most recent misfortune, the Nazis quite suddenly carried out a new action of mass murder among the Volkovysk Jews. At that time they took over two hundred men to the Mayak forest and shot them all. The news of the fate of the innocent two hundred Jewish victims disassembled the entire Volkovysk Jewish community. Everyone felt totally worthless in the hands of the enemy.

Shortly thereafter, Volkovysk was incorporated into East Prussia, and in this manner became part of the Third Reich. The fact that Volkovysk was counted by the Germans as part of the Third Reich, served as a positive influence on the circumstances of the local Jews. Because, it just happens that in those days, terrifying tales began to reach Volkovysk about mass-pogroms against the Jews in surrounding towns and villages, which were a part of the Eastern Lands,(i.e. enemy territory) such as Dereczin, Slonim, the towns in White Russia, etc. These hopes strengthened after a year went by without any incidents of mass murder or extraordinary events. The Jews began to accustom themselves to the ‘minor’ decrees: the yellow badges were worn, one walked on the edged of the bridge, and in the middle of the road, and not on the sidewalks, one performed hard, forced labor, etc., and took comfort in the hope for redemption and liberation, but those times never came.

Every day, the Judenrat received a list of workplaces where the Jews were compelled to present themselves for work. Hundreds of Jews were compelled to present themselves for the hardest labor: to clean off grass from the wrecked houses, to dig foxholes and other military work. Naturally, the Germans paid no salary for this work. It was exactly the opposite, we thanked God that they gave us the work. This was the sole comfort, that so long as they had a need for Jewish labor, they will continue to let the Jews live. In this respect, by comparison to other cities in which mass murder was committed (Slonim, Baranovich, Lida), the condition of the Jews of Volkovysk in the summer of 1942 was better.

Dr. Yitzhak Goldberg

The attack of the Germans upon a defenseless population continues at an intense level. Every 20-30 seconds there is a new attack, that leaves many citizens, including children, killed. The people are without hope and disoriented, running from one hiding place to the next. Early in the morning, a bomb hit the hospital dispensary. Many sick people were killed. Another bomb hit the house of Dr. Shlackman, the lung specialist… he personally was not at home, because he was sent to a large city in the heart of Russia for additional training. The house was destroyed, and his only son was killed.

The municipal hospital was bombed and many patients were killed. Among the dead were two hospital nurses. Most people found sanctuary in

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cellars, because there were no real places to seek shelter. At four in the afternoon, the Germans began to drop incendiary bombs from their aircraft. The city was entirely engulfed in flames. People took things out of their houses to the extent possible. I saw Stolovitsky the flour merchant running out of his house which was ablaze, in the direction of our house, and he asked me if I had seen any of the members of his family. I had not seen a single one of them – I had stored my diploma in the cellar of our house, but when I saw the degree to which the incendiary bombs were burning up and destroying the houses, I retrieved it, and I still have it with me. It appears that I was the only doctor in Volkovysk that was able to save his original diploma credentials that I had received in Italy.

We took the most essential necessities with us, and we were quick to flee to the house of my brother, Hona, who lived in Karczyzna, outside of the city, where no incendiary bombs fell. Hona lived in a big house with his wife and children. A large yard around the house separated the dwelling from the street. – There was no place to sleep in the house, because many people had gathered in the house and outside it. Everyone wanted to be in a secure place. We slept on the floor. My mother returned to the city at a late hour of the night, to see what had happened to our house. I tried to convince her not to go, but I did not succeed, and because of this, I joined her. That night, I saw our house, and the houses around it consumed in flames. I wanted to get nearer to the house, but the heat surrounding it was not bearable, and I was forced to relent.

The intensive bombardment of the city. Every hour – an alarm. The city is going up in flames, but not all the houses are completely demolished, our house was burned to the foundation ---- I stood with my mother beside our burned out house. She looked, but she didn't say a word. I could well imagine what was going on inside of her. She was a successful business lady. Everyone held her in high regard. She worked hard her during her entire life, and now she saw what the war had done to the fruit of her labors. She was sorrowful, but she reconciled herself to this fate. We went to Levitt's house. This was one of the few houses that hadn't been hit, and we rented a room for ourselves at this house.

My mother went to pray to the Creator of the Universe, that this accursèd war would come to an end, and that peace would return to the world. On the way, we met Mr. Lakhovitsky, who told us that he had not eaten since Sunday. My mother gave him the slice of bread that she had with her, and had set aside for a later time. Lakhovitsky thanked her with few words. More was not possible because of his emotion, and weakness. That night we were in our room at Levitt's house.

The air attacks have reached their peak intensity. The number of dead and wounded grows. There is chaos and anarchy. People are running in all directions. Bombs are falling with no let up next to houses that have been wrecked and burned already. Hopelessness intensifies. At ten in morning, we hear a bomb hit my nephew's house where my brother is sleeping as well. We were all bewildered and worried. Who knows what took place there? We find a hiding place in the cellar of Pelteh, which was a strong brick house and could withstand shells and bomb shrapnel. It was impossible to come out of the cellar because of the relentless bombing. To try and walk to my nephew's house under these circumstances was very dangerous, but my mother was not deterred by this danger. What are bullets and bombs in the eyes of a mother bent on rescuing her son? She went. After a while, when there was something of a lull, it was clarified that my brother was alive, and was not even wounded. He saved his own life literally at the last minute by having fled into the cellar. Many in this house, and nearby houses, were killed. Among the victims, were Dr. Berman, and his five year-old daughter. Dr. Berman had a medical laboratory to do analysis, and he gave his heart and soul to his work. All the doctors trusted him without reservation, because he did his work exceptionally well. Literally, the peak of the profession.

