[pp. 301-305]

Destruction and Holocaust

[pp. 305-306]

I will not recount all the events that occurred in Bursztyn right after the Germans entered the town, and which were conveyed by Dr. Schumer and others. First, I would like to relate the truth about the Bursztyn Judenrat members, among whom the most notorious were Philip Tobias and Yehudah Hersh Fishman.

I would also like to take note of a few events, which I believe are worth recording, and which took place during those terrible times in our town.

We would receive a distribution of bread from the Judenrat, a fourth of a loaf; this was given to those who worked hard. The other peoples' souls would expire while waiting at the Judenrat for a small piece of bread. Whomever they wanted, they gave, and whomever not, expired. They treated us like dogs. The overseer of the labor camp was Yehudah Hersh Fishman. Whoever did not tend to the work in accordance with his wishes was so [severely] beaten, until he collapsed. And later on, he would be dragged, ill, to work. Seldom did anyone slip out of their hands; I myself felt this upon my [own] body.

The engineer, Baranowski, created a special Works Division, which had to build a road for military purposes. He selected a number of fit, strong Jews, and it is understood, those who had connections with him. All these Jews received legitimizations from the Gestapo, approximately 30 people; I was also among them. The Judenrat no longer had any right over the people – but once, returning from work, the Judenrat members detained us. We thought that they wanted to turn us over in the Germans' hands, so as to kill us. They took us to the militia and told us that they needed to turn over 40 young Jews, whom they had not been able to catch for a long time. I right away – anybody I was able to inform – told him that he should flee.

This was a terrible period for the tortured Jews of Bursztyn – many died of hunger; one had a few poor goods that remained, following all of the Germans' robberies, [which one] sold for a piece of bread, or a few

[pp. 307-308]

potatoes. One would go to the Bursztyn woods, [a distance of] 4-5 kilometers, to collect a few twigs in order to kindle them and warm oneself up a bit – usually, the Gentiles would grab the twigs along the way, and would further accompany this with good beatings. When everything ran out, the Jews of Bursztyn began to fall from hunger, they became swollen, and died. The dead would lie for a few days because there was nobody to bury them. Everyone was drained of energy.

Before Yom Kippur of 1942, roughly, there was an action in Rohatyn. There, they were lacking Jews, so they let it be known in Bursztyn that they needed to bring over 2 wagons of Jews to be killed.

I will never forget that Yom Kippur; the religious law adjudicator, R' Yoel Ginzburg ZT”L still wanted us to pray that holy day. A few Jews gathered together at Shmuel Mastel's home. The adjudicator prayed an entire day and cried; he comforted the Jews and told them that they must accept this verdict, they should not be afraid, they should accept the verdict, [and] they should go with an uplifted head in opposition to death. I do not know how those weak, starving people came by their superhuman strength and courage.

A day after Yom Kippur, the Germans entered the city and began to shoot Jews in the streets. Many of them they grabbed and sent to Rohatyn. My mother, Perl, was also taken away then. The members of the Judenrat knew about the action and hid their wives and children.

Almost at this same time, Bursztyn became Judenrein [i.e., clean/rid of Jews]; the Jews were taken away to Bukaczowce. From there, they were loaded into wagons and deported to Belzec for extermination. The Bursztyn adjudicator ZT”L was shot in Bukaczowce while he was going around among the Jews and comforting them, and saying Viddui with them. They buried him in the local Jewish cemetery. All the remnants of the Jews from the entire sector were driven together into the Rohatyn ghetto.

At the same time, Baranowski's works division still existed. These few Jews were kept together at Yusye Feffer's house. Once, Germans barged in on us – drove us out and began to shoot at us. I was lightly wounded and ran away. At that time, [the following individuals] were shot: Shimon Feffer and Shlomo Feffer from Sernik.

I got through that same night at Skolski's home; I had things that I had hidden by her. I was then in the Rohatyn ghetto, where my wife and child still lived. Right away, they assembled all the healthy young men and sent them away to the labor camps in Brzezhany and Tarnopol – from which nobody emerged alive. Many Bursztyn Jews were dragged away there, then, including Shlomo Mandelberg, who said farewell to me and said: I know that I am going to my death. How terrifying that is. I returned from Israel so as to fall here in the murderous hands.

The Jewish militia there advised me to join them; in this manner I would have a chance at remaining alive. I categorically refused this, just as I had also done this in Bursztyn, although they had thus beaten me murderously – and taken everything from my home.

Then they took me into the division, which fed the people. The Jewish militia in the Rohatyn ghetto was silently involved with selling meat; for this, there was a death penalty, but even here, one wanted to earn money, because one believed that with this, one would bribe one's way out. I worked with the meat; I helped a lot of Bursztyn Jews.

Once, a German Volksdeutsch [i.e., in this context, a Pole of ethnic German origin who collaborated with Germany's Third Reich], who was spying about, arrived, and wanted to learn where we had the meat. Once we had

[pp. 309-310]

discerned that we were sunk, we gripped him and lanced/pierced him, and buried him on the spot.

At the edge of the ghetto stood a house, [and] in that house resided Bursztyn Jews: Fitshe Schneeweiss, Feier's wife, Rivka Haber, and my present wife, Dosia. There were also other people living [there]. Across the way, on the other side, stood a house in which S. S. men resided. One of them would sit down with a weapon and aim it at the house across the way. When somebody would exit – he would immediately shoot down that person. I would, at night, drag in whatever I was able to, there.

One day, the murderers fooled hundreds of children, and shot them all. They let it be known that at a given time, they would be distributing bread to the children – that they should come. Receiving a piece of bread was indeed a question of living, [and so] hundreds of children came running. In such a bestial manner, the children were murdered.

