The road of suffering {Cont.}
[Page 317]
Miracles Which Happened
And Miracles Which Did Not Happen
Rachel Wasserman (Reznik) (Kiryat Bialik)
Translated by
Ala Gamulka
The Germans came to Rokitno to a “well-prepared” location. The
Ukrainians and the Poles prepared lists of Jews suspected of being Communists.
Alter Pik was also on the list. The Germans took him outside, stood him near a
tree and killed him in front of his wife and other bewildered Jews.
It was a punishment meant to set an example. At the beginning the Germans were
not yet interested in extermination. They needed the Jews as a work force.
Conditions were so cruel that many were swollen with hunger and were incapable
of working. These were the last days before judgment day.
The work was accompanied by abuse. The women were ordered to bring water.
They were harnessed like horses to the carts and, with their last strength;
they pulled the heavy water barrel. A German sat on the barrel holding a whip,
which he flung mercilessly to make the women hurry. Naturally, many women
collapsed and could not get up.
At first, my husband, Moshe Wasserman, worked hauling rafters. However, when
the Germans discovered that he was a watchmaker by trade, they freed him from
this physical labor. He was allowed to work in the ghetto in his trade. One
night I heard loud knocks on our door. I looked through the slits and I saw
that Germans and Ukrainians were the ones knocking. Since I had no choice, I
opened the door, but I sent my husband and my son, Yakov, to the attic. I was
certain that they had come to get them.
I opened the door holding my two-year old daughter, Taibele, in my arms. The
killers hit me and demanded watches. I gave them all the watches I had. This
did not satisfy them. They took my child out of my arms and flung her on the
couch with such force that it was a miracle that she remained alive. They
aimed their fists at my nose causing it to bleed profusely. I lost
consciousness and stayed that way for five days.
In the ghetto I lived in the house of Hannah Hessel Levin, the grandmother of
Haim Shteinman. There was another woman there who was critically ill. She was
terribly swollen from hunger. She could only relieve herself with the help of
a doctor. The killers would not allow her to see the doctor and she would
writhe in pain day and night. There are not enough words to describe her
suffering. She was “redeemed” on that fateful Wednesday morning when
the Jews were gathered for the third roll call. Death came after that roll
call. The sick were exterminated in their beds. This is how the poor woman
was also exterminated.
Early Wednesday morning, my good friend Manke, who lived in the Baratz house,
came to see me. She worked for me as a washerwoman for many years. I tried to
help her as much as I could. When I was in the ghetto I never ran into her.
She suddenly appeared in the middle of the night. Without any preliminaries
she told me the end was near for all the Jews of Rokitno. She hurried to come
and tell me so I would seek refuge under the protection of darkness. She left
immediately after telling me the news. I reported this to the Judenrat, but
they did not believe it. They said it was idle talk. They just would not
believe that a slaughter was coming.
That night we heard the unusual sounds of wagons moving. There was great
movement in town. Trumpets and crowds were heard. We saw the town was being
surrounded on all sides. We could not sleep and we went from house to house,
trembling with fear. The approaching sound of death was heard throughout the
ghetto.
What we feared came indeed. It was not an ordinary third roll call. It was a
sendoff to the death ditches of Sarny. The fact that the sick were shot in
their beds forecast the terrible end. When we came to the market square shots
were heard and many fell immediately. My older daughter cried to me:
“Let us run, mother!” We began to run towards the forest with
Taibele in my arms. I reached Avraham Gotlieb's house. The ditch near his
house was full of bodies. I fell in and bodies fell on top of me. My older
daughter stood at the edge and screamed: “Mother, you are alive. Let us
run away!” With my last strength I managed to get out from under the pile
of bodies. I was unable to pull out Taibele. I held her little hand while her
body was squeezed by the dead bodies. My older daughter helped me to take her
out. She was unconscious. I shook her and she began to cry. I then knew she
was alive.
I ran with my two girls continuously looking back. I was hoping to see other
family members. I suddenly heard a voice calling me. It was my sister Dutzia.
I wanted to run with Mrs. Shachnovski to the tar factory. But my sister
stopped me saying it was not a hiding place, but a burial place. The forest
was full of Jews who had escaped from the killing field. Among them were many
who were injured and were writhing in pain. Soon the Ukrainian police came to
the forest to bring back the Jews to Rokitno. They were going to put them on
the waiting train cars.
The Jews began to run and the Ukrainians chased them. I used the opportunity
and I ran into a pigpen with my daughters. Freidl Linn and Hannah Kasher came
with me. The pigs were grazing in the field and the house was locked. We
found out that the peasant had gone with his wife to Rokitno to steal Jewish
belongings. Indeed, soon he returned with his wagon loaded with goods. We
heard him tell his wife: “Unload the wagon quickly so we can go back for
more.”
When he returned the second time it was dusk. We escaped to the forest in the
darkness. I found my relative Nachman Levy. I said to him: “Let's run
away!” He asked me to wait a few minutes because he had to go into one of
the nearby houses. He went in, but he never came out. He died inside. We
roamed all day and in the evening we entered a house in the forest. We saw a
peasant roasting potatoes. He received us warmly, gave us hot potatoes and
told us to go to the attic where we would find other Jews. There we found
Ziske Kissel and his family from Karpilovka and Israel Eizenstein (Zvi
Barzilay's father).
The next day the peasant informed Ziske that he could no longer hide us. We
had to find a new hiding place. I wanted to join him and to go to Karpilovka,
but he refused. This refusal saved my life. Ziske advised me to hide in the
garden of the forest warden. This was friendly advice, because the warden knew
my parents. He gave us food and a place to sleep. In the evening, the warden
told us he was going to Karpilovka to see what was going on there. He soon
returned, ashen-faced, and told us: “Run away from here. The village is
full of Germans. They killed Ziske Kissel and his family and another forty
Jews from Rokitno.”