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Many were severely wounded, and I did the best I could in order to speed medical help, eliminate contamination, prevent complications, and move the severely wounded to the hospital.

The Luftwaffe attacks continue. Today, not like usual, they began at 3AM. A bad sign. We leapt out of bed and ran for cover – to Pelteh's cellar. There were many neighbors there already. The bombs were falling close to the place, and on top of this, we could also feel the German artillery very much – cannon and mortar. This was a sign that the Germans were not very far from the city. We were terrified of a direct hit. Shrapnel hit the door and walls of the cellar. We were clearly in great danger. Women and children cried, all of us trembled in fear. Even Russian soldiers came into our hideout, in order to find shelter from the shrapnel. My endangered mother was covered in a cold sweat. A bomb fell beside the cellar, and a huge hole was blown out of the ground, a few meters away from where we were hiding. Someone came to our hideout, and asked me to go speedily, to attend a neighbor at his house, who was severely wounded. He was bleeding profusely, and nobody could stop the bleeding. I went there quickly, and I stopped the bleeding, cleaned the wound, and put on a bandage. On my way back, I met my mother, who wanted to return to our room at Levitt's. I went with her, and attempted to obtain some food for her. I succeeded in getting a little bit of milk, but my mother refused to drink. Instead, she took her Siddur and began to pray to God that the destruction and devastation should stop. I laid down on the sofa, because I was very tired, and I fell asleep immediately. My mother woke me up after barely an hour, and asked that I bring water to my father who was in Pelteh's shelter, because he was very thirsty. I got up, and took a pitcher of water with me. I had to pass a short distance to reach the hideout. I was already beside the hideout, when the bombing resumed. I quickly jumped into the cellar, and gave my father the water.

Suddenly, we got news that Levitt's house, where I had barely an hour before, talked with my mother, who was praying from her Siddur, was hit by a bomb dropped by a German pilot. At this news, I quickly exited the cellar. Without paying attention to shrapnel and bombs, I ran to the bombed house where my mother was. It was impossible to enter the burning house. There were explosions without end. I laid down on the ground and waited for a lull. The house is disintegrating. My father and brother quickly reached the place, on the run. We cut a way for ourselves through the wreckage. I focused on the place where my mother had been sitting a while ago. Feverishly, we cleared the wreckage at that spot, and one of her hands was revealed, which had a gold ring on one of her fingers. We extracted her body from the wreckage. My mother! My beloved mother was dead. At the same instant, many German planes began to drop bombs. We found cover under a pile of bricks. In a matter of seconds, the house went up in flames. Thanks to my mother, who had sent me with a pitcher of water to my father, I was saved and remained alive. This was the first miracle that occurred to me.

Original footnote:

1. Dr. Goldberg was born in Ruzhany, but came to Volkovysk while still a boy. His father (Yaakov) and his mother (Hannah) were active in the community affairs of the city. His son, Yitzhak was a student first at the Tarbut School, and afterwards at the Polish High School. He enrolled as a medical student in Vilna, continued in Prague, and completed his medical studies in Italy. A short while before the outbreak of the war, he began to work as a doctor at the Jewish hospital in Volkovysk, and continued in his position during the Soviet occupation. A few days after the Nazis entered the city, Dr. Goldberg's mother was killed. He went with the members of his family to Ruzhany, and from there he was sent to Lisokovo where he worked as the municipal doctor. Dr. Goldberg was taken along with the Jews of Lisokovo when they were expelled to Volkovysk, and he again began to work at the Jewish hospital, and went through all the tribulations of the Jewish doctors until he reached Auschwitz. In his English book, Dr. Goldberg describes what went on in Volkovysk during the first days of the war. We transcribe the first chapter here. Return

In the summer of 1942, when the situation was so serious that the vicinity was plagued with outbursts of pogroms and mass slaughtering, and tides of Jewish blood were being spilled in Slonim, Baranovich, Lida, and many other places – there was relative quiet in Volkovysk. Despite this, a part of the young people perforce understood the seriousness of the situation, and they took stock of the imminent danger that was preparing to arrive. We worked in secret, and managed to establish contact with a larger group of Russian partisans, that was located in the Zamkova Forest. The first ones to establish contact with the partisans were Sarah Rubin and her brother-in-law. Once, Sarah's brother-in-law turned to me (this was before we started to work together), and asked me if I would go into the forest to repair a radio there that belonged to a group of

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partisans. I responded positively to this request, because of my desire to participate in a practical way with real partisans. It was agreed that on the following Sunday, I would go into the forest, and in the meantime, I would equip myself with the necessary equipment to repair a radio.

I knew fully well the danger in this step, because there was a standing order that any Jew found outside of the city was to be shot. As to entry into the forest, that goes without saying. There, it was forbidden even for non-Jews to enter. Anyone found in the forest or in its vicinity was taken for a partisan and shot on the spot. However, we reached the designated point without incident. A sentry from the partisans waited for us in the forest. I saw before me a sympathetic young Russian boy with a light machine gun in his hand. We identified ourselves, and afterwards we were taken into the depths of the forest to his group. After an hour of walked through byways and various paths, and contact with a variety of sentry posts, we reached a camouflaged location among trees that were low and close together. A number of tents stood on a small square . A campfire burned in the middle of the square, and a cheerful group of Russian men and women soldiers were carrying on a lively conversation. I saw that I was in a different world that enchanted me from the first minute.