Following the liquidation of the Rohatyn ghetto, I procured weapons for myself. I made a bunker for myself at the home of a Gentile, next to the Bursztyn woods. Jankiew was his name. Then, I went searching for my wife and child, who had left the ghetto during the time when it was being liquidated. They had gone to the fields; unfortunately, I did not find them. The murderers caught them and killed them.

Returning to the bunker, I met Dr. Schumer and his wife there. They were utterly broken. They wanted to commit suicide. It was difficult for me to prevent them from [doing] this. Together, we dug out a larger bunker; we sat there together for half a year's time. In mortal danger, I would go during the nights to Bursztyn to Losek and bring back something to eat. (Losek the photographer). Mail from Dr. Schumer's daughter, who was living under Aryan papers, would also arrive there.

After the murderers discovered the hiding places of the Jews who still remained following the extermination of the Bursztyn Jews, which included: Mundzia Fishman, Velvl Ostrower, Lottie Bernstein, who died heroically; as well as Berele Landner. Following this, Jankiew threw us out.

We moved on to the Polish village of “Ludwikowka.” The Pole, Kochman, took us into his home. We made a bunker in his home. This saved the Pole and his family from death. This happened in the following [manner]: It was in February of 1944, [and] the Ukrainian nationalists befell the village of Ludwikowka and burned it down. The people would not allow them to escape from the fire; whoever attempted [to do so], they caught and murdered. A small number survived the Mazoyrs^[1] (as they called them in Bursztyn). We remained in the bunker, as did Dr. Schumer and his wife, and the Kochman family. The Germans arrived and collected all the surviving [Jews] and deported them. It was very cold; we all bound ourselves up in rags, and together with the surviving Poles, they drove us out of the village. Nobody recognized us.

It was evening; we threw ourselves into the snow [and] remained lying [there]. At night we went to Priest Moricki in Korostowice; he allowed us to stay [there] overnight. Following difficult experiences, I returned to Jankiew, not far from the Bursztyn woods. In the forest were other hidden Jews from Bursztyn with whom I was in contact.

We received a letter from Dosia Haber that we should come and rescue her; she was hidden under ruins, en route to Demianow. The clothing that she had on was rotten/decayed. She was in a terrible state. In addition, there were German soldiers surrounding the house; at that time, they were already beginning to retreat from Russia.

[pp. 311-312]

With great effort I got her out of there. She arrived at our good Gentile, Jankiew's place.

The terrible life [of living in] fields and woods, in various Gentiles' attics, lairs, bunkers, and cellars had begun for us. The searching at night for food, the threat of being captured every time by the Gentiles and turned over to the German's hands; the desire, however, to live, overcame everything.

My wife Dosia, the daughter of Rivka and Pinye, the grandchild of Avrahamtze Yossel Yonah's, remained [alive] following the deportation of the Bursztyn Jews from Bukaczowce to be burned, there, hiding in Bukaczowce. Her parents, who were then taken to the Rohatyn ghetto, gave her money and also gold. She left for Lemberg and had Aryan papers made for herself there. In Lemberg at that time, they would seize Christian women and send them to Germany to do [forced] labor. On a lovely day, she was also seized. However, there was right away a suspicion that she was a Jewess. She was led in for an interrogation. She succeeded in jumping out of a streetcar. She entered the Lemberg ghetto, where her uncle Itzik Feldbau still lived, at the time. At the same time, her father died in the Rohatyn ghetto. Her mother sent a peasant from Martynow to her, to bring her to her in the Rohatyn ghetto. She was there until the liquidation of the ghetto. That was June 1943 – she hid in a bunker, she left and returned to Bursztyn, was hidden at Glowinski's place, at Jankiew's place, and at other Christians' places. I helped her a great deal. Only God helped both of us and saved us from the murderous hands. And thanks to him, we now reside in Israel. We have 3 children, may they be well, and we live nicely.

As I said, I would still like to relate a few [more] accounts.

During the period when Bursztyn was already “Judenrein,” there still lived a few Jews around the city, hidden by Gentiles or in the woods. Mundzia Fishman, Velvl Ostrower, and Lottie Bernstein dug out a bunker in the “equerry” (the stalls that were across the way from the count's palace). They had a revolver with them and a number of bullets. The lame shoemaker, Rafal, who was a guard in the courtyard, aided them. He would take care of getting them food. That was the summer of 1943.

I would frequently meet with Mundzia and Velvl; Mundzia told me that Velvl had a lot of money on him.

On a Saturday the equerry was attacked by Ukrainian police and a German who was their commandant. The bunker was good, but it was a denunciation from the equerry keeper's son, Fed Buben, as he was called. The police began to call out that they should come out of the bunker, which they had surrounded. When Mundzia sensed that they were lost, he came out first, with the revolver in his hand. He critically wounded the Ukrainian commandant. Also, the one who was shooting with a machine gun, he critically wounded. Mundzia and Lottie fell. Velvl grabbed the revolver, returned to the bunker, and exited it through another opening, which led to Asher Deichsler's garden. The murderers pursued him; Velvl Ostrower fought valiantly. Not far from the house in which Dr. Shmarak lived, he wounded another Ukrainian

[pp. 313-314]

policeman. Already wounded, [with] blood running from him, he shot everything at the murderers who were still pursuing him. He fell outside of the city; Fed's son shot him.

Honor their memories! Their valiant death is a ray of light and honor in the darkness of destruction and the mass death of our entire town.