The peasant gave us some food for the road and advised us to cross the marshes.
Once we reached dry land we found a Jew roasting potatoes. We saw Haim
Trossman (Yechiel's father) standing alone in the field roasting potatoes. He
told us that he was not afraid because he trusted G-d in heaven. Whatever
would happen, he was calm. He was happy to see us. We stayed near his fire
all night. The next day we decided to go to the village of Netrebe. Haim knew
all the roads, but for safety reasons we went in a roundabout way. We walked a
whole day. We reached the village at night. It was pitch black all around us,
but there was a light shining in one of the houses. We were frozen, hungry,
barefoot and half-naked. Dogs began to bark and would not let us approach the
house. The peasant came out and warned us to run away. There were policemen
in the adjacent house. We took a chance and went inside to rest. His wife saw
our misery and brought us food. The man took us outside and said: “Do
you see the fire in the distance? My children are watching my horses graze
there. Go and sleep there.” We went there. The saying goes: “Like
father, like son”. The man was kind and his sons were also good-hearted.
When the boys saw us they got up and offered us their mat so we would not lie
on the cold ground. We lay down to rest near the fire. Our feet were swollen
from the cold and we needed to rest them.
The next day we looked around and saw no one. Trossman was afraid that in this
empty area we could be killed and no one would know. He asked the peasant for
his opinion. The peasant advised us to go to the village of Okopi. Its
residents did not hurt Jews. When I mention this village, I must praise it
highly. Just as we must condemn our killers and slaughterers, we must also
commemorate our saviors. This village was merciful to all the Jews. The
village priest said in his sermons that his followers must help the poor
refugees (he did not specifically say Jews), treat them kindly, not hurt them,
give them food and drink, and offer them a place to sleep.
We reached Okopi and we stopped at the crossroads. A peasant called Cesar
Zalevski came out and said to us: “Hear me, my brothers. I know about
your terrible situation. Do not despair. Your redemption will come in this
village. The residents swore in the name of the redeemer that their village
will not spill Jewish blood. The war will not go on forever. It will end and
you will remain alive. Come with me.” He took us deep into the forest
and brought us to a pit. He told us to go inside. He camouflaged us with
branches and told us to stay here until daybreak. At sunrise he brought us a
pot of milk and some bread.
(I now must tell about the bitter end of Haim Trossman. At that time a group
of approximately twenty people was formed. They lived together in the forest
for two months. They were denounced by the Ukrainians and the Germans attacked
them. The younger people managed to escape, but Haim was old. He was caught
and brought back to Rokitno. He was killed in exchange for two kilos of salt.)
A few days later some partisans came. My sister Dutzia decided to join them.
She thought she would help me, too, in this way. They did not want to take me
because of the children. This decision brought about Dutzia's death. These
were Soviet parachutists from Moscow who did not know the roads well. They
were ambushed by the Germans and killed. Dutzia was killed in the exchange of
fire.
We could not stay long under Cesar Zalevski's protection. The Bulbovtzis in
the area knew well that the residents of Okopi welcomed the Jews. They waited
for the opportunity to attack them. After the defeat of the soviet
parachutists they burst into the village and set it on fire. Cesar harnessed
his wagon and placed his family and me with my two daughters on it. He tried
to find a way to escape the revenging Bulbovtzis. We were surrounded by the
fire. The Bulbovtzis came to the wagon and killed his wife and family. He
managed to escape. By a miracle, I got out of the wagon. The killers saw
other villagers and left me alone. They chased the others and killed about 80
of them.
I ran with my daughters and I reached a small bridge over a ditch. It was
winter. Barefoot and half-naked we went into ice-cold water. We were covered
up to our necks. I held Taibele in my arms because otherwise the water would
have covered her completely. At night, it was even colder. The water froze
and a layer of ice surrounded us.
We were saved by a miracle. What was that miracle? In the village of Netrebe,
Avraham Grinshpan and his family and Yosef Kaplan and his family were hiding in
a lean-to. When they heard that 80 people were killed in Okopi, they were
certain that my daughters and I were among the dead. Grinshpan said to Kaplan:
“Let us bring Rachel and her daughters to a proper Jewish burial.”
They took shovels and were on their way. When they saw three heads peeking out
of the ice they were sure we had frozen to death. I began to shout:
“Come here! I am alive!” They broke the ice with their shovels and
pulled us out of the water. They carried the girls on their shoulders because
they were frozen. Grinshpan brought us to his lean-to which had a stove. The
ice melted off my daughters and they began to show signs of life. Grinshpan
obtained various creams from the peasants, which he rubbed on our wounds.
Slowly our limbs revived.
This was the end of our suffering. The war was coming to its end. The area
was conquered by the Soviet army and we returned to Rokitno. To my great
surprise, I found there my father, Aharon Reznik. What miracle allowed him to
be saved? It was beyond understanding. He could not fathom how he had escaped
with my brother from the market square and which angels had guarded him in the
forests. However, sadly, he told me of my brother Yeshayahu's death.
My brother was forced to do hard labor in the ghetto and he fell seriously ill.
As long as we were in the ghetto we did everything to look after him. His
condition improved. However, the conditions in the Blizhov forest were too
difficult and he fell ill again. His condition worsened. One cold winter day
he expired. Father buried him with his own hands and said kaddish. Inside my
brother's hat he found a crumpled piece of paper. My father took a small
branch, put into the fire and used the ashes to write my brother's name and the
date of his death. He took a flask, broke it's opening and put the note
inside. He placed the flask on the grave as if it were a gravestone. It was
to be a marker so that on the day of liberation his grave would be found and he
would be given a proper Jewish burial. However, snow and storms erased
everything. In spite of the hard work my father put in, he could not find the
grave again.
[Page 321]
The Great Rescue
Baruch Goldman (Attorney) (Ramat Gan)
Translated by
Ala Gamulka
The Germans were so devious that we did not have an inkling that they were
planning to annihilate us. Truthfully, there was no indication that the end
was near.