I was presented to the commander, a tall pleasant looking fellow from Georgia,^[1] and they showed me the place where the radio was, and asked me to repair it, because it had been several days without any news from Moscow, and because of this, they were cut off from news at the various fronts. I went to work immediately, and in a matter of several hours, I returned the radio to its normal state, and it began to function again. They were very satisfied with the work that was done, and I had sufficient time to engage in conversation, and become familiar with their work. All of them were soldiers of the Red Army that had retreated in the midst of battle, and there were even a number of Jews among them. They did a great deal of sabotage: blew up bridges, tore up rail lines, burned grain stores, etc. The Germans had the impression that the area contained an entire army, a large force, and the Germans at night, had to mount a watch of peasant farmers with staves along the entire length of the rail line, but even this was to no avail. In the mornings, they would find piles of peasant farmers from their district tied up together in rope. The role of young people from Volkovysk was far from minimal in these actions. They provided all the necessary materiel, starting with medicines, and ending with the tools for destruction. One of the most dedicated of the workers in connection with this important work, was the Smith, Bom Zuckerman, Lemkin's son, and others.

I wanted very much to remain with these partisans, and not return to the city, but they decided that it was incumbent upon me to continue working with the existing group that already existed in the city, whose primary mission was to organize young Jewish men, and in a measured process, transfer them out to the forest. Towards evening they escorted me out of the forest, and we returned to the city. The forest was the province of the partisans.

Thanks to my work in the export slaughterhouse, I had the opportunity to procure many different things that were needed by the partisans. I would put these things in Sarah Rubin's hands, and she would get them to the right place. Several times, on Sunday, the day of rest, I would myself go into the forest. Largely, this was because I had been designated to communicate a specific mission. I became very friendly with the group, and I did the best I could to help these young Jewish partisans. Despite the relatively quiet conditions in Volkovysk, we knew that the evil would not pass us by, and that is how it was.

It was in September of 1942, a week before Rosh Hashana.. That same night, after work, Sarah Rubin came to me with a weird notice: I was being summoned. I understood who was calling, and I immediately presented myself at the designated location. A Russian girl was waiting for me, and she

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told me to go along with her, because she is an emissary of the commander. I went without reservation. The truth of the matter was, that the situation was not conducive to thinking things out, because on the following day, I was required to be at work, and that would no longer be possible, and not to show up for work to the Germans was called ‘sabotage,’ which carried a death sentence by firing squad, but I did not hesitate, and followed in the footsteps of the Russian girl. There was an air of mystery about this. I didn't know what suddenly prompted this summons at night, and what caused this pressure for immediacy. I thought perhaps they found some fault with me, and I would have to defend myself, or maybe it has some connection to the arrest of the doctors. In short – I found myself bewildered and disoriented.

At about midnight, after passing many sentry posts, we reached the camp. Everyone except for the watch were already asleep. They showed me to a place where I could lie down. Only on the morrow would I be able to talk to the commander apparently in connection with repairing the radio again. I breathed more easily. In the morning, after questions about what was going on in the city, and other things, he told me that the radio had malfunctioned, and that I would have to fix it rapidly. The commander told me, that because of the large size of the group, and apart from this, because of the oncoming winter, the position of the group in a small forest in relation to bare trees, was not secure enough, and it is incumbent upon them to move to larger forests, with the intent of going to Bielovez. He told me to get ready, to provision myself with a variety of necessities, and with tools, and in the following week I was responsible to come on the day of the planned move.

I worked there until afternoon, and fixed the radio, and one of them escorted me out of the forest, and from there I walked into the city. I skipped over the roads, choosing to walk through fields, in order to avoid passing people and buses. When I arrived at the city itself, from the side of the slaughterhouse, very near to Volya, it was already five o'clock. Even before I entered my house, as I was walking along the Grodno Gasse, facing Tatarski [Gasse], I met Fish'keh, a butcher who worked with me. He ran to me greatly upset; Roitman, where have you been? The Chief of Police is looking for you.

A cold sweat covered me. I knew the implications of not showing up at work. I began to think up alibis, and among these thoughts I reached home. When I entered the house, they all surrounded me and told me that the Chief of Police had personally come here to look for me. I apprehended that the matter was serious, because it was not usual for the Chief of Police (A German Officer, SD) to personally come for a matter of an arrest, but rather to send members of the auxiliary police. It became known to me, that in addition to arresting the doctors, they had yesterday also arrested electricians and several radio technicians, among them: Herschel Galiatsky, Polya, and others. I was also told that the Chief of Police said that I had until 9:00PM to appear at the police station, and if not – there isn't more to say…

I decided to go in to see the manager and to advise him of what had transpired, and he liked me and had trust in me. He soothed me, and told me that I am very diligent in my work, and there is nothing to fear, that he will be asked – he will testify that I was busy with a specific assignment of work away from my normal place of work, and they will release me immediately. His words calmed me a bit, but I had barely left the manager's office, when I saw two Polish auxiliary policemen from Volkovysk coming at me, Chmienecki and Mihalczek, saying that they had a warrant to arrest me; they had already been to my house. I was brought to the police station. There, I met up with four men who had already been arrested, two strangers whom I did not recognize, and: Galiatsky and Polya. I was asked why had I come so late? Where was I? I relied on my manager, and I said that I was busy at work, and they ordered me to go outside, and we got into the plain SS car which we recognized only too well, as the one with which they would take all the accused Jews of the city to be shot with machine guns outside of the city in the nearby forest. After a short hour of riding in the dark, he turned the car and entered a gate. We did not know in advance where they were taking us, but

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when the car stopped and they ordered us to get out, and they took us into an underground bunker (a cellar), we saw that we were in the Barracks extermination camp. This was the famous camp that the Germans put up in 1941 using Russian prisoners of war. Here, in the dark bunker, I recognized the other prisoners, and from my conversations with them, I discovered that the accusation against me was providing help to the partisans in the repair of their equipment. I decided not to admit any guilt, because if I did, I would create the possibility of an accusation that the Jews of Volkovysk were aiding the partisans – a very serious accusation liable to bring a Holocaust down on the Jews.