The chimneysweep, Fed Buben, bloodily participated in exterminating the Jews of Bursztyn. His son collaborated with the Germans. Many Jews who were hidden in the Bursztyn woods, or among Gentiles, were turned in by them – often times, murdered by themselves. Included among those [murdered were]: Shmuel Mastel and his son, and Shaike Granawiter.

We, a group of Jews in the forest, decided to take revenge. We dressed up as peasants. At night we entered the city, seized the night watchman, a Gentile whom we found on the street, [and] forced him to go with us. We approached Fed's house. We ordered the Gentile to knock at the window and call Fed to come outside. He did this, [and] when Fed came outside – we seized him and slaughtered him on the spot. When his wife came outside, she also got what was coming to her. The son, the murderer, we did not find. Later on, we learned that he lay hidden in the oven – that was a huge shame. Those who participated in this were: also Kalmen, Sarah the baker's [wife?], and Bukaczowce Jews.

Fed's son left Bursztyn. The Gentiles in Bursztyn learned a great deal from this. Our situation in the woods improved; the Gentiles would not bother us after this incident.

During the period that the Rohatyn ghetto still existed, Kalmen fought with weapons against the Germans. He and a group of Jews attacked Germans along the road, near Kaniuszki. Some of the Germans were killed. They, however, were [only a portion] of a larger number. Kalmen and 3 other Jews were seized and brought to the Rohatyn ghetto. There, they shot all 4 of them. They turned them over to the Jews to be buried. The Jews noticed that Kalmen was alive. He was, though, critically wounded in the head, but he was alive. They hid him. In his place they brought another body; there was no shortage of dead. Every day there were tens of dead who had died of typhus.

Kalmen grew well and fled to the woods, where he lived for a period of time. Already shortly before the liberation, the woods were overtaken by Kalmuks. These were Russian prisoners who had gone over to the Germans from Vlasav's band. The Germans had sent them to wipe out the last remaining few Jews who lived in the woods.

At that time, the Jews had weapons and staged a bitter uprising. The Germans did not want to risk their [own] necks, so they sent the Kalmuks. In such a fight with the Kalmuks, Kalmen valiantly perished; with weapons in hand, he died with honor.

With honor and esteem, we will recount his name.

[pp. 315-316]

An Amazing Thing Happened

A while before the annihilation of the Bursztyn Jews, we already knew that the Germans were carrying out a methodical extermination of East Galician Jewry. Very often, trains that were packed with half-dead Jews that they were transporting to be burned would travel through Bursztyn. Many Jews would jump from the running trains; some of them were killed on the spot, some of them were seized. An extremely small number managed to flee and reach the forest or a place where Jews still lived.

Those who were seized were shot right away. Once, a number of Jews in the region of Bursztyn jumped. They seized 11 Jews and brought them to the city. There was a German in Bursztyn who took special joy in shooting the unfortunate people. He demonstrated a special sadism toward the children.

At that time, too, he readied the 11 Jews to be shot. Nine of them he had already murdered; there remained a mother and her son of 7 years. The murderer told the child to turn around. He extended his revolver, only needing to press the trigger, but this is where something amazing happened. The child turned around to face the German and smiled. The murderer remained standing with the extended revolver, as though petrified. [This was] the hangman who had already murdered hundreds of people, among them many children, the beast who never had any mercy when children fell to his feet and begged for their lives. His hand [that] never quivered, suddenly grew confused by the child's smile. The revolver fell out of his hand, and he fainted. When he came to, he ordered the Ukrainian, Stek,^[2] who had shot tens of Bursztyn Jews, that he should take the child to the Judenrat. He made him responsible for the child. The German lay sick for a long period of time with the tank masks. He ordered that they bring the Jewish child to him every time; this calmed him.

When Bursztyn became Judenrein, the child and his mother disappeared; I do not know what became of them.

Translator's Footnotes

1. I was unable to locate this term/name in my various dictionaries. It may have been specific to Bursztyn or to the Bursztyn region. Based on the context, this is certainly not a term of endearment. Return
2. Stek appears to be a surname in this context, however, it could also mean steak or beefsteak in Polish. Return

[pp. 317-318]

Before the war, I resided with my family in the town of Bursztyn. Together with my wife and three children, I lived on Herzl Street. I had a butcher shop and we lived not badly.

When, in September 1939, the war broke out, the Soviets entered our town two days before Rosh Hashanah. They immediately began to drive out formerly wealthy Jews and Christians. The Soviets confiscated the Jews' possessions; they confiscated my butcher shop from me. A Jewish captain from the Soviet Army then said to me that if I wanted to live calmly and remain where I was, not be driven out, then I should leave and go work for the Soviets as a simple laborer; I should forget what was before, because “among us there are no merchants.” And if I did not do this, the Jewish captain said to me, it would be bad with me.

I began to work for the Soviets in a “promkombinat” of meat productions. We worked very hard there; long hours in the day, and we were paid little for the work. I received [only] so much per month, which scarcely allowed me to survive through a single week. Quite a lot of formerly poor Ukrainians from the town immediately took to collaborating with the Soviets and informed on Jews.

Yankl Glotzer and his wife

This is how it went until the outbreak of

[pp. 319-320]

the German-Soviet War, during the month of June 1941. After the German-Soviet War broke out and the Hitlerists advanced in various areas, the Soviets were still in our town for a week's time. The Soviets left our town in a calm manner, and many Jews who had previously collaborated with them left Bursztyn, along with the despicable Soviets. After the Soviets left, the town was free for three days without the Soviets and without the Germans, who had not yet entered. This lasted as such from Monday until Thursday. The Ukrainians from the town, many of whom had previously collaborated with the Soviets, began to go around to the Jewish houses and rob [them]; and they said to us Jews that soon the Hitlerists would enter; the time had come when they would slaughter all the Jews.