Firstly, we did not know what was happening in other places because we were
isolated from the outside world. Secondly, no cruel deeds had been perpetrated
on the Jews of Rokitno. We had no indication that the end was coming.
Therefore, when the order was given to gather in the market square for the
third roll call, there was no panic. It was felt that if the two previous roll
calls had ended with people returning home, then this one, too, would end well.
There was a rumor that the purpose of the roll call was to determine that all
were still in town and that no one had escaped to join the partisans.
This time the Germans and their Ukrainian helpers had decided to annihilate the
Rokitno community. The shots in the air and at the people were proof enough.
It is impossible to describe the bedlam that followed. Everyone went in his
own direction. Mothers abandoned their children. Even if they escaped
together, they became separated while running. I stood near my father (I was
13 years old then) and I held his hand. We began to run towards the sawmill.
We were constantly chased and shot at. I suddenly could not see my father and
I did not know what had happened to him. I ran alone and met other youngsters
my age that had also become separated from their families. They were looking
for shelter in the forest. On the way we met Jews returning to town. They
were saying that they wished to die with their families since there was no
purpose to their lives once their dear ones were torn away from them.
We were a group of 4 or 5 children. After we rested in the forest we decided
to return to town to see if any Jews remained. We met some peasants and they
told us that the Jews were being taken to Sarny by train. Anyone who returned
was shot in the synagogue. On the way we saw the earth soaked in blood and we
found pictures and papers belonging to Jews. We understood that the end had
come to the Jews of our town. In order for our fate to be different from
theirs we decided to search for shelter in one of the villages nearby. I
remained with one young lad. The others left us. In a village near Rokitno,
there was a peasant called Feodor Tzaruk who was friendly with my father. I
decided to go to him hoping to meet my father. Indeed, when I came there, he
told me my father was hiding there.
My father told me that he hid in the military cemetery. There was a thick tree
with all its leaves intact. He climbed it and hid in it from morning till nine
in the evening.
Since his hiding place was close to town, he saw how the Jews were taken to
slaughter in the synagogue. Some terrible sights were etched in his mind.
There was a Jew in our town called Michael Shuster. He worked in the sawmill
that the Germans built near the train station. He was an expert in the field.
He had good relations with his superior. Shuster escaped with all the others,
but his superior chased him and found him hiding in a potato field.
“Get out, dirty Jew!” shouted the superior and aimed his gun.
Shuster fell on his knees and begged the superior: “Let me live and I
will serve you to the end of my days”. “Forward!” yelled the
killer. Shuster, pale, got up. He was taken to the synagogue and shot there.
A young woman hid about 100 meters from my father. A German chased her and
yelled at her to stop. She ran like a mad woman. She fell, got up again and
continued to run. The German shot her in the arm. When she saw the blood
streaming from her body she was alarmed and stopped running. This is how the
poor woman was taken to slaughter in the synagogue.
After we met at Tzaruk's, my father and I walked together. We learned that it
was safer to stay in small groups and not to remain permanently in one place.
We had to be on the move. During our wandering we met Aharon Lifshitz and the
hat maker Yakov Landau (son-in-law of the hat maker Michael Steinberg). With
them were Batya Grinshpan and Rachel Hammer who did sewing and embroidery for
one of the peasants.
Aharon and my father Yakov are credited with a big rescue effort. We were in
the marshland between the villages of Chabel and Lenchin when two Baptists,
acquaintances of my father, passed by. One of them, Afanas, told us he was
returning from a large gathering of Banderovtzis in the village of Tinna. It
had been decided there that night they would go to Berdocha, an agricultural
farm near Tinna, to kill 21 Polish families. The following night they would go
to kill the Jews hiding in the forests in the area. The Banderovtzis even knew
the names of those Jews.
When my father and Aharon Lifshitz heard about the fate awaiting these Jews,
they decided not to waste a minute and to save them immediately. They hurried
to the site and told them they must escape or else they would not remain alive.
At first, they refused to leave. Firstly, they did not believe the situation
was so drastic and secondly, they did not want to abandon their belongings.
However, the pleas of Lifshitz and my father finally opened their eyes and they
joined us. We went together to the village of Bober where Medvedev's regiment
was camped.
On the way my father and Lifshitz wanted to save two young women hidden by a
peasant, but they were too late. The Banderovtzis had, in the meantime, killed
Batya Grinshpan. Rachel Hammer managed to run out of the house. She hid in a
barrel in the yard and was spared.
Our acquaintances, area peasants, reported that the Banderovtzis did come at
night to kill all the Jews. When they did not find them, they became angry and
burned all the shelters where they had hidden.
Most of those saved made aliyah and reside among us to this day.
[Page 323]
I Was A Mother Of Unfortunate Children
Esther Naiberg - (Bnei Brak)
Translated by
Ala Gamulka
The story of the children who were separated from their parents during the
panic and the shooting in the market square is a horrifying tale. They ran
petrified crying for their mothers. As they ran they held on to any adult and
begged to be taken along. When I ran from the market square I saw a group of
small children who were sobbing. I gathered them as any mother would and we
ran together to the forest. (My younger son Baruch ran alone and we met
later). I sat down with them on the ground, gathered blackberries and fed
them. The children clung to me and begged not to be abandoned.
I stayed with them for four days and them I gave them over to Jews who were
roaming the forest. The only two who remained with me were Sima Katz, the
daughter of Moshe-Leib, and her two daughters. I put one on my shoulders and
we wandered together. The child was almost out of strength. On the way we met
Yitzhak Forman with his young son, Yehudah Schiff and his son Yeshayahu and
Avraham Wax from Sahov.
