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The Destruction of Eishishok

We present here the tragic history of the destruction of Eishishok, as told by Jews of Eishishok whose fate it was to survive and arrive in the Land of Israel. Everything that they tell us is the pure truth, without exaggeration. We present here their memoirs and experiences exactly as they have related to us – in their style and their form – barely changing a single word…

On September 17, 1939, Soviet tanks and other motorized military apparatus entered Eishishok. A Revkom (Revolutionary Committee) was immediately set up town. The Eishishker Communist Chaim Shuster was installed as leader. The first order of the Revkom was the ban on any Zionist activity. All Zionist organizations were immediately closed. The Hebrew School turned into a Yiddishist school]. The merchandise in the shops

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was immediately confiscated, and inflation increased. However, the Soviet regime in the town did not last for long. One month later, Eishishok and the entire Vilna region was given over by the Soviets to the “independent” Lithuanian republic, and a Lithuanian regime was installed in the town. Life once again began to flow normally. The shops were again full of all sorts of merchandise. The Zionist organizations were again active, and the school again became a Hebrew school.

Hundreds and thousands of refugees from the parts of Poland that were under the Soviet regime, and even from Western Poland where the Nazis ruled, passed through Eishishok. Eishishok was near the Russian-Lithuanian border. (The border was at the village of Tavshiun [Tausiūnai], four kilometers from Eishishok.) From Eishishok, they went to Vilna, the capital of Lithuania, which was a large Zionist center at that time. From Vilna, it was still possible to travel to the Land of Israel or other countries.

In Eishishok, a refugee committee was founded, which was mainly involved in assisting the refugees with the Lithuanian police, who would send them back to the Russian side. The committee would save them from the hands of the Lithuanians, and provide them with food and dwelling for a few days, until they could be sent to Vilna. It was not only the committee, but all Eishishoker Jews, almost without exception, who displayed their brotherly dedication. Nothing was too hard for them to help the refugees. Eishishok was the bright point in their long, painful wandering^[2]. In the summer of 1940, after the Lithuanian Republic

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“voluntarily” united with Soviet Russia, the situation of the Jews in Lithuania in general, and in Eishishok in particular, took a significant turn for the worse.

The Communists again took over the regime, and this time for a lengthy period. The Communists who fled in 1939 returned to Eishishok and became the bosses again, with greater boldness. The Zionist organizations were again closed. The school again became Yiddishist-Communist. The businesses of Kopelman, Weidenberg, Kiuchewski, Abelow, and others were confiscated. A Communist party was formed with Lipke Ginunski as the head, as was a Komsomol (Communist Youth Organization) with Reuvele, the son of Shmuel the shoemaker, as the chairman.

Illegal business blossomed, ignoring all the fines and confiscations, and people “made money.” This is how people lived under the Soviet-Lithuanian regime until the outbreak of the Russian-German war on June 22, 1941.

The Nazis were already in Eishishok on June 24, the day after the outbreak of the war. Things were calm in the town during the first few weeks, as long as the German army was streaming through the town to the front in the east. Jews remained in their houses behind closed doors and shutters. Their hearts palpitated with terror when they heard the bangs and noise from the innumerable tanks and autos on the highway. When the noise stopped, and the army stopped streaming through the town, a division of the TODT-Arbeits-Amt remained. They enlisted all the men between the ages of 16 and 60 to work at repairing the highway that led from Eishishok to Vilna. The workday was 14 hours, from 7:00 a.m.

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until 9:00 p.m. Given that the workplace was for the most part 10 kilometers from the town, they had to present themselves at 5:00 a.m. and they returned around 11:00 p.m. The wages were 50 pfennig a day. The guard consisted of elderly Germans who were called Volksdeutschen – that is, Polish citizens of German extraction, who declared themselves as German citizens at the beginning of the Polish-German war. These new “apostates” displayed greater hatred and cruelty to the Jews and Poles than did the true Germans. After a difficult workday, tired and hungry, the Volksdeutschen would conduct “military exercises” with the Jews. That is, they would strip them naked and make them fight with each other, etc. They were murderously beaten for every minor infraction, without differentiation between old and young.