On the following morning at daybreak, we saw through the single tiny window that was above the door to the bunker, that was flat with the ground, that the doctors were coming out of the bunker opposite us. The water source was close to our bunker, and it was in this fashion that we were able to exchange a few words through the iron bars on the tiny window. Dr. Weinberg told us in a few words that they were accused of providing medical help to the partisans. He related that a number of them had already been interrogated. In general the doctors presented themselves as not having fallen in their spirits. They looked tired, and without adequate sleep. However, in general, they appeared to hold themselves well. Especially Weinberg, who stood looking fresh and energetic. At that time we saw Dr. Weinberg, Velovsky, Dr. Cantor, Dr. Tropp, Dr. Press, and Dr. Sedletsky. Afterwards, when the men had finished washing, they brought out the women, among many Russian women, and also Jewish ones from the vicinity, we saw Rosa Einhorn and Piesikova.

After a few days, we got a good report that they were letting Rosa Einhorn and Piesikova go free. On the hells of this news, our spirits improved, and the spirits of the doctors improved; they began to believe that their fate was not yet sealed. Three of my comrades and I were able to prove this as a matter of the actual truth, and I was able to do so by relying on an agreement with my manager that he would vouch for me being at work on that day, but the doctors could not prove their innocence. After the three other electricians and I were set free, it became clear that it was not our successful justifications that stood us in good stead, but rather the German managers for whom we worked, involved themselves in the matter, and indicated that our work was very critical for them.

We hoped that the doctors too, would be released, but it became clear that the Gestapo had brought a group of Jewish doctors from Bialystock to Volkovysk, in place of those who were arrested, and on October 14, 1942, the Gestapo took a group of Jews for work on a special detail; it took them out to the Izavelin Forest, and forced them to dig a large pit meant for the Jewish doctors. When the pit was dug, they took them away to some distance, and after barely an hour, they heard the sound of machine gun fire that killed the doctors.

Now, there is no longer any point for it to remain a secret, that Dr. Weinberg himself, the Head of the Judenrat gave the medical attention to the wounded partisans. It is only a pity that there were so few like Weinberg! He understood that there was an obligation but he did not choose to confess under interrogation that he had in fact rendered this assistance, because such a confession carried the risk of endangering all the members of the Judenrat, of which he was the head, and perhaps all of the Jews of Volkovysk.

The day on which the Jewish doctors died was a bitter and abrupt one for the Jewish populace of Volkovysk. Now the illusion that perhaps the Jews of Volkovysk would be spared from the fate of the Jews of surrounding towns and villages, was shattered. Now they knew it all: the end was rapidly drawing nigh.

Translator's footnote:

1. That is Russian Georgia, or Gruzinia. Return

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– I was seventeen years old when the Nazis reached our city. The first decrees: to sew two yellow badges on our clothing, to wear only wooden shoes, and a prohibition against walking on the sidewalks, were actually quite benign decrees compared with what was to come later.

It was 1942 (I don't remember the exact date), when the Germans broke in the windows and doors of the houses. They broke the window panes, and ordered everyone outside in order to walk to the ghetto. Asleep and half-naked, everyone went outside. Mant's wife walked with us, beautiful and sweet. She swallowed some pills and gave them to her children. They never reached the ghetto. They remained at the side of the road. Mant was killed by the bullets of the Nazis.

We entered the ghetto. The wife of Dr. Feinberg stood at the gate entrance laughing. She had lost her mind. Her husband, and all the Jewish doctors in the city had previously been murdered. It was hot in the ghetto, and the children were very thirsty. It was near a well of water, but there was little water in it. About twenty German soldiers stood there and laughed at the desperate mothers trying to slake the thirst of their children. In those moments I thought: is it possible that these are also human beings?

When we were in the camp, we saw how they daily took out the corpses of people that had died of hunger. In order to be certain that people did not feign death in order to escape from the camp, the corpses were stabbed with bayonets. Once they brought us to the bath house. It was awful and terrifying to look at the naked people. Skin and bones. They attempted to shake the lice that stuck to them off of their bodies. This was not easy. There was very little water with which to do this.

The end of January. I came out in the morning and saw naked corpses. The living would strip the clothing off of the dead. We were hungry, and the hungry are always cold. I saw a little boy rolling on the ground, crying terribly. They took him out along with the dead. The image of this little boy haunted me for a long time.

I decided to get out of the camp no matter what. Up to this time only two people escaped from the camp: Levin and Galai. They were caught, and dug their own graves. I approached the guard at the side of the gate, and I put some money in his hand. He refused to take only money, and demanded a watch as well as the money. He took everything, and told me to hide myself until the changing of the guard, but meanwhile, he would send me to the head of the SS of the ghetto. I realized that I had failed with this guard. In the meantime, my mother arrived, and she begged the German guard to free me, but in reply to her entreaty, he pointed his weapon at her. At the time of the changing of the guard, the sentry took me to the SS commander and conveyed what had been said between us, and he even put what he had taken from me on the table. I was sent to jail.