I had to part from them because I went to search for my children Baruch and
Sonia and her two daughters Raya and Shoshana. I reached the village of
Borovey. On the way I met a peasant who told me that Jews were hiding in the
forest. Two children came towards me. One was Yitzhak Gendelman's son. They
told me they saw my son-in-law Binyamin Shtedler (He later died fighting with
the partisans) and my son Baruch. I found them and we stayed in Borovey for 14
days.
We had to run away because the peasants plotted to kill us. We reached the
village of Berezov where we had a flourmill. It was the night of
“Remember the Covenant”. We wandered for 3 days in the forest and we
reached Berezov on the eve of Yom Kippur. One peasant hid us until after Yom
Kippur. He was afraid and urged us to continue on our way. We went into the
forest where we saw a large fire. Two young boys were nearby. One was Monik
(Michulchik's son) and the other was Syoma (the son of Avraham the Bookbinder).
They told me that they had been in a group of 20 Jews, but they had all left
them. The children were afraid that I, too, would leave them. I told them not
to fear, that I would look after them as if I was their mother. I was a
devoted mother to them during our hard times until we were liberated.
In the forest, my son and I became ill with typhus. I was so concerned about
my child that I ignored the fact that I, too, was sick and that I felt dizzy.
I took my son in my arms and ran to a peasant called Michael Kohonivich in the
Blizhov hamlet. I went to him and asked him to give my child shelter because
he was very sick. The peasant said: “You are very sick also”. He
laid us on the ground and we stayed there burning with fever for 14 days
without food or water. The fever broke by itself. When we opened our eyes the
peasant fed us honey from his own beehive. We recuperated. As a result of the
illness and the lack of food we lost our hair, but it grew back later.
My son Baruch worked as a shepherd for one of the peasants. He excelled in his
duties. I stayed with him until liberation. My eleven-year old son Sossik, my
daughter and her two daughters Raya and Shoshana were killed escaping from the
market square.
[Page 325]
Preserving The Jewish Image
In The Ghetto And In The Forest
By Issachar Trossman (Ramat Gan)
Translated by
Ala Gamulka
When the Jews were enclosed in the ghetto we made a trade - we exchanged our
houses - the large and the small - with a small, two-family house. It stood at
the edge of the ghetto and belonged to a “Folksdeutch” (ethnic
German). He was a veteran resident of Rokitno. Greber lived in that house
with grandfather Haim and grandmother Tema.
At first the Germans did not make children of 13 work. As a result, we were
idle. Some parents, who were afraid that their children would forget the
Scriptures, secretly organized a Hebrew school. The secretary of the Tarbut
School, Mr. Weinblatt, was the teacher. We studied all subjects usually taught
in senior elementary school.
However, we did not spend a long time on our studies. The ghetto was made
smaller and our parents, fearing the authorities, interrupted the studies. The
Germans began to force even children my age to do hard labor. I worked in the
peat fields and I had to dig for 400 peat bricks. The person in charge was a
mean Pole who in peacetime was a telephone repairman. We worked from 7 in the
morning to 4 in the afternoon in miserable conditions, oppressed and mistreated.
As luck would have it, I managed to escape into the forest with my family. (My
grandfather was murdered in the village of Decht) In the forest, we met my
aunt Rivka Golovey (my mother's sister) and her son Moshe. From her we learned
that her husband Sender died in the forest. We also met Ethel from Glinna with
her three children and “Rachel the Blind One”. They joined us and we
hid together in a kurin (underground dugout). One time, the Germans were
hunting for Jews in the forest and we had to run away into marshland. Above
it, for a distance of several hundred meters, there was a very narrow crossing.
It was an acrobatic feat to cross this span and to not fall off. Many of us
fell and got thoroughly wet. It was a miracle that “Rachel the Blind
One” went through without falling. It was said that an angel was
protecting her from above. Believers saw it as a sign that we remained alive
because of her.
The partisan movement spread in our area and we joined a unit called Plasnosov.
Its base was in the houses outside the village of Vizhitz. Among these
partisans was the famous hero, Zvi Olshansky from Staro-Cielo. He had escaped
from a German prison and he organized the unit. He was a proud Jew and because
of him we were able to keep our Jewish image, even in caveman conditions.
On the Holy Days, we were freed from every day work in order to be close to our
creator and to remember our dead. Tens and hundreds of Jewish partisans from
the area came to Blizhov and spent Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur in fasting and
in prayer. A great sorrow engulfed everyone. We also thought about our broken
and ruined world.
In order not to assimilate and to keep our Jewish spirit, we did not eat
chametz on Pesach. We prepared ourselves spiritually. We even baked matzo
cakes from dark flour. Although they were hard as stone and became gravel in
our mouths, they instilled a holiday feeling in us. It was as if we were
sitting at a seder as in previous years. We even read from the Haggadah. Each
one of us read from memory. These miserable, dried flat breads with shriveled
potatoes became, in our eyes, a symbol for our belief in the Jewish nation.
They also told us that we will be free again in the near future.
However, we were not always in an uplifted mood. We had days of sorrow and of
crying. Every time we heard that a Jew from Rokitno fell in battle or was
caught by the Germans was like a sword thrust at us. With great sadness we
heard the news that Yosef Olshansky and Moshe Barman had fallen. They died
during an attack on a German arms train. Immediately after that we also heard
that the partisan, Shepsel Shteindel had died. He was a young man in the
Kovpek unit. He had gone through hell, had come back from the Carpathian
Mountains and had arrived in the village of Vitkovich. He entered one of the
houses in the village and took a spool of thread. The locals libeled him
saying he was going into homes and threatening the residents with a gun. He
was killed because of this lie in front of the camp of partisans.
This is how Haim Turok died as well. Even Yakov Gitelman was put to death by
the partisans for a lie. He was accused of forcing the villagers, with a gun,
to give him clothes and food.