Another division of younger murderers arrived at the beginning of the second month. The commandant summoned the rabbi, Rabbi Shimon Rozovski, of blessed memory, and ordered him to form a Jewish committee of 12 individuals, who would be responsible for the precise and immediate fulfilment of their commands. The rabbi summoned all men of the town to the synagogue to select the committee. However, since there were no “takers” for such an “honor”, they decided to cast lots to select the 12 members. According to the lot, Avraham Kaplan was selected as chairman, Shalom Soneson as vice chairman, Yehuda Dwilanski, Yehuda Sewicki, Itza Mendel Jurkonski, Yosef Michalowski, Chanan Michalowski, Mordechai Kaganowicz, Markl Kopelman, and Efraim Karnowski were selected.

A few days later, the Nazis commanded to bring all fineries, jewelry, gold and silver rings, furs, and other valuable items to the kommandator (in Kiuczewski's house). All this

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was packed in large crates and sent to the fatherland – Germany. New orders were issued every day, one worse than the other. For every minor delay – beatings and other sadistic tortures.

One Sabbath, the murderers captured a few hundred Jews with long beards, placed them in two rows, brought them to the river on Vilner Way, and ordered them to enter the water in their clothes. Then, they unfortunate people had to roll along the highway in their wet clothing to clean the highway from dust. Then, they sicced their wild dogs upon the Jews, and the Jews emerged barely alive, bitten and wounded by the Nazis and the dogs. They were barely able to run to the first Jewish houses on Vilner Street^[3]. The Nazis displayed their sadistic inclinations by destroying the bath and the mikveh. They broke the gravestones in the cemetery, and the they took the parochets [ark curtains], lamps, and chandeliers from the Beis Midrashes. They broke the benches. The “bearers of culture” publicly burned the books from the city library and the Beis Midrashes.

The situation became more serious when the de-facto authority over the Jews in the town was given over to the Lithuanian police, headed by Astrauvskas, who was known as a murderer and a sadist. The Lithuanian police overtook their German teachers in their bloodthirstiness, anti-Semitism, and bestiality…

In the meantime, rumors reached us about the murder of entire Jewish communities in Lithuanian towns. Gentiles would secretly come to their Jewish acquaintances and tell them about the tragic end of the Jews of Lithuania, and advised them to give over the bit of property that they still had – “for in any case, they will kill you. Your end is near, and

The market in Eishishok on a Thursday (1912)

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nothing will save you.” They ended with a sigh, apparently out of sympathy.

Nevertheless, despite everything, we hoped that the misfortune would not come to us. We wanted to live, and every illusion was stronger than the terrible reality. We believed privately that we would survive the terrible times and our enemies. Some of us indeed would be killed, but the majority would survive. Everyone wanted to believe that he would be among the survivors…

We did not want to believe all the terrible rumors. “It is certainly overstated”… the optimists among us would comfort themselves, and they were the vast majority… “The gentiles are deliberately exaggerating so that they can trick us out of the little bit that we have… They will not kill thousands of Jews! They only want our money!” – thus did they comfort themselves and did not believe the gentiles.

A few days before Rosh Hashanah 5702 (September 21-23, 1941), a trustworthy gentile came and told us that he was in the town of Aran [Varėna] and saw hundreds of Jewish corpses lying around… and that the German and Lithuanian police are preparing to do the same thing in all the Lithuanian cities and towns.

Then the rabbi, Rabbi Shimon Rozovski of blessed memory, called a clandestine meeting of the important householders of the town, and told them, “Jews, our final hour is near, the murderers are preparing for our slaughter. Let us at least die with honor. Let us purchase some weapons with the last bit that we have. If our fate is to die, let it at least be with weapons in our hand. Let my soul die with the Philistines!”^[4]. However, Yosel Weidenberg was opposed:

“You want to fight with the Germans? Who and what are we? They want

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only our money. Let us give it to them. They do not want to kill an entire city! Let us attempt to bribe the commandant! We must not risk the life of an entire city!”

The opinions were counted, and the meeting resulted in nothing.