Towards nightfall, they called me and told me to bring other valuables (after they had divided up what I had previously brought). I remained in the ghetto, in the men's section. My father and brother were also there, and that night I spent without my mother. In the morning, they took men to work on the mail, and I joined them. The following day, I succeeded in taking my brother along to work on the mail. My fried Sasha came there, advised me to get out of there, and promised to help me, but they did not succeed in getting my father out.

End of February 1943. We were among the last to remain. In the evening, the Germans gathered us together, conducted a roll call, and I managed to get away. I remember how I reached the bathroom. I took out several boards, and found myself outside, in an unfamiliar yard. The German started to shoot indiscriminately. All around there was pandemonium and yelling. Bitter cries of people. I ran with all my might, and reached the Russian cemetery. I did not fear the dead. I especially feared the living. I knew that I had to continue to run. Suddenly, I bumped into a policeman, who apparently did not recognize me, and he graciously begged my pardon. I walked in the direction of our home. Sasha worked on the first floor, and it was forbidden to enter there. I didn't have the strength to get up to the second floor, because death reigned there. I hid in the stable.

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At two in the morning, Sasha came and took me into a warm house. That night, they searched Sasha's house. In the morning, I transferred to the attic in the house. It was intensely cold, and a cutting wind was blowing. I had a bottle of spirits beside me, and one gets drunk from spirits. Suddenly voices reached me. I understood that they were conducting a search in my house. They did not detect the attic, and there was no ladder that stood by the entrance to it. The searchers tore the planks, the pillows and sheets that were in my room, and left.

After a week, I went out to a village dwelling in Kanbaczy. The homeowner was a stutterer, and his wife received me with glowering looks. According to an oral agreement, between me and the woman, we arranged for me to remain there until the end of the war. After about two months of being there, the master of the house told me that his wife was scheming to cancel the agreement, and before anything else, she wanted to tear my eyes out. Then he added haltingly, “But I feel for you.” She demanded money from me, and I could not meet her demand. The pressure grew. On one Sunday, when I held the homeowners little daughter by the hand, the homeowner came to me as if drunk, with a terrorized look on his face, took his little girl away from me and threw her to the ground, and attempted to take me in his arms. I felt his large hands on my throat, and the thought raced through my mind that I am at the brink of death, and a useless death at that. I saw a knife on the table. In a second, the homeowner lay on the floor bleeding. In the corner lay his daughter, not recognizing anything. I did not regret what I did, and after a while when the wife came and saw her wounded husband, she began to question me as to who wounded him. I told her that e apparently had hurt himself in the house. One thing was clear to me from this point on: I had to get out of there as quickly as possible.

I promised the wife that I would leave the house in a matter of days, and I stood by my story that her husband had hurt himself in the house. The injured man apparently didn't know what was being discussed, but his glare did not bode well.

In two days, the brother of the wife came to the house. At that time, I was sitting beside the stove. He laid down on the bed without taking his eyes off me, and after barely an hour, he let go words to the effect that it would be quite expensive to settle this matter for Kaplinska. I had nothing to fear, and I told him that the money that I had was now in his sister's hands. He got dressed, and said he was going to the police station. I smiled, because I couldn't cry at that moment. He replied: “Money, Kaplinska, or you will stop laughing forever.” His sister, the woman of the house, promised him the money and my fur coat. They emptied a few more glasses, and in the morning, he traveled somewhere with his sister. A miracle happened, and he died along the way, and he took his secret with him.

After a while Sasha arrived, and we spoke of meeting in the forest in a few days. She told the woman of the house that if she valued the life of her daughter – that she shouldn't dare touch me, and she really didn't touch me, but she made my life miserable and starved me until I met Sasha in the forest. We walked the entire night for a distance of 20 kilometers. We were forced to go around the settlements along the way, and hunger gnawed at me greatly. We reached the forest sentry. Sasha went ahead, and I waited at the entrance to the forest. Suddenly, I saw two sparks of light, and it looked to me like two people were smoking cigarettes. I was frightened, because nothing was worse to me at that time than men. To my good fortune, it turned out that the two points of light were coming from the eyes of a wolf, And wolves in those days were better than people…

In the morning, I reached the house of Sasha's parents. During the first days, I succeeded in not appearing in front of his family, but after a while, it became impossible for them not to sense my presence. His father said to me, after seeing my embarrassment, that I should leave the house immediately. In reaction to this Sasha said, that if I leave – he will leave as well. He made me a hideout. For two years, I his under the floor, and I suffered everything that comes with such a condition. I learned how to dress and wash in the dark, without the light that would surely give me away.

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Meanwhile the front drew closer to us. The thunder of the Russian cannon got closer, and were like a sweet melody to my ears. The Nazis retreated, but along their retreat, they blew up and destroyed everything they could lay their hands on along the way. We came out of the house and dug out foxholes. I remember the last German airplane that dropped a bomb only a few meters away from our foxhole. It was swallowed up in the ground, as if it too, was tired of the continuing war…

All the things that I am telling you in my letter do not even encompass one percent of what I endured. I have written you these things because I am of the opinion that your children and grandchildren need to know how their kin suffered and vanished.