Our hearts were gladdened when we heard of heroic deeds performed by the youth
of Rokitno. We heard a tale of Asher Binder's heroism. In the vicinity of
Blizhov there was a group of partisans, the most famous among them were Asher
Binder, Nachman Blizhovsky and Baruch Perlovich. The housekeeper of the staff
of the partisans, Rivka Golovey, was well known for her wonderful deeds.
Every piece of information about a Jewish partisan from Rokitno filled our
hearts with pride. We did not sit empty-handed and we contributed to the
struggle. My father was very active in the procurement of food and clothing
for the Jews in the forest. It was not enough for him. He endangered his life
and visited nearby villages in order to get news about the locals who directly
or indirectly participated in the killing of Jews. He was killed on one of
these visits.
[Page 327]
In The Shadow Of The Gallows
Shmuel Levinson (Levin) (Ramat Gan)
Translated by
Ala Gamulka
When the Germans conscripted the Jews of Rokitno to do forced labor, I was
ordered to work in “Tod-organizatzion”. This was a group of German
officers and soldiers whose task was to supervise the construction of bridges
and railroad tracks. Three hundred soldiers occupied the Palace and the
officers lived in the New Town across from the market. I was a servant to 5
officers and my job was to shine their shoes, to bring firewood and to clean
their guns. I was given a pass to come and go. Every morning, before
daybreak, I would run to a gentile I knew in the village of Rokitno and I would
take from him bread, milk, at times flour, for my starving family.
Once the Polish cook fell ill and I was sent to bring food to the officers from
the army kitchen. The cook identified my nationality by my yellow star. Even
though he knew very well why and by whom I was sent, he beat me badly and
ordered me to chop wood with other Jews. At noon he let go of me and sent me
back with food.
One day officer Lemel went out on the porch and ordered me to bring a brush and
shoe polish and to polish his boots. While I was doing so he announced with
great joy: “If the Jews will be killed, come here. We will not kill
you”. From his promise I learned that the Germans were actually planning
to kill the Jews. I reported this to the “Judenrat”, but they did
not take me seriously because they could not imagine that all the Jews would be
killed. The bubble in which the members of the “Judenrat” lived was
soon burst and the final and third roundup soon came. I asked the officer if
I, too, had to present myself and he replied with a sarcastic smile:
“Yes!” I obeyed the command and I stood next to my brothers
Yeshayahu (Shike) and Moshe and my parents.
As the commotion started when shots were heard, I remembered the promise made
by the officer and I ran to the building where I was working. The door was
locked. I tried to enter thorough an open window, but the cook stopped me. I
forced the window open and I jumped inside with Shike, my little brother. I
passed through several rooms and did not see a soul. I ran to the hallway and
I reached the dining room. A machine gun was standing on the piano in the room
and the Germans were shooting at the escaping Jews. With great fear I ran to
the cellar and a few minutes later I heard knocking on the door. I was afraid
to open it since I did not know who was knocking. To my great horror, I found
out later that it was my father. I jumped with my brother over the fence and
we ran towards the railroad tracks. We saw our neighbor, a heavy woman,
running. She was shot and she fell. The whole road was covered in blood. I
heard yelling coming from the railway cars. I saw how poor souls were forced
into the cars, but we continued to run under a barrage of bullets, which were
aimed at those who were escaping from the town. My brother was hurt by a metal
post and asked me to leave him there because he could not walk. I dragged him
and we escaped the bullets and entered the forest. In the forest we were
joined by Shepsel Shteindel and Meir Krupnik. We were four boys and we did not
know which way to go. We decided to go towards a nearby village. There we met
Asher Binder, Lipa Shpilman, Lola Shachnovski and others. For safety reasons
we had to divide ourselves into small groups. Therefore, we left them and in
our wanderings arrived in the village of Glinna. Shteindel and Krupnik
remained in the forest and my brother and I went to a farmer to ask him for
food. He received us nicely and told his wife to prepare a meal. He then
sneaked out of the house. We became suspicious and we ran away.
We lived in misery and we began to think of going back to Rokitno. We were
certain that the killing was a one-time event and those returning to the town
would not be hurt. Besides, we were hopeful that someone in our family was
still alive. We were 4 kilometers from Rokitno. On the way, we met gentiles
carrying stolen Jewish property. They warned us not to endanger ourselves by
going back because the police was lying in wait for returning Jews.
In the forests we walked for three days and three nights until we reached the
cemetery and we hid there. In the dark we saw some silhouettes. These were
Jews, but we were afraid of them and they were afraid of us.
On the following day we continued on our way and we met a farmer plowing his
fields. He recognized us to be Jews by our clothing and suggested to us to go
over to the former Soviet area. There we would have a chance to join the
partisans. We took his advice, but he warned us not to go to Karpilovka
because its residents hated Jews. We went around the village and arrived in
Netrebe. We stayed there 3-4 days and from there we went to Midan. We
wandered aimlessly. We returned to Netrebe and from there to Okopi. Early
that evening we saw a bonfire and we approached it. There we found Rachel
Wasserman, her sister Dutzia and her son, Dvosil the blacksmith's daughter with
her son and daughter, Shmuel Bagel, Avraham Eisenberg and Linn. In the evening
we heard rustling noises and suddenly three armed men appeared and presented
themselves as partisans. They gave us food and left. The next evening they
returned and informed us that they could only take a young woman with them.
They took Dutzia and left. We discovered later that they were not partisans,
but criminals and hooligans. To this day we do not know what happened to
Dutzia.
Death took its toll. We held two funerals. We buried Dvosil and her daughter.
Dvosil had leaned on me all night long and in the morning when I tried to wake
her, she was frozen to death. Her daughter died right after her. At night we
wrapped her in a blanket and we buried her next to her mother.
We were worried about getting caught and we went deeper into the forest. There
we built a kurin in the ground and we camouflaged it. We dug a well and at
night we went to look for food. In Okopi there was a teacher who helped us as
much as she could. She was killed for her generosity. She traveled to Rokitno
to bring us news and on the way she was killed.