Many Jews gave over valuables to good and well-known Christians in the villages. When the rabbi heard this, he forbade people from doing so. “You are thereby making the gentiles your worst enemies, for they will be the first to want to be freed from you,” he claimed. However, they did not listen to him. Everyone wanted to be secure, and believed “their” gentile.

On Sunday, the eve of Rosh Hashanah 5702 [1941], all the Jews, regardless of age of weakness, even the ill, were gathered into the two Beis Midrashes and the large synagogue. Anyone who was found in a house or in hiding would be shot on the spot.

A terrible panic overtook the entire city. Now, everyone understood the intention of the murderers. People began to seek places to hide, or ways to flee from the town…

However, it was already too late. The city was surrounded by the Lithuanian police. Nevertheless, approximately 490 people succeeded in evading the police via the hills and escaping to the forests.

My wife, our two young children, and I also succeeded in hiding in a lumber warehouse. At 8:00 p.m., when it was very dark, we snuck out of the lumber workshop. Since our house was at the edge of the town, we snuck through the fields and ran to the Senadvaris Forest.

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There we met Shlomo Kiuczewski, his brother-in-law Yefim Schipel, Reuven Koleko and family, Leib Kowenski and his father, and Ita Sziszka (a women over 80). We divided into two groups. One went toward Voronovo, and the second, I among them, went to Radun. Both of those towns belonged to the White Russian region – and the murderous Lithuanian police were not there. There, Jews were still able to move about and travel.

When we arrived in Radun, we met Jews of Eishishok who told us about the last days of the Eishishok community:

… All the Jews of Eishishok, along with those of Olkeniki [Valkininkai], who had been brought in a day earlier, approximately 4,000 individuals, were prodded into the two Beis Midrashes and the synagogue. They were held there for three days without food and water. They even had to attend to the call of nature on the spot… On Wednesday, Tzom Gedalia [The fast of Gedalia, the day after Rosh Hashanah], they were all brought to the new horse market on Raduner Street under the guard of the Lithuanian and German police. The Jews were placed into rows, and they recited the confessional with weeping and screaming, led by Cantor Tiwalski.

On Thursday, Tishrei 4 in the morning, the Lithuanian police commandant – the murderer Astrauvskas – chose 250 young, healthy men and sent them to an unknown direction.

Then, I found out that they brought them to the old cemetery, where they were shot by the Lithuanian police and tossed into the large graves that the gentiles had dug a few days earlier. 250 people were sent every hour. In order to calm the outraged Jews, a Lithuanian policeman

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brought a note signed by Leib Milikowski that “We are now on Seklotzky's yard, and are preparing a ghetto for you. Have no fear, we are awaiting your arrival.”

The little note that Milikowski wrote under duress encouraged the sworn optimists somewhat, and the Jews went to their slaughter without knowing the truth. The next day, 5 Tishrei, they took the men and children, and by Friday afternoon, not one of the Jews of Eishishok and Olkeniki was alive, other than the few who succeeded in sneaking away or escaping.

The murderer Astrauvskas, dressed in a white apron and white gloves, shot the Jewish children with his own hands. The final victim was the rabbi, Rabbi Shimon Rozovski, may the memory of the holy be blessed, whom the murderers held in the cemetery for both days so that he would see how his community was destroyed. Immediately after the slaughter, the murderer relived the unfortunate man of his pain with a bullet from his revolver. The devoted rabbi found his final rest in the common grave of the 4,000 martyrs of the communities of Eishishok and Olkeniki.

When the Lithuanian police began to drive the Jews out of the Beis Midrashes, my older brother Yitzchak and I were hiding in a hut for storing lumber. We lay there until it was quite dark. My father had escaped a day

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earlier, but my mother with my young brother who was still nursing did not succeed in hiding, and were brought to the Beis Midrashes by the wicked ones. At night, we crawled out from the stored wood, and escaped through the yards to Yashka Eliaskewicz, a Christian who had worked in our tannery for many years. Our father had told us to go there in the event of danger. With him, we found David Mashcenik's children, Myra and her brother Meir, and several other Jews.

The following afternoon, a gentile came to us, sent by our father to bring us to the village of Dumblya [Polish: Dumbla; Lithuanian: Dumblė]. We dressed up as Christian children, and the gentile brought us to a house in Dumblya. There, we found our father and our relative Sara Kabacznik and her family.