Thursday in the morning, the third of July 1941, I was standing in a field beyond the town and was pasturing my cows. I could see from the distance a military but did not know who it was. When the military drew nearer, I saw that there were Germans. They did not know that I was a Jew, and asked where the road to Jnaszkow was, so I showed them. Just as soon as I saw the Germans, I left the field with the cows and went home. On the way, a familiar Ukrainian, a wealthy peasant, encountered me, and he began to beat me. When I came home, I lay in bed for two weeks from the beatings, which I had received from the peasant. Just after being beaten by the peasant, I went to the Ukrainian lawyer, Skolski, who had been a good acquaintance of mine before the war. The Germans were still not in the town then, and I wanted the lawyer acquaintance to take me on [concerning] the peasant having beaten me. When I told my lawyer acquaintance, Skolski, “Save my life,” he responded to me, “Go away; if not, I will kill you myself.” That was the reply from my best friend!

Lying in bed for two weeks' time, I left my house and went out to the street. I met, standing there, a baker from Bursztyn, Yankl Pilpel, who said to me: See how they are leading [away] the rabbi of our town, R' Herzl Landau.

While looking, I saw how the rabbi was being led [away] by the two Ukrainian brothers, Ivanchuk, who lived in the village, Martynow. Those were my Gentile acquaintances, so I went over to them and asked: Why are you leading [away] our rabbi?

The Gentile fellows also took me immediately and led me [away], together with the rabbi. At that, the young man from the town, Yisroel Schwartz, walked by, and they also wanted to take him along with us, but he fled. The two Gentiles began to chase the young man, and they ordered the rabbi and me to lie down on the ground and to remain lying [there] until they returned. When the two Gentiles took after the young man, Yisroel Schwartz, I stood up from the ground and began to flee. R' Herzl Landau, as well, stood up and began to run with me. I then ran into the garden of the Ukrainian, Ilki Goy; the rabbi also ran in the same direction. At that moment, other Gentiles arrived, seized the rabbi, and led him away with them.

When I lay in the garden of the Ukrainian, I heard shouts from outside, “Hear, O Israel,” as well as shots. This was next to the synagogue. This lasted in this manner from 3 o'clock in the afternoon until 11 o'clock at night. They then drove the Jews together into the synagogue, and the Ukrainians cut off part of the Jews' beards and beat and tormented them. At 11 o'clock at night, Minne Tobias, the leader of the “Judenrat” communicated

[pp. 321-322]

with the head of the Gestapo, who was already in the town then, and oversaw the Ukrainian militia. He promised the Gestapo man tea, golden watches, and related that they not beat and torment the Jews. They then stopped tormenting the Jews in the synagogue and allowed them to leave. The following morning, one Jew could not recognize the other in the synagogue, because most of the Jews had burned-off or chopped-off beards. When they came that same day to the funeral of Moshe the Red, whom the Ukrainians had shot, one Jew could not recognize the other, even though they had known each other since childhood on, over the course of many years.

In the middle of the night, when I lay in the garden of the peasant, I grew very cold from terror, and my teeth chattered very much, and I shook. The Ukrainian, Ilki Goy, slept in a shed in the garden, and he heard that somebody was there. He came out to the garden, spotted me, and took me into the shed in which he was [staying], and threw me into the hay. At that moment, Ukrainians who were going around and searching for hidden Jews, showed up. They asked the peasant whether he had not seen Jews moving about here; he responded that no, and further hid me. This peasant was my neighbor; the garden and his house were situated not far from my residence. The morning of the following day I went home. My wife informed me that she, together with the children, was also hidden one night earlier, in a shed of the same Gentile. However, he did not know about this.

Two weeks after the Germans had entered Bursztyn, they demanded a contribution from the Jews. They demanded that they give a half a million zlotys in silver. In the course of two days, they gave them this, which the Jews had collected amongst themselves. Minne Tobias, the leader of the “Judenrat,” convinced us then that if we gave this contribution, then the Germans would no longer bother the Jews.

I did not have any money then to give toward the contribution, which the “Judenrat” had demanded from all the Jews, the sum that had been agreed upon that I should give. I then went out to the marketplace with two of my cows in order to sell them, so that I would have a donation to give toward the contribution that we had to give the Germans. But the peasants talked amongst themselves that they should not buy the cows from me, because they would, in either case, take them away from me without pay.

The following day, around 3 in the morning, Fitshe Schneeweiss came to me from the “Judenrat,” and he demanded of me that I give my portion for the contribution. I took my four cows and went about with them to sell them, but I did not have to whom to sell them. I then went into the home of a Ukrainian peasant woman, Kopchinski, and recommended that she buy all four of the cows for 1,500 zlotys. The Christian woman said to me:

Take for yourself the 1,500 zlotys in silver, go redeem yourself, and continue to keep the four cows for yourself.

I immediately carried off the money to the “Judenrat.” Just as soon as I had paid the 1,500 zlotys to the “Judenrat,” I stumbled with such a sum; two hours later I received a slip from the “Judenrat” that I should once again contribute 1,500 zlotys in silver. I once again went to the same woman, Kopchinski, [and so] she once again gave me another 400 silver zlotys, which she still had, and I carried this off. In the “Judenrat” in Bursztyn there were then: Minne Tobias, Philip Tobias, Wolf Granawiter, Eliasz Rosin, Yehudah Hersh Fishman, [and] Itzik Roher. Minne Tobias was the first leader of the “Judenrat.” After they had already taken the Jews' possessions, they demanded that the “Judenrat” should hand over 250 Jews to them to be taken to

[pp. 323-324]

the camps. When they demanded the 250 Jews from Minne Tobias, he called together all the Jews in the synagogue and said to them: Until now I was prepared only to take your possessions, but now, when they want Jewish lives, I do not want to be [the leader of the Judenrat] any longer. I will turn myself in to the Germans and let them kill me; I had thought that with the possessions I would be able to redeem your lives.