The partisan, Eliyahu Kovensky was interviewed upon his arrival in Israel by Eliezer Kalir, and he told him about all that had happened to him from the day the war broke out. Kovensky was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union because of his outstanding abilities in fighting the Germans.

On my street, on the Neuer Gasse, a bomb fell, and the children were covered with shards of glass. I extracted the children, and fled with them in bare feet to a field in Karczyzna. In my haste, I took only the bicycle. The house was on fire. I also had a cow. She was in the pasture. Towards evening I waited for her on return from the meadow, and I took her with me into the field, in the place we had bedded down in Karczyzna. There, one of the employees of the railroad approached me, and proposed that I seel him the bicycle. I did a deal with him. I gave him the bicycle in exchange for a blind horse and wagon. I tied the cow to the wagon, and together with my wife and children, we set out in the direction of Zhetl, where I had a father, four brothers and two sisters. The Germans were there already also, however they hadn't handled people badly. And after the tribulations of Volkovysk – I breathed easier here. In this way, about a week went by.

On the eighth day, they ordered all the Jews from age seven to seventy to gather in the marketplace square, to form rows, and they told them to sing and dance. This went on for three hours. The Christians stood beside their houses, on their balconies, holding their hands to their bellies and rolling with laughter. After three hours of this, they chose 120 men (from what we learned later: they were sent to Novogrudok and shot them to death), ordered everyone to put on yellow badges, and to return home. After a

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short while, another order was issued to turn over gold, jewelry and money: – and when the Jews were brought together on the market square, for purpose of turning over their assets and what they had worked for so hard – a German felt around in the pocket of one woman, and found a gold ring, and he then shot her to death in front of everyone else.

In this way, 8-9 months went by. We had already heard about the massacres in Slonim, Kozlovshchina, and in the towns of the vicinity, but we thought the evil would pass us by: we worked for the Wehrmacht, and our ‘Overseer,’ was not all bad. In the meantime, a ghetto was put into the town. They assembled the Jews into two streets, fenced them off with barbed wire – at the height of a man, with a gate, and we would have to pass through it on our way to work, under police guard.

On May 1, 1942, the ghetto was suddenly surrounded, and they ordered everyone to go out to the old cemetery for the purpose of receiving new ‘papers.’ Many did not respond to the order and hid themselves in ‘hideaways,’ that everyone had prepared individually in the ghetto. At seven in the morning, when the Germans reached the place, and saw that very few people were coming – they went to the houses and took them out of their hiding places and gathered together three thousand people. My family and I lay in a hideaway, and they didn't find us. On the square they ordered that people form up in rows, and they began a selection: right, left! It became clear that this was a matter involving death – but they didn't know which way was death – to the right side, or the left side!…

They gathered 1800 people together, and took them for a distance of a kilometer – to the outskirts of the town – and there they saw huge pits, ready. Gentiles from the two villages had dug them during the night, and machine guns stood not far from them… they started to bring twenty people at a time. They shot them – into the pit… except for the last 60, there was no room left in the pits – so they sent them back to town, and they told how people tore their hair out, pulled out their teeth, went crazy, how the air was shaken with the screams and wailing, how the elderly Rabbi of Zhetl did not stop praying, reciting verses of the Psalms from memory, the confession of Avinu Malkeinu, and of Ashamnu, Bagadnu; But when he saw with his own eyes, that they were killing people by shooting them, and tossing them into the pits like slaughtered cattle, he had a change of attitude, and began to rail against the heavens, shouting with his last strength: here, is this the justice of the Law, here, merciful and considerate God, what has my precious and pure congregation done to deserve this?!… he pulled out the hair of his beard, tore the shirt on his back, and with hands outstretched to the heavens – was taken to the slaughter!

My uncle Leizer Kovensky, a jolly and alert Jewish man, one of the people from whom advice was sought in the city, and my uncle Shmuel Kovensky, with his father – had a bottle of whiskey. They drank the whiskey, recited their confession, lay down together, and were shot. The entire process didn't take more than two hours!

– Eight weeks had not gone by, when they again surrounded the ghetto, and ordered everyone out onto the market square. My family and I, and 50 other people, were hidden in a bunker, but this time they found us, and took us all out to the marketplace square. When we arrived at the marketplace square, we met five hundred people already there, who lay with their heads on the ground, with boots off, they also made us get down on the ground, telling us to take our shoes off as well, and let us lie there for a half an hour. Afterwards, they ordered us to get up, arranged us into rows, and told us to go in the direction of the pits. Along the way, wives became separated from their husbands, their children, struggling, screaming, insanity… trapped together, we were led along the street to the cemetery… on our way, we ran into those who were already killed – men and women – lying in the gutters. At the corner of the street stood the SS commander – the overseer of the slaughter, with a detachment of Germans, and they chose a quantity of people from the rows. When he saw me – he said snappily: – Rimmer Meister! – Kopf hier! My wife and children held onto me, and didn't want to let me go… and at that moment, they shot my wife… she fell at my feet like a sheaf of grain… the

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boy begged – don't shoot me, I am only 8½ years old! A bullet ended his begging. They dragged me and threw me into a stable, a place where there were already several hundred people – and they locked us in for two days. The rest of the people were taken to the pits, and they killed every last one of them. The ground heaved for three straight days, and the blood did not stop from running out of the pits – that's what the peasants told us. In the town, not a single Jewish soul remained alive. I, along with 212 people who had been detained in the stable, were sent to a camp in Novogrudok that had approximately 4000 people in it, who were divided up int detachments and did a variety of work for the army. After being there for eight days there – and seeing that the whole deal was leading to oblivion – they gave no food, and treated us with cruelty – 14 of us organized ourselves, and we escaped into the Zhetl forest in the middle of the night, from behind the wires.