We spent five days with the Christian acquaintance, and then we decided to go to Vasilishki, where Jews still lived. The police commandant, a Pole, was a great anti-Semite. When our father came to the police station to present himself, as the law demanded (otherwise, our Jewish acquaintance would be afraid to host us), the police commandant ordered that Father be arrested, because he had traveled from Lithuania to White Russia^[2] without a permit.

Once, the commandant saw me bringing Father a bottle of milk. He grabbed the bottle from my hands and broke it, shouted at me to go away, and told me to never again approach the jail. Father was freed from jail after ten days thanks to a large bribe. A few days later we received news from a Christian that Mother and my young brother were alive, and they were in Radun. We immediately set out for Radun

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and found them there. They were saved at the last moment. When the police drove them into the Beis Midrashes along with other Jews, they took the opportunity and escaped through a side door. With the help of a Christian acquaintance, they left the town dressed as Christians. The Christian returned to her home. Suddenly Mother saw a policeman approaching her. Realizing that they had seen her escaping, Mother began to walk slower. To her good fortune, there were still large piles of hay lying in the fields. She tossed my little brother into a pile of hay, and hid herself in a second pile of hay. The police did not see anything, and thought that she had disappeared into the forest, so they returned to Eishishok. That is how they were saved.

We lived in Radun for several months. During that time, the Germans set up a ghetto in Radun as well. We and 16 other Jews hid in an attic. We did not want to enter the ghetto.^[3] Suddenly, my brother started to cry. Mother let him nurse, but the child did not stop crying. He cried stronger and stronger.

A death pall fell upon us all. Then an elderly Jew called out to Mother: “This child will get us all killed. Sixteen lives are more valuable than the life of a child. He must be silenced.” The man took a blanket and thew it upon the child. After a few moments, the child was silenced forever… Mother fainted… Everyone remained sitting frozen.

It was calm for a few days. We escaped to the village of Korkutsyany. A gentile acquaintance agreed to hide us for a large sum of money. He dug a large pit in his pigsty. He covered the pit with boards.

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He then covered the boards with manure, and placed on top an old sack, potatoes, and other things. My parents, my brother Yitzchak, a female relative from Olita, and I “lived” in that pit. Our food consisted of only potatoes that the gentile would give us through a secret hole. We never saw the sunshine throughout that time. Our money began to run out, and we could not pay the “inflated” prices for the bit of potatoes that he would give us, so the gentile ordered us to leave his “dwelling.” If we would not, he would turn us over to the Germans. We returned to the village of Lebedyanka [Polish: Lebiedniki; Belarusian: Lebedniki (Лябеднікі)] and again lived in a pit for a year. We found our uncle Shalom Sonenson with his daughter Gitele in Lebedyanka. A year later, the peasant became more brazen, and demanded more money, so we decided to go out to the partisans.

We lived for about two years with the partisans, and endured many tribulations and dangers. When the Russians returned in 1944, we came out from the forests and returned to Eishishok. However, we did not find any peace there either. The White Polish partisans^[4] shot my Mother and little brother during the great attack against the Jews in the town. My father was sentenced [by the Soviets] to eight years in Siberia. The gentiles falsely accused that he had conducted business without a permit. My brother Yitzchak remained in Russia to try to arrange my father's release. I arrived in the Land of Israel with my Uncle Shalom, and I wait impatiently for my father and brother to be together with me in the Land of Israel.

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When the Germans seized control of Eishishok in July 1941, the economic and societal life came to a halt. The shops were closed. The Beis Midrashes were empty. Jews did not dare to go out on the streets, even though at that time it was permitted to do so, but, of course only in the ditches and not on the sidewalks, and wearing the “yellow patch” on their chest and on their shoulders. People only went out for the most necessary reasons, such as fetching water from a well or purchasing food. No market took place. Gentiles were forbidden to do business with Jews. There was no shortage of food. Everyone had prepared large reserves of food during the time of the Soviet regime. Flour, potatoes, sugar, and other foodstuffs could be found in almost every house. The poor people would receive support from the Jewish Committee.