Minne Tobias relinquished his leadership of the “Judenrat,” and in his place came Philip Tobias, his cousin, a lawyer. He handed over just as many Jews as the Germans so desired. He even turned over more; when they demanded 100 Jews, Philip Tobias handed over 125. Minne Tobias, the previous leader of the “Judenrat,” grew ill and would not allow himself to be saved. He said that he did not want to live and see how they tormented Jews; he preferred to die. He died in the Rohatyn ghetto before Passover of 1943. Philip Tobias, in contrast, survived the war. He is presently in Breslau (Wroclaw). He apostatized and is a lawyer there.

The ghetto in Bursztyn was created immediately after the Germans had entered the town. The Jews were only allowed to live in the Jewish neighborhood and were not permitted to come into contact with the Christian populace. We were in the Bursztyn ghetto nearly 2,500 Jews. Every time, they would take out Jews from the ghetto to labor at quarrying stones in the region of Tarnopol. One worked very hard there, and many Jews died while at work. The Jews were not fed, and when they became swollen from hunger, the Germans shot them on the spot. In Lakewood, N. J., today, live the two brothers, Shmuel and Itzik-Moshe Drucker, who were in the [previously] mentioned stone quarry for [forced] labor.

The 10^th of October 1942, 10 o'clock in the morning; it was two days before Yom Kippur [when] the Germans' orders were hung up in the Bursztyn ghetto; that until 3 o'clock that afternoon, no more Jews were permitted in Bursztyn; that all of them must go to Bukaczowce. Even earlier, on Yom Kippur, 200 Jews were driven out to Rohatyn. The “Judenrat” in Rohatyn then received a demand from the Germans to add 500 Jews who would be deported to the extermination camps. And so the leader of the “Judenrat” in Rohatyn, Amaranth, did the following: that Rohatyn should contribute 100 Jews, and Bursztyn and Bukaczowce should contribute up to 200 Jews. The 500 Jews were then transported to the station in Rohatyn, and from there, they were deported in wagons; nobody knew where to.

When the orders were hung out in the Bursztyn ghetto on the 10^th of October 1942, all the Jews from there left at the designated time for Bukaczowce. When we arrived in Bukaczowce, they brought us to a small place [or square] where in one space they were already holding all the Jews from Bukaczowce. The Jewish streets there were small, and we, the arriving Jews from Bursztyn, did not have where to place ourselves. So, the mayor of Bukaczowce called the Gentiles together and ordered them to leave their residences on one street; that they should go to their families, so that they could hand over the street with the emptied-out residences to the [newly] arrived Jews from Bursztyn; that one should not remain outside on the street. The Gentiles, however, did not want to heed the mayor. So, the mayor telephoned the German councilor of the land [i.e., the highest official of an administrative district] in Rohatyn and inquired what he should do.

The Gestapo leader of the administrative district in Rohatyn immediately came down, on the spot, to Bukaczowce, and he called together the Gentiles for a meeting in the middle of the street. He said to them that the Jews were destined to be annihilated in eleven

[pp. 325-326]

days' time; moreover, they needed to give them residences in which to remain, in the meantime. We, the Jews of Bursztyn, then lay next to the marketplace in Bukaczowce, in which the meeting took place; and we ourselves heard the words of the Gestapo leader of the councilor of the land when he uttered them to the assembled Christians. He spoke to them in German, and a translator translated into Ukrainian. After this, the Gentiles immediately evacuated their residences on one street, into which the brought-in Jews from Bursztyn were settled.

In 11 days' time, just as the Gestapo leader had promised, there was indeed a slaughter of the Jews at the spot at which they were assembled in Bukaczowce. Germans arrived and began to pursue and drive out the Jews. The remaining Jews who attempted to flee were shot on the spot. Fifty percent of the Jews who found themselves in this place [or in this square] were shot then by the Germans. The same day such a slaughter also took place in the Rohatyn ghetto. Many Jews were driven out, and many Jews were shot on the spot.

When the Germans arrived and the slaughter began in Bukaczowce, I left for my acquaintance, Yisroelke Dawid [David], with my wife and children. This Jew lived in Bukaczowce and had a restaurant; I knew him well from before the war. He drove me, with my wife, and three children to a neighbor, a Jew with the name Wolf, from the village of Czarow. This Jew had, even earlier on, built a bunker in his residence between two walls into which one entered through an opening in the attic. I paid this Jew to allow my wife and our two girls and a neighbor, Minka Schumer, into the bunker. My boy and I could no longer get in there. I led my wife and the two girls into the bunker, and my boy and I fled to the woods. I fled to the woods of Witany.

While in the woods of Witany, I took off from there for the Ukrainian peasant, Ivan Shkurlak, and gave him 15 dollars, two pairs of gold earrings, and my wife's engagement ring, so that he would take my son and me and hide us at his place. This was on the 22^nd of October 1942. The peasant took all of this from me and led my boy and me into a separate empty room, which was situated in his house. An hour later the peasant brought in 13 more Jews to hide, from whom he took everything that they owned; they themselves handed it over to him, so that he would save them. He held us there from Sunday morning until Monday night. I then paid the peasant's wife separately, so that she would go to Bukaczowce and find out how my wife and children were doing in the hiding place at the Jew's place. She returned and brought me a sign from my wife.