When we escaped, we had only one pistol among all of us. During the day, we would sleep in the forest, and with the night, we would get up and go to look for bread and anything else in addition to it. – because we knew the area well, we knew which of the peasants had Soviet arms; we would come at night, wake him up from his sleep, and ask him to give us his rifle, – and if not, we told him to grab a shovel and start digging a hole for himself. In regards to food, we didn't run into difficulty, but regarding armaments, we had to deal pretty harshly with them, to the point where the children would start to cry and beg: father, give them the rifle – so that they don't kill you… in this manner, we accumulated arms for 14 men.

After being 12 days in the forest, we decided to send 5 men to make contact with the larger groups of partisans, about whom we had heard, and who were partly composed of Jews who had fled the massacres, and Red Army personnel who had stayed behind. I and four others went out on this expedition to a certain village, and asked a peasant who was known to us, whether anyone from the partisans comes there at night; the peasant showed us a path, and according to the tracks, we entered the forest, and after a few hours of wandering around the forest, we ran into the watch – a Jew with a rifle. When he saw us approaching, he aimed his rifle at me…Hold on there, my fellow Jew, I rebuked him. After so many slaughtered Jews – you're the first Jew ready to fire a bullet! Blessings upon you, and please tell us, how can we reach your commander? – I related to him who I was, and he directed me into the forest. Deeper in the forest, around a campfire, there were several hundred armed men, Jews and soldiers, with the commander in their midst – a Russian Lieutenant. I came up to him, and explained to him where I had come from, and that with me there are fourteen men, all armed. He told us to come, and that we would be together. I sent 2 men and they brought the nine others. Once we were together, we decided what we have to do from now on: we sent people into the forest, and gathered together all the small groups, and in a short time, we had organized about us a complete brigade of 1000 men – all of them armed from head to toe. – The Russian Army had sunk a great deal of weaponry in the Shchara River – so we dragged a great deal of weaponry out of the river, including even a couple of tanks. In our area, another group of Jews from Dereczin were active, headed by the well-known Dr. [Yekhezkiel] Atlas. They did not want to join us; they were beautifully organized, and operated their own forces. The name of the group was: The Atlas Battalion. Once, Dr. Atlas came to us with five men, and proposed that we go blow up the bridge across the Neman River. Our commander agreed, and appointed me to go with another person from Zhetl – Medvetsky – to support Atlas. We fished out underwater shells from the river, dried them out, and from the villages, we obtained from the peasants gunpowder and six bottles of turpentine, and in the middle of the night, we went to the Bilitz Bridge. In our stealthy approach, the first thing we did was roll the German sentry into the river, and then we blew up the bridge. Dr. Atlas, came to ask the commander to transfer me to him as a battalion commander. With his consent, I transferred to Atlas, and became head of the battalion. It happens that in that battalion, there were many Jews from the town of Kozlovshchina. When all the commanders got together, we established that we had forces required to launch an attack, and on one clear morning, we fell upon the town, and fought the Germans for four

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hours. I used a ‘Maxim,’ the machine gun with 259 cartridges of 13 caliber. The Germans put up a stiff resistance – but we broke into the center of the town, set fire to it on all sides, we killed 30 military police, and we captured the SS commander who had conducted the massacre, and brought him alive into the forest. In the forest, we untied him, and from the same rope, we fashioned a stout noose, and hung him. It was in this fashion that the Jews of Kozlovshchina took revenge for the spilling of the blood of the Jews in Kozlovshchina, and the aging Rabbi of Kozlovshchina, whom they dragged behind a wagon, and afterwards was buried alive. This attack was lead by a Russian Lieutenant Bulat, who was missing one hand.

In the meantime, the groups grew daily, and in time, the strength of the partisan forces grew substantial in the forest, and it created earthen bunkers, equipped itself with horses, cattle, a great deal of weaponry and cannons. After a time, an attack on Dereczin was organized. We surrounded it on all sides, and we set the streets on fire, we killed many Germans and took them prisoner, we captured horses and armaments. Towards the end of 1942, the Germans sent a very strong force against us. They surrounded the forest, and we carried on a battle with them for three straight days. We lost many men, among them Dr. Atlas, the Jewish Hero with such a gentle soul, the fearless warrior commander. May he rest in peace! He died beside me, and his last words were: be strong and take courage, my brother, take vengeance for the spilled blood of our brethren, of our unfortunate people! We brought him to final rest on a hillock in the forest, and we honored him as a partisan, and we surrounded his grave with shell casings – the Jewish partisans knew where the final resting place of their commandant was – and perhaps some day, they will bring him to be buried in Israel. Seeing that the German forces were superior to ours, we set ourselves a course, and retreated back into the forests of Slonim.

During the siege, we sustained ourselves with a few potatoes, or from small handfuls of dried grain. The Russian officers sent [troops] into the surrounding villages to bring food – however, little was given to the Jews. Then I sent several men from my group to bring food. However, along the way, the Germans rained down a hail of bullets on them, and they returned empty-handed.