This is the way it was for the first few months. Terrible rumors regarding mass murder in the surrounding towns began to reach us via Christian acquaintances, who met with Jews and gave over the news.

This was the way it was until the final Sunday of the eve of Rosh Hashanah 5702 [1941]. All the Jews were driven by the Lithuanian and German police to the two Beis Midrashes and the synagogue. They held us there for up to three days.

On Monday, the first day of Rosh Hashanah, a Lithuanian policeman entered the new Beis Midrash, where I, my husband, and our two sons were also found. He called Avraham Szwarc and ordered him to come with him. The policeman ordered Szwarc to take him to

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his house. The policeman told Szwarc that [supposedly] a large sum of money, belonging to him and to the Jewish community, was hidden in a secret place in Szwarc's house, and that if Szwarc did not voluntarily tell the policeman where the money was Szwarc would pay with his life. Avraham Szwarc swore that this was nothing more than a frame-up by gentile haters, and that there was nothing in his house. However, none of Avraham Szwarc's denials that he had not hid any money helped him. When the policeman saw that he would not get anything from Szwarc, the policeman took him to the new cemetery and shot him. Then, the policeman came once again to the Beis Midrash, and ordered Avraham's brother, David Szwarc, to go to the cemetery to bury his brother. We sat in the Beis Midrash for two days without food or drink. On Wednesday, the Fast of Gedalia, they removed everybody from the two Beis Midrashes, arranged them in lines, and led us to the new horse market on Raduner Street under guard by Lithuanian policemen. The next day, they first chose the youngest and strongest men, and sent them in an unknown direction. From afar, we heard the shooting of guns, but even then we did not believe that they were leading them to slaughter. We hoped that they were going to make a ghetto for us. We believed that the shooting was only meant to scare us, or perhaps it was a game by the murderers. We did not want to believe that the last hour was approaching. We wanted to live – to live under any condition…

They led away all the men throughout the day. By evening, only women and children remained in the horse market. Night fell. The thousands of women and children lay on the cold ground, more dead than alive, and waited for the next day…

In the middle of the night, I heard a board from the fence (the horse

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market was then surrounded by boards) moving to the side, and in the silence a recognizable voice spoke to me in Polish. This was a gentile who we knew well, who took a risk in the dark night to sneak in among the women.

“Tomorrow they will shoot you, just as they have shot your husbands. Escape from death – if your life is still worthwhile to you. Escape while it is not too late. Tomorrow will be late, too late!”

I and my two sons (my husband had been shot in the morning) along with Itke Konichowski and her two children, Shoshke Jurkanski and her son, who were lying in one corner, decided to follow the advice of the peasant. We quietly crawled through the area of the board that had moved, and went with the peasant to an acquaintance of hers in Duchishok [Dotishki]. After a few days, we sent the peasant to see what had happened in Eishishok. When the peasant returned, we found out about the great disaster… Eishishok was Judenrein…

A few days later, I set out to my aunt in Beneyki. Chaikl Konichowski also went there with his wife Gittel and children.

When an order was given that all Jews in the region must gather in the Voranava Ghetto, I decided to not go to Voranava.

My heart told me that Voranava was simply a trap, and that the ghetto – meant death. Despite the desire of my family, I decided to disguise myself as a gentile woman and return to the area of Eishishok to hide with gentile acquaintances. That is what I did. Near Eishishok, I met a peasant acquaintance. I

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explained to him what I wanted and requested his help. The good peasant reassured me, and asked me to bring my sons from Beneyki. He promised to hide us. I returned to Beneyki, brought the children, and arrived at the peasant. Since the peasant was a soltys [chairperson of the village council], and German and Lithuanian police would come to his house, he was afraid of keeping us further. One could receive the death penalty for hiding Jews! That was the “law”!