When the Gentile by whom my boy and I and 13 other Jews were hidden saw that the Jews were giving him money and gold, he understood that the Jews had more of these things, but that they were not handing it over. He planted his brother, Mikhailov Shkurlak, who came Monday night (it was the third day that we were hidden at the peasant's place) into the room where we were. He said to us that they had sent him to bring us to the transport of the Jews in Bukaczowce. They were being deported from there. However, if we gave him money or gold, Mikhailov Shkurlak said, he would leave us alone. But I did not want to give [him] anything, because I understood that this was just a

[pp. 327-328]

threat. While the peasant was haggling/debating with the Jews [as to] how much they should give him, I was standing right next to the window. I kicked out the windowpane with my foot and jumped out with my boy through the window. The small house was situated on a hill, and we jumped down into a field.

In the dark night, my son and I found our way to Bursztyn, to my hometown. When I arrived in the town, I went up into the attic of the house of the previously mentioned peasant, Kopchinski, and he did not know that I was hidden there. Kopchinski was a wealthy pig breeder. In his home there was a servant, a Ukrainian girl, Krisia, who then had a Jewish lover from the town, Yossel Bigel. This Ukrainian girl greatly aided the Jewish young man; she hid him and took care of getting him food; and Yossel Bigel was still there in Bursztyn. This Ukrainian girl did [indeed] know that my boy and I were hiding in the attic of her boss; and I asked her that she let Yossel Bigel know where I was – that he should, through her, let me know where things were holding with the Jews in the town – and what I should do.

This Christian girl, Krisia, returned and told me that Yossel Bigel said to tell me that he was going to Bukaczowce to hear what was happening with his mother; he asked that I await him next to Shpak's Woods (we called the woods by this name, because Leszniczi was called Shpak) and we would see there what to do further. Kopchinski did not know that I was in his attic, and [that] the servant was in constant contact with me. Thursday at dawn, my son and I came down from Kopchinski's attic and left for the agreed-upon place, to Shpak's Woods. I, however, did not encounter Yossel Bigel there; I waited, and he did not arrive. I met a Jew from Bursztyn there, Shmuel Haber, who was coming from Bukaczowce, and I asked him about my wife and two children, but he did not know anything about them. The Jew told me that in Bukaczowce they had shot a lot of Jews, and that for them it was already far better than for the living; so said Shmuel Haber to me.

I left the woods with my son and set out for Bukaczowce. When I arrived in the town, I went to the restaurant of my familiar friend, Dawid. When I entered the restaurant, I met my wife and our two girls. We could not remain in Bukaczowce, because there was an order that all living Jews must go to the ghetto in Rohatyn, and [that] everyone had a right to bring with him a bundle of 10 pounds. My wife, three children, and I also left for Rohatyn; this was on the 22^nd of October 1942.

In the Rohatyn ghetto to which my wife, three children, and I had come, were the then-remnants of living Jews from Rohatyn, Bursztyn, Bukaczowce, Bolszowce, Knihynicze, and Zurow.

They assembled [themselves] together after the Jews had been driven out of these places, or one found these Jews hidden in various places. All the Jews were found on the street, because the ghetto in Rohatyn was by then already smaller and was situated in a small area. My older brother, Moshe, was a good friend of the leader of the Rohatyn “Judenrat,” Amaranth. My mother had given Amaranth 500 zlotys, and for this reason, the “Judenrat” allowed my wife, three children, and me into a room in which there were already 15 Jews, aside from us five. When my family and I entered the room, a Jew named Skolnik who lived next door to the house where we had been and had had a printing house in Rohatyn, came over to me

[pp. 329-330]

and said: Make a dug-out for yourself, because every minute they can grab us and kill us.

We went around inside the room [or house] and did not know where to make a hiding place. At night we began to dig a ditch inside of the room, next to the wall that led outside to the river, “Gnila Lipa.” The soil from the ditch that we had dug we threw into the water, so that there would not remain any signs. Three weeks' time we dug that ditch, [but] only during the nights. This was supposed to lead to the river, so that in the instance of danger, we would be able to flee. There was just then a period when the Germans were bothering the Jews less. The “Judenrat” in Rohatyn at that time voluntarily handed over 100 Jews every week to the Germans, who were shot in the cellar of the “Judenrat” [building, office] in Rohatyn. During the day we would leave our room, be outside, and also do various [forms of] work.

Once, we heard that the Germans were running around, seizing Jews. So, we ran into the ditch, which we had dug out in the room, and which led to the river. We hid ourselves there. Until Chanukah of 1942, the Jews who were capable of working had [a state of] calm in the ghetto. The Jews who were not very capable of working, sick, and elderly people, were led out [of the ghetto] and shot. The Jews who were led out, worked on the roads and aircraft runway. This is how it went until May of 1943. Over the course of time, there were “actions,” and they also led out those who were able to work, from the ghetto. From the room in which we were, they led out six Jews, men and women. Over the course of time, two women also died in our hiding place; they were: Ita, the wife of Yisroel-Leizer Blecher, who left behind three children, and Minka Schumer. We became fewer people in the hiding place, in the dug-out ditch in the room, and it later grew more comfortable. When we were in the bunker, a Jew, Yisroel Stander, from Stratyn, ran up to the attic of the same house in which we lay, so as to hide himself there. We heard his groans from on high. He said that on account of a bit of water that he did not have, he was expiring. Indeed, he died in the attic; we were unable to help him.