Eventually we were not alone in the forest. The “Mazuris”,
Ukrainians converted to Catholicism who had also escaped from the Banderovtzis,
joined us with their wives, children and cows. We felt safer among them. They
employed us as sheepherders.
Among the Mazuris there were some partisans and we went with them on revenge
raids. One day the partisans told us that the Soviet Army had liberated
Rokitno and we could go back.
We returned in torn clothing. The first thing I took care of was clothing. I
went to one of the collaborators, Yanek Byalouse, and forced him to hand over
clothes for my brother and me.
A Jewish major who was with the Soviet Army in Rokitno took my brother with him
as a messenger boy and dressed him in army clothes. He sent him to Moscow to
the Sovorov Cadet School.
I reached Berlin as a soldier in the Soviet Army. At the end of the war, I was
liberated as a Polish citizen and I came to Israel in 1948 as part of Aliyah
Bet.
[Page 329]
The Struggle For Life
Aharon Lifshitz (Givatayim)
Translated by
Ala Gamulka
On the 13
th
day of Elul (26.8.1942), judgment day for the Rokitno community, we gathered
at the market square by families. We did not know what was waiting for us.
Our hearts predicted bad events, but we never imagined the extent of the
annihilation. My father consoled me by saying all will be well because it was
the 13
th
of Elul. Thirteen is a lucky number. However, as we were encouraging each
other, the order was given by the chief of police, Sokolovsky, that all men and
boys older than 10 should line up in rows, 5 abreast. Women and girls would
line up separately. My eight-year old son, Gershon, stood next to me. My
father said to me: “Give me little Gershon and I will pass him on to
mother. Maybe we will be taken to a work camp. Why should the child suffer
because of us?” As he left the line we heard screams and shots. I threw
myself on the ground and I searched for my family. I lost sight of them in the
great panic.
I heard a warning: “Don't stand! Run!” I ran bent low and I
reached Avraham Gotlieb's house. I saw many people escaping and I joined them.
I entered the forest 10 kilometers from Rokitno. There I met the three
Golubovitz brothers, Toddy Linn, Bronia Kogan, Batya Grinshpan, a Polish
refugee called Farber, and Herschel Gendelman's young son from the village of
Rokitno.
In the evening we reached the village of Borovey, but we did not find one
living soul there. We discovered that all the villagers had gone to Rokitno to
steal Jewish property. We continued on our way looking for the partisans. We
heard rumors that they roamed the Soviet side. Petya Golubovitz knew the paths
through the forests and he led us to the Russian-Polish border. In the evening
we reached the village of Voniatzy on the Soviet side. We were afraid to enter
because we were told that there was a German retribution action there only
recently. Residents had been punished for allowing the partisans to enter.
We changed direction and waded through marshes and ponds. We climbed trees and
with great difficulty we reached the villages of Budki-Borovski. There we met
many Jews from Rokitno. One of the Righteous Gentiles, Yuzik Zalevski, lived
there. His home became a meeting place for many of the Jews from Rokitno. In
his yard I met Shimon Gendelman, Herschel Shteinman, Motl Shapiro and the
Eisenberg brothers. I found out from them that my brother-in-law Misha and my
brother Leibl were in Stariky near my tar factory. They thought that if I
survived I would hide in the tar factory. Although I yearned for them, I had
to wait because Ukrainian policemen were circulating in the area. They shot
anyone they met on the way.
I organized a group, which consisted of Yakov Krantzberg, Batya Grinshpan and
the Eisenberg brothers. We decided to return to Stariky. We left on a dark
and rainy night and we walked holding hands because there was no visible path.
At daybreak we saw that we were near the village of Ilova. We went into the
forest and sat down to rest. Suddenly, we heard rustling and a voice said:
“Don't be afraid. We are Jews!” Indeed, we saw Shlomo Grinshpan and
Yonah Katz. Shlomo told us that he sent a messenger to Dr. Anishtchuk to find
out what was going on in Rokitno. Anishtchuk sent back a newspaper in which it
was written that the Fuhrer had decreed that all Jews be wiped off the face of
the earth.
The Eisenberg brothers went towards Karpilovka. Yakov Krantzberg, Batya
Grinshpan, and I walked towards Stariky. I went to see an acquaintance by the
name of Yasku. He offered to hide me only in his house. He said that if I was
spared from death I would now remain alive. He would help as much as he could.
He told me that all the Jews of Stariky were saved and were hiding nearby. He
was hiding another Jew, but he would not tell me his name. I went to sleep in
a storehouse full of fodder. I was exhausted and I fell asleep immediately.
When I opened my eyes I saw in front of me David Shachnovski, my partner in the
tar factory. He heard that his son Lulik and his son-in-law Mulik Berkman had
escaped and were hiding in the tar factory near Rokitno. I told him that my
brother and my brother-in-law were seen in our tar factory and I wanted to go
there. He advised me not to budge because there was great danger on the roads.
Shachnovski was hiding in a haystack and had no fresh air. I asked him to come
to the forest because the place seemed dangerous and the peasant was not
trustworthy. He refused and wanted to convince me not to leave.
I did not listen to him and I was on my way. One of my workers, Marcel, lived
in the area and I was certain he would welcome me. I approached his house.
When the dog began barking some children came to the window and shouted:
“Run away, Jew. The Germans will catch you!” I ran into the forest.
There was a great downpour and I stopped to pray “Shmone Esre”. My
tears mingled with the raindrops. My chances for remaining alive were minimal.
I thought of returning to Rokitno to die there.