What could we do now? The ground was already frozen, and snow began to fall. It was then then end of November. Where do we go now? Then I remembered that I had a few good gentile acquaintances in the village of Jurkiškė. Perhaps they would help us. I convinced the gentile to at least accompany us to Jurkiškė and show us from afar the house in which my acquaintance lives. I did not want to enter the house of an anti-Semitic gentile by mistake. The gentile agreed. We set out on our way on Saturday morning. We went through forests and fields. Finally, we arrived in the village. The peasant showed me the house of the acquaintance, and returned to his village. I knocked on the door. To my good fortune, my Christian acquaintance came out. When she saw me, she shrieked, “Jesus, Maria, is that you? I heard that you were also shot together with all the Jews of Eishishok?”

She took me into the house and said:

“I cannot keep you in the house. You see that my house is near the main road. Police pass by very often. I will take you to my sister. She lives in an isolated house deep in the forest. You can be hidden there. My sister will know how to be quiet.

Of course, I agreed, and late at night

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we arrived at her sister's house. The peasant woman received us in a friendly manner, and gave us a separate room in which we had to remain through the entire day, not showing ourselves to anyone. However, gentiles began to talk that Jews were hiding with her. We had to leave the house, and dig a pit one meter deep and two meters wide. We entered the pit through the hollow of a tree. We moved the roots aside and placed them over the opening of the pit. We could enter the pit through the hole. We “lived” in that “dwelling” for nine months. We received food from the Christian.

During that time we met a Russian soldier who was also hiding in the forest. We eventually became very friendly with him, and he would help us obtain food. After some time, White Polish partisans appeared in the forest, who fought against the “Reds” and the Jewish partisans as if against the Germans. A Jew who fell into their hands would not come out alive. The situation deteriorated, and we decided to join the partisans. My oldest son decided to try his luck and to find them. After many difficulties and dangers, he met a group of partisans in a forest. After telling them about our situation and our request, the leader of the group agreed to accept us into the partisans, and gave him a note. We crawled out of our pit in February 1944 and set out on our way. We almost fell into the hands of a White Polish partisan group, but we escaped from them with G-d's help and met a Red Partisan intelligence group. They did not want to take us in, because we

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had no weapons or money with us. They did not pay attention to the fact that we had the note from the partisan leader that my son had brought with him. They did agree to take my older son, but not me and my younger son. They did not permit us to go deeper into the forest to the partisan camp. Returning from where we had come would have been a certain death. What should we do? I decided to not move from the place. I placed my packages down on the snow and told them that we had nowhere else to go. If they wanted, they could shoot us.

We lay on the snow in that manner for six days until an order came from the high commander of the partisans to allow us into the forest and accept us to the partisans. I worked in the kitchen and was useful to them. My older son was taken into the intelligence division, and my younger son was taken into the pioneer division. To our good fortune, Russian airplanes dropped a great deal of weapons a few days earlier, and therefore they allowed us into the camp without concern that we came without weapons or money, thereby breaking the “partisan law” that “without weapons and without money, you cannot be a partisan.” We spent a half a year with the partisans, and endured all the dangers of a life of wandering, until the Russians returned in July 1944 and liberated our area.

From the partisans, we went to Vilna, and were witnesses to the final battles between the Russian and German soldiers. From Vilna, we traveled to Eishishok, and lived there with the survivors, until the great attack of the White Polish partisans, who killed Feigele Sonsenson and her child. My son was also badly wounded

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in the foot by the White Polish partisans as he was traveling to Vilna. Despite all efforts, he died in Łódź a year later after great suffering.

Then, I decided to leave Poland. After many more difficulties, I and my younger son arrived in the Land of Israel in 1946 with the so-called “Second Aliya.”

When the Polish-German war broke out, I was mobilized as a soldier in Vilna.^[1] Our regiment, along with several other regiments, was placed on trains and sent to the western front. After three days, I arrived in Siedlce, not far from Warsaw. Along the way, we already encountered various units of the defeated Polish army fleeing eastward. The disorder was indescribable. Every regiment, or more properly, every company, worried about itself and went where they wanted. The military command structure had already ceased functioning on the first day of the war. The German Luftwaffe had gained unchallenged rule of the skies. The army was full of traitors, and a “fifth column” sowed disorder and panic within the military chain of command. Entire armies were surrounded by the German armies. Soldiers cast down their weapons, which lay around everywhere. My company, which consisted of about 200 men, decided to return to their homes in the Vilna region. On the way back, we were captured and were brought