Sabbath night, on the 6^th of June 1943, the last resettlement [i.e., a euphemism for deportation, usually to the extermination camps] of the Rohatyn ghetto took place. Germans and Ukrainians arrived and laid siege the ghetto and began shooting into the residences in which the Jews resided. In the ghetto there were still close to 3,000 Jews. Half of this quantity was then shot in the ghetto, proper, and the other half was led out [of the ghetto] for extermination. The 1,500 shot Jews were buried in the ghetto, proper. I recall that the husbands of the shot women and children dug graves and buried their nearest ones.

Among us, in the bunker, it was very hot then; people would simply suffocate. There was a young man with us in the hiding place from Bursztyn, Moshe Bigel. He grew insane in the bunker and began biting everyone. He also began shouting, and we were afraid that the hiding place would be discovered. Moshe Bigel left the hiding place with his two sisters for the ghetto, and we heard how all three of them were shot by the Germans.

When the last bloody “action” took place in the Rohatyn ghetto, my wife, three children, and I left the ditch of the bunker for the river, the “Gnila Lipa.” The Germans pursued us, shot at us, but we entered the river and swam across to the other side. Other Jews from the hiding place who had also fled then, but did not enter the water; rather, fled by [way of] land, were shot.

[pp. 331-332]

My family and I came out onto dry land and did not know where to go. We lay a week's time in the fields and ate the kernels of the corn, which was then in bloom. In the end, we found our way to our hometown, Bursztyn. We entered the town at night, and once again, we went up to the attic of the previously mentioned peasant, Kopchinski. He did not know that my family and I were there. We lay in his attic for a night and a day; there was a major heat [wave] and we did not have what to eat. Even earlier on, before we went up to the attic, our 11-year-old girl, Dreizsha, lost [her way] from us, and she was together with my older brother, Moshe. As we lay in the attic, we heard our daughter shouting from the distance, along with my brother, Moshe, and his four children, and my wife's sister, and her husband. They were all seized by the Germans, who beat and tormented them, and were later on led out for extermination. We heard the shouts of our nearest, but we could not help them.

Lying in the attic with my wife and two children, a boy and a girl, we felt that we would starve to death; we could not endure it anymore. At that, I climbed down from the attic and went into the peasant, Kopchinski's house, to beg for something to eat. When he saw me, he was frightened by me, and asked me where I was situated. When I told him that I, along with my family, were hiding in his attic, Kopchinski began to shout at me that I wanted to, that on my account, he and his entire family should go into the ground [i.e., go to their graves]. Then, Kopchinski's youngest daughter, Danka, called out to her father with these words:

Such a good man as Yankl we must help; perhaps we will save his life. Let's pretend we don't know anything about [the fact] that he is up in the attic with his family.

Kopchinski then permitted me that my wife, two children, and I remain by him, up in his attic, another couple of days, not more. But we were hidden there for three months. He and his family members would bring us some food from time to time. During the nights I would go down from the attic into the fields and garden and collect cucumbers, radishes, and apples; and from this we survived.

When the three months had passed and it grew a bit quieter insofar as the searching for and seizure of Jews, since nearly all [the Jews] had been led out to be exterminated or shot, I came down from the attic and went into the town, wanting to procure food from familiar peasants. Immediately, though, the Christians began speaking amongst themselves, that moving about in the town was a Jew, the sole Jew who had survived. The Germans began to go about with scent dogs and searched for me. I was once again hidden in the attic with my wife and two children. Once, the Germans came to the Ukrainian pig breeder, Kopchinski, and asked him whether there were any hidden Jews around. The peasant responded that no, [there were no Jews,] although we were then up in the attic. When the Germans moved about next to his house, searching for Jews, Kopchinski's wife paced back and forth, wringing her hands, and begged God that the Germans should not find us. In the end, we needed to leave that place.

My wife, two children, and I went at night into a garden in which an elderly Ukrainian priest resided. We went up into the attic of his small house, and he did not know that we were hiding there. My wife, two children, and I were hidden in this attic for two months' time, and the elderly priest did not know about this. During the

[pp. 333-334]

nights, I would go down from the attic and into the fields to search for food. However, I would go to other villages where they did not know me. I swam across a [body of] water and ran to the villages of Jnaszkow [and] Kuropatniki, where nobody knew me, and brought food up to the attic for myself and for my family.

Returning home one time to the priest's attic after having gone about among the villages searching for food, I did not meet my wife and daughter. My boy was then with me, searching for food. While I was gone, the priest's son came up to the attic, so as to repair the roof, and he suddenly saw my wife and daughter there. He said to them: “I did not see anything, I do not know anything,” but he asked them to immediately leave the attic. That same day before nightfall, my wife came down from the attic and went into the garden, where they hid themselves.

When I did not meet my wife and daughter in the attic, I went around at night searching for them. While moving about in this manner from place to place, I met them in the garden where they had hidden. However, we were afraid to remain there. We again returned to the courtyard of the peasant, Kopchinski. There, we entered an ice cellar, and the peasant did not know that we were there. We lay in that cellar for a week's time. Right over there lay potatoes, so we broiled and ate them. I would also go out during the nights to the fields to procure food. A week later, Kopchinski came to the ice cellar and met us there. Kopchinski told us to leave the place, and with that, he said: I do not see an end to the war; I had thought that I would be able to hide you, but I do not want to be killed with my family.

Sabbath night I went with my boy to the forest, and persuaded Kopchinski that my wife and daughter remain in the ice cellar on-site for another week's time, where we could hide ourselves.