Out of intense anger, I returned to the forests we came from with my group. The following morning, the commander came to me all heated up: who gave you permission to leave the battalion!? I answered him, that when I saw my group was hungry – therefore, I could not be with him. Meanwhile, he sensed that two of the women partisans did not have their arms. – Where are the rifles? – he turned and asked. They explained to him, that in their escape from the siege, they threw their rifles away. He took down his rifle, and shot the two girls on the spot^[a], and pointed his rifle at me. – Shoot, I said to him, if I deserve it! He relented from using the rifle… – True, he said – you don't deserve it, and just remember that this time I forgive you!

We returned again to the brigade that we had left a day ago.

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In a short while, a group of paratroopers reached us – 112 men, directors, officers and troops. They took over the leadership of the partisan movement completely. They asked the leadership for four people who know the area very well, the roads and the rail lines. The leader designated me as one of their escort. In this manner, I was transferred to the paratroop battalion, in which I participated in various partisan actions, I blew up 19 German trains, I destroyed rail lines, and when the Red Army crossed the border into Byelorussia, we delayed the German trains for two straight weeks between Minsk and Baranovich. Under the command of the paratroopers, a standing partisan army of approximately seventy thousand men was organized, in the wastes of [the] Naliboki [Forest], between Baranovich and Stalovichy, that encompassed entire districts, that would regularly receive arms and tools for sabotage from the air, directly from Moscow, and transport the wounded to Moscow, where they could be treated in Russian hospitals.

In 1943, the Germans launched a mighty siege against the Naliboki wastes. Through espionage, they discovered the extent of our forces, and on one bright morning, a full German Division surrounded the forest, with tanks and planes. They went through the entire forest, and we fought them for fifteen days. Being a good fighter, I excelled in many of battles, and I was awarded with the Medal of Honor, First Class of the partisans, and the Red Star, and an Order of Battle for the Fatherland, Second Class. In 1944, I was awarded the Order of Lenin.

On July 19, 1944, during a battle with the German guard near Stalovichy, I was designated with storm troopers to blow up German bunkers of concrete and steel. After exchanging fire for four hours, we could not get the upper hand over the Germans, who dug themselves into their bunkers, and rained heavy fire down on us – we received an order to attack the bunkers frontally with hand grenades. We stormed the bunkers and succeeded in getting two grenades inside, against the tanks that were inside the bunkers, where 18 Germans lay. All of them were blown into the air.

In running from this bunker, I was fired upon with a machine gun from a second bunker about five meters away, and the fingers of my right hand were shot off. Because of swiftness, I was able to mount my horse (I was a horseman), forded the Neman, with a boot full of blood – and I swam to the rapid aid provided by the partisans, which was on the second side of the Neman. They bandaged my hand, and brought me 10 kilometers deeper into the forest, where there was a sanitary station. My fingers were supposed to be amputated, and there was no anesthetic to put me to sleep. Out of great pain, I gritted my teeth to the point where they broke slightly. Then, my partisan comrade Boruch Levin came over to me, and with a fist placed near my mouth said: take and bite my hand – and to the doctor – cut!….

When I got a little better – they sent me to our aerodrome station in the forest, and from there, by plane to Moscow. There, I lay in various hospitals for eight months. My hand was operated on twice. As a Hero of the Soviet Union, I enjoyed the best attention and care. After my recuperation, I returned to my home areas, which had by them\n already been liberated. However, I met not a single person, only one grave after another. I came to Zhetl with a cluster of the partisans that remained, and we erected a memorial to our exterminated brothers and sisters, above their common grave.

From Zhetl, I walk to the city where I had spent the best of my years, where I had married my wife, and where my beloved children were born, who were so dear to me – the heartwarming city of Volkovysk. But there, I did not even find graves! All the Jews of Volkovysk had been turned into ashes in the crematoria of Treblinka and Auschwitz… It was in my heart to simply spread myself out, down on the ground, and weep without end… A familiar gentile (Bulyash Sharyika) ran into me, and asked me into his house, to sit down, and asked if I wanted something to eat? No, I said, I am full, you're welcome; but out of our friendship, give me a little ashes!… I took the ashes, and spread them on my head, I went out to the street and sat on a rock. I sat Shiva for my wife, my children, and the dear Jews of Volkovysk… The gentiles looked at me in sympathy

[Page 136]

for my sorrow. Well, I said to them, now you have it good, there are no more Jews.”

They attempted to justify themselves: we are not responsible for this thing, we did not get involved… in the place where the hammer and sickle reign – there is still some respect for the Jew, and his life is not entirely forfeit!… and words to that effect.

I went out to look for the solitary Jewish partisans, who had remained in the city, I took my leave of them, threw my knapsack over my shoulder, and went out on the road. Through cities and towns that had been destroyed, towns without Jews! I headed to the east, to the Alps, to the way that leads to Israel!

Original footnote:

1. a. Shelovsky, Feyge - (Fanya), Daughter of Yitzhak & Rachel. Born in Dereczin. Fled with her family into the Lipiczany forests, and joined the Pobeda Brigade.
   During the sortie, she participated in all battles. When the pressured partisans were surrounded, many hid their weapons, lest they fall into German hands. When her unit returned to its base, she was asked for her weapon, and she explained where she had hidden it. The commander, Bulak sentenced her and her companion, Bella Becker to death, while other non-Jewish partisans, who had left their weapons behind, were held free from harm.
   
   The Dereczin Memorial Book, p. 317 (see also, p. 310)
   
   The account by Kovensky varies from that found in the DMB. In a conversation with Gutka Boyarsky-Salutsky on 27Aug01, she favors the DMB account, which states that the girls were first taken back to camp and then shot. Gutka remembers Kovensky very well as one of her partisan comrades in the Naliboki Forest. Return

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