In this hopeless despair, I saw Marcel's wife coming out of the yard. I went
to her and asked about her husband. She did not recognize me. When she heard
who I was, she burst out crying. She told me that there were Jews near a
bonfire not far from there. Indeed I met Yakov Landau, Moshe the shoemaker,
Dvora Greenberg, Hava Modrik and Batya Grinshpan. They told me they had been
there for several days without any food or water. I gave them a few potatoes
to satisfy their hunger. A little while later, I heard a voice in Polish
saying: “Aharon, come here!” I turned my head and I saw Marcel. He
fell on me, burst out crying and kissed me. He told me he was afraid to come
closer to the bonfire because it was too close to the road. He brought me half
a loaf of bread and a bottle of milk. He advised us to transfer the fire
deeper into the forest because we were in mortal danger so close to the road.
On the next day I went to look for my brother Leibl and my brother-in-law
Misha. I came to a peasant called Sokol who was hiding some Jews. I did not
find them. I found out that my sister Sarah's children were looking for me. A
Polish peasant wanted to hide Rivka, my niece, in his house, but she did not
want to part from her brother Chen (named after Haim Nachman Bialik). They
went together to the village of Osnitzek and were killed there by the
Ukrainians.
It was the eve of Yom Kippur. Marcel brought us hot food. We told him not to
bring us any food on the following day because we fast on Yom Kippur. At the
end of the fast he brought us food and told us that, to his great sorrow, he
could not feed the whole group, not even potatoes. He could only feed me. I
could not accept his offer. I told him the fate of my friends is my fate. He
advised us to go to the other side of the river Lave where the peasants were
wealthier. The place was suitable for shelter because it was heavily wooded.
We crossed the river. Yakov Landau and I went to scout the area. We entered
one of the houses. The peasant called Adam Garvovsky treated us well. He
stood guard outside so we would not be harmed. The Jews of Stariky used to
come to him to bake bread and to cook. The peasant befriended me, but he only
allowed me into his house at dusk. At night I had to go back to the forest and
I was petrified. Every sound made me think the end had come.
Adam Garvovsky told me there were many women and children in the forest and he
advised me to go there to look for my family. Indeed, I found David Schwartz's
wife and some other women and young children. They told me that David Schwartz
and Shvindelman from Snovidovich had gone to the forest to find moss (to be
used instead of matches). I also met Menashe Zandweis who was looking very
pale. I went over to greet him, but he did not recognize me. When I told him
my name he became very excited and asked me if I heard any news of his daughter
Bailtze. I knew she was killed, but I kept it from him. I consoled him by
saying she was probably saved. I asked him why he was so pale. He replied
that when Esther Cherpichnik was alive she brought him water from time to time
to revive him. Since she was killed, he did not even have this much. A few
days later, Menashe died. Shmuel Shvindelman left the place and died of cold
in the forest.
Shachnovski came to us every morning and in the evening he went back to Yasku.
Once he told me Rachel Hammer was also at Yasku's. Her face was singed because
she had fallen asleep near a bonfire and fell into it. The next day he brought
her to my shelter. It was called Aharon Lifshitz's shelter. When I saw her I
almost fainted. We prayed she would not die while with us. She lay for a few
weeks and improved from day to day. When she came to she wanted to go with
Batya Grinshpan to bring us food.
The villagers in the area began to complain that the Jews were a burden and
asked us to look for food and shelter elsewhere. From time to time I went to
Stariky where they felt sorry for me and gave me food. Once I saw, from a
distance, a young man chopping wood in the yard. When he saw me he stopped
working and he looked at me. He went back into his house and then came out
again. He approached me and asked me who I was. I told him I was one of those
who lost the right to live.
He asked me: “If so, what are you doing here? You should be in Rokitno
and I will take you there.” I begged him: “Is it worth it to you to
have me killed for a kilo of salt? There are people in the forest who will
avenge my death.” He relented and said: “Run quickly and don't show
your face here again!” I went to another house. The peasant gave me some
leftover food and told me to run away immediately because he could pay with his
life for the charity he was extending to me. Another peasant gave a pair of
woven shoes and some rags and showed me how to swaddle them. Miraculously, I
found a bible with Rashi interpretation and a prayer book in his house. I was
thrilled with both items. My feet would be warm and when food was scarce I
could pray. We collected straw that served us as a mattress and we built a
bonfire. We went to sleep inside the shelter. The wind drew the fire towards
us and everything went up in flames. We managed to escape, but the bible, the
prayer book and the shoes were burned.
One day I went out to chop some trees and I heard shots nearby. I went back
scared to the shelter and I called all the people. They stood tense and
fearful and listened to the sound of the bullets. We scattered in the forest
and each one of us went into a pit covered with snow. We camouflaged ourselves
with snow and we lay there for about an hour, until the shooting stopped.
Towards evening I went with Yakov Landau to Adam Gravovsky's to find out about
the shooting. We discovered the Jews of Stariky were killed in the forest. As
we walked out of his house we saw Germans driving by. We fell into the snow.
It was a miracle that they did not see us.
We went back to the shelter and at night we decided to leave. To my great
sorrow, Dvora Greenberg and Moshe the shoemaker were ill and could not join us.
The Germans came and killed them.
We went towards Haim Turok's shelter. It was difficult to walk because there
was a great deal of snow on the ground. Shachnovski told me to return to
Stariky because the Germans would not come once they had annihilated all the
Jews.
We found out that Haim and Yakov Gitelman joined the partisans. They told us
to go to the forest warden, Sokolovsky, who knew where to find the partisans.
When we reached him he let us warm up by his stove and his wife gave us some
warm milk. She then took us to the attic and covered us with a pile of rags.
They told us to go to a village whose name I don not recall. There we would
speak to a peasant called Aleksei who would take us to the partisans.
Shachnovski, who up to now was our guide, stepped back. He asked me to go
ahead of him because he had difficulty walking. On the way he disappeared and
we did not know what motivated him to leave us. We came to Aleksei who
received us warmly. He believed it was not the right time to join the
partisans. We stayed with him. Yakov Landau sewed hats in his house and I
helped him.