I went to the Witany woods with my son. There, I went to the home of the peasant, Shkurlak, where other Jews and I had been hidden initially for money and gold. Upon entering the peasant's hut, I saw two Russian partisans there with rifles. Both Russians were drunk and began to badly beat up my boy and me. They knew that I was a Jew, but they said that I was a spy, since in that place there were only partisans (Russians), and [so] how did I come to be there? Suddenly, a Jew from Bukaczowce, Shmuel Grossnoss, who was in the partisans, together with these two drunken Russian partisans, entered the hut. He recognized me and asked the Russians that they stop beating me up. So, the two partisans said to Grossnoss that if he continued to talk, they would disarm him and shoot him, along with me.

A few minutes later another Jewish partisan, Kalmen Streger, a baker from Bursztyn, entered the hut. He, too, began begging the two Russian partisans that they not beat me up. He persuaded them and took me off their hands. Kalmen Streger led my boy and me deep into the woods, and there I met a lot of Jews who were in the partisans. The partisan group in the forest consisted only of Jews who hailed from Bursztyn and Bukaczowce; all of them had weapons. The group of Jews numbered 130 persons. The leaders of this partisan group were three Russian soldiers who had fled from German captivity. Two of these three Russians were indeed those whom I

[pp. 335-336]

had met in the peasant's hut and had beaten me up. Two of the three Russian leaders of the Jewish partisan group were called Sashke and Bashke; I do not recall the name of the third Russian. “Bashke” was a Russian Jew, but he did not reveal that he was a Jew. In the partisan group in the forest there were also Jewish women, as well as entire families: fathers and children.

Several days later, after I had arrived in the forest [at the site of] the Jewish partisans, I left for Bursztyn, for the peasant, Kopchinski, so as to bring my wife and daughter from there, where they were hidden, into the forest. I left to go there, accompanied by several armed partisans. Kopchinski did not know when the armed partisans and I had entered his courtyard, and when we had left there with my wife and daughter. Going into the forest, my wife was so weak; her feet were numb, so it was necessary to carry her on my back.

In the woods they gave me a rifle, and I took part in the partisan group. We would go out at night to the villages and appropriate pigs and cows, as well as other products from the peasants, and bring this to the forest, from which everyone had [something] to eat. The first time, when I was still not in the forest, the partisans had ventured into Bursztyn, attacked the policemen's station, and appropriated 9 rifles there. There were then two old policemen at the station, and they did not put up a fight. They did not do anything to the policemen. Later on, on the road near Bukaczowce, they attacked Germans who were traveling through, and having shot them, appropriated their weapons and boots. In this manner, the partisans procured weapons and clothing, as well as food.

Following the three weeks when my family and I were in the woods, the Germans staged an ambush on the partisans in the woods. The Germans then shot 9 Jewish partisans and took with them 21 living Jewish partisans. When the Germans had completed their raid in the woods, I fled with my family, and along with us also fled one of our neighbors from Bursztyn, Mrs. Ita Mandelberg. When we realized that the Germans were encroaching, we threw ourselves onto the snow and closed our eyes, so that we would not see them shooting us. When the Germans approached the spot where we lay, Mrs. Mandelberg got up and asked the Germans why they wanted to shoot her. Just as soon as she had finished uttering these words, the Germans immediately shot the woman on the spot. Then the two Germans looked at us, and one said to the other: Leave these!

Once the Germans had left, we got up and returned to the dense woods.

My son, who was then 17 years old on the 8^th of January 1943 (yet before the German raid), left the forest with several other boys; they went to search for food. It was a well-lit night, and the boys were captured by Ukrainians. The boys fled and were pursued by the Ukrainians, who were also shooting [at them]. The other boys were shot by the Ukrainians, and my boy they caught, alive. They led my boy off to Rohatyn, and they investigated and tormented him, so that he would reveal where in the woods the partisans were situated. When my boy did not want to reveal anything, they shot him.

[pp. 337-338]

My wife and daughter and I were in the woods with the Jewish partisans until the 23^rd of August 1944, when the Red Army began to advance and drove out the Hitlerists.

Following the liberation, my wife, daughter, and I returned to our former hometown, Bursztyn. There, we saw a great deal of destruction, and encountered only 13 Jewish survivors from the former Jewish settlement in Bursztyn. The Soviets, who were among us in the town, constantly took the Jews to do various [types of] work, and the

Mechele the butcher and Meir Gittel-Leah's

My wife, daughter, and I left for Poland, to Lower Silesia, and we settled in Richbach. I was a butcher there, and we had it not bad [there]. However, when in July 1946 the pogrom in Kielce took place, we no longer wanted to remain in Poland. We left Poland illegally and arrived in Berlin, in the American zone. We were in the Schlachtensee [DP] camp there, until 1948. From there, we left for Landsberg, where we were in a camp for Jewish refugees; and from there, we immigrated to America in 1949.

We arrived in New York on the 23^rd of August 1949 with the ship, “General Muir;”^[1] we have lived the entire time in Coney Island, and we do not have it bad [here]. I work in a large meat manufacturing store. Our daughter got married here in 1951, and we already have two grandchildren. Our daughter married Irving Abramowicz, who hails from Zhetl, Poland. They have a grocery in New York and live well.

My wife and I live in four rooms that are nicely arranged. We belong to the Bursztyner Society; we have many familiar kinsmen with whom we get together from time to time. We read the “Tog-Morgn Zshurnal” [“Day-Morning Journal”], sometimes also the English newspapers. We are already American citizens and are happy with our present-day lives.

New York, the 16^th of April 1955

Translator's Footnote

1. I have found references to a ship by this name: the General C. H. Muir, which transported displaced persons (Jewish and otherwise) from Europe to the United States in the postwar era, but I cannot definitively confirm that this is the same ship being described here. Return

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