The women settled in various peasant homes. A few days later I found out that
Shachnovski returned to Stariky. He stayed with Yasku for a few days and then
decided to return to us. On the way, he went to see Sokolovsky to find out
where we were hiding. While he was sitting in the house, the police came and
caught him and a young woman from Klesov who was also hiding at Sokolovsky's.
The young woman and Shachnovski were killed there. Sokolovsky was severely
tortured and killed. The next day his wife was taken away and the house was
burned.
In this village I met Yakov Goldman (Burd) and his son Baruch. They were
hiding in a shelter in the forest. One day we heard that the Germans were
planning to search the villages in the area. We went to the partisans' command
and begged to be accepted. They replied that they were now going to battle
with the Germans and they could not accept us. We went back to the forest.
For a long time we heard the sounds of incessant shooting and we saw fire
lighting up the skies. It was reprisal action by the Germans.
Many of the villagers escaped into the forests for fear of the Germans. We
felt safer among them. However, this sense of security did not last. The
Banderovtzis threatened the villagers that they would kill them if they helped
Jews. Landau and I stayed with a kind-hearted peasant. We sewed hats and
earned our keep.
At Easter 1943 there was a big conference of Banderovtzis in the village of
Tinna. Our host also attended the conference even though he was not one of the
Banderovtzis. Yakov and I went to the village to watch the Easter festivities.
We felt that many of the young people were lying in wait for us. We took a
roundabout route back to our shelter. Late in the evening our host returned
full of fear. He told us that at the conference an officer of the Banderovtzis
gave a speech warning everyone that anyone who hid Jews would suffer the
consequences. He asked us to leave immediately. Since it was raining and it
was night, he allowed us to stay till dawn. We did not sleep a wink all night.
At dawn a young man came to call on the host. He was known to be one of the
Banderovtzis and he had a gun. The host told us the young man was a relative
and did not harm us for that reason. In light of the situation, the peasant
urged us to leave or else the young man would burn our shelter with everyone
inside.
We left the place with a heavy heart and with trepidation. A Shtundist called
Kirila accompanied us. He loved the bible and sympathized with the fate of the
refugees. He parted from us with tears in his eyes. He said that he believed
that soon our troubles will be over and we will see happiness again.
We went to the village of Bober where there were partisans. We entered their
camp and met a Jew. He asked us why we had come. When he heard that we wanted
to join the partisans, he advised us to leave immediately. Two Jews had come
only a few hours earlier and were killed. These were Haim Turok and Yakov
Gitelman.
We went to the forests of Votche where there were partisans. There we found
Aharon Slutzki, his daughter Miriam, Leibl Gitelman and his wife and many other
Jews who were reasonably free. Avraham Eizenstein was a partisan there and he
helped us to obtain food and clothing.
At the end of 1943 we heard the news that the Germans were defeated near
Stalingrad and were retreating from Russian lands. Our will to live was
revived. We wanted to see the defeat of our torturers and we hoped to see the
remnants of our families. We lived to see the great day, the day of liberation.
[Page 334]
About The Righteous Of The World
Yosef Segal (Neve Oz)
Translated by
Ala Gamulka
When they conquered the western Ukraine, the Nazis found among the Ukrainians
loyal partners and active assistants in their goal of exterminating the Jews
and stealing their property.
The Ukrainians had a long tradition of killing members of the Jewish people.
It went back to the days of Bogdan Chmelnitzky in the 17
th
century, Petlura and bands of killers and robbers (May their names be
eradicated) of the civil war in 1918-1920. (In those days the Ukrainians
spilled the blood of many innocent Jews).
The Ukrainians from Rokitno and area and some of the Poles who worked in the
glass factory began to kill and rob the Jews even before the Nazis established
themselves in Rokitno. Ukrainians who earlier seemed to be friendly and honest
showed their true colors and became killers thirsty for Jewish blood.
Many Jews managed to escape from the market square on the 13
th
of Elul (1942) and roamed the fields and forests. Many were either cruelly
murdered by the Ukrainians or caught and handed over to the German murderers in
exchange for a kilo of salt per Jewish soul.
However, on the contrary, there were some Ukrainians who had pity on the
miserable souls and treated them humanely. At night, they took the escapees
into their homes and fed them at great personal risk. Not once did they pay
for their generosity with their lives and property.
About 20 kilometers south of Rokitno, in the village of Netrebe, tens of Jews
from Rokitno and the area found shelter. They were helped by the villagers who
not only did not harm them but also hid them near the village during the day.
At night they took them to their homes. Many Jews survived there until the
liberation by the Red Army. In the Polish village of Budki some Jews survived,
but the Poles who saved them had their property burned by the Nazis.
In the same area, in the Polish village of Okopi, some tens of Jews were saved
thanks to two special individuals. They are worthy of being considered part of
the Righteous of the world. They are: the Catholic priest and the village
teacher. The priest used to give sermons to his followers telling them not to
be involved in the extermination of Jews. He asked them to help the Jews to
survive until their redemption. At that time justice will prevail and the evil
Nazis and their helpers will be wiped off the face of the earth. The village
teacher also had compassion for the unfortunate Jews. Their suffering touched
her heart and she helped in any way possible. She was killed by a Ukrainian
gang on the way from the village of Rokitno while she was helping a Jewish
family.
The priest was burned alive in his church. The memory of these two saintly
beings stands as a ray of light in the darkness of the Nazi rule.
Others who must be mentioned are Yuzik Zalevski, Miron and Ivan Borsovich from
Blizhov, Horoder from Nimovitz, Michael Kohonivich (from a hamlet near Ilova),
Franko Garvovsky (of the village of Berezov), Sokolovsky and bearded Simon who
endangered their lives simply to save Jews.
A special honor must be paid to the Shtundist sect who showed special love to
the Jews. Thanks to these wonderful people many Jews from Rokitno and area
were saved from certain death.
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