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to Siedlce. Thousands of Polish officers and soldiers were in the prison camp, hungry and worn out. Among them were some who had been seriously wounded, whose shrieks and groans filled the air. The hunger, cold, and disgraceful downfall of the Polish army aroused anti-Semitic instincts within the Poles, and they began to harass the Jewish soldiers. The Germans did not mix into the internal life of the prison camp, and the Polish hooligans had a free hand. A few weeks later, they brought us to a place near Königsberg,^[2] and turned us over to the hands of the Volksdeutschen. These “guards,” together with the Polish hooligans, attacked us and stole our property and the few “possessions” that we had with us. A few weeks later, we were placed in cattle cars and taken to a village called [Klein] Deksin. We went to the prisoner camp by foot. Along the way, we passed a German farm. A German child was standing at the fence holding two apples. Berke Kaganowicz, who was together in the row with me, ran out from the row, and grabbed the two apples from the shegetz, and ran back between the rows. The shegetz began to shriek, but he did not recognize the “robber” among the hundreds of prisoners. Berke, Yona Tawszunski, and I divided the two apples among ourselves.

This was the only food we had for two days. We arrived in the camp after two hours of walking. There was a German “sanitation committee” at the gate. A sanitation officer gave us an injection with ink as a protection against typhus…

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Our work consisted of cleaning the snow from the streets or building barracks. The workday spanned from 6:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Our food was 200 grams of bread per day, on occasion a bit of margarine, and at noon a bowl of vegetable soup, of course without fat. Jews had to do the most difficult and dirtiest work.

In the prison camp, I met Leizer Stotszinski, Meir Shimon Politacki, the photographer Leibowicz, and Shaul Lidski's son. The Nazis administered death blows for every minor “infraction.” Yona Tawszunski fell as a victim to the German beatings, and was buried in the cemetery of the prison camp. When the Germans ordered that Polish soldiers who had lived in the territory that Soviet Russia transferred to Lithuania were allowed to return to their places,^[3] Leizer Stotszinski “obtained” Lithuanian citizenship and returned to Eishishok.

A few days later, after Leizer Stotszinski left the camp, the German in charge of our barracks asked the prisoners if any of them were Lithuanian citizens. Meir Shimon Politacki responded, “I! I am an Eishishoker, and Eishishok now belongs to Lithuania.” The Nazi asked, “Where is your family?”

“Politacki! – A Jew? Ya! Good! Come with me, Jew!”

Meir Shimon did not return by evening. Suddenly, the door of our barracks opened, and a person was tossed at us. When I bent down to see who it was, I could barely recognize Politacki. He was one large wound. I could not see either of his eyes. His face was blue and swollen. We were able to revive him only with difficulty.

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From that time, [as a result of the severe beating he received,] he developed epilepsy. This is how the murderers punished Jews for the brazenness of wanting to be freed from their hands. Later, a health commission freed him from the camp.

From Germany, they brought us again to Biała Podlaska in Poland. Ber Kaganowicz and I dressed up in civilian Jewish garb, with the yellow batch on the chest and shoulders. We went in that manner to Łuków, and were taken on as workers by a Jewish carpenter.

Then, we worked for a German carpenter who treated us very humanely, and hid us from aktions – that means from being sent to the death camps.

When the situation became more serious, I dressed up as a Christian and set out for Międzyrzec, where a Jewish community still existed.

On the way, we encountered a Polish policeman who demanded that we go with him to the nearest police station to inspect our papers. He suspected that we were not Poles! Having no choice, we agreed to go with him. However, when we passed by a grove, Berke suddenly took out his gun and shot the policeman on the spot. We began to run quickly to the grove. The echo of the shot alerted the closest German guard and drew his attention. Seeing from afar two men running, the guard began to shoot. Berke fell a few meters from the grove, after having been hit by a German bullet. Thus did he meet his tragic death there.

My fate was better. I succeeded in running to

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the grove, and thus saved myself. Apparently, the Germans had no great desire to follow me into the grove, and since it was already quite dark, they returned to the village. I hid deep in the forest for three days. I finally arrived in Międzyrzec in the evening of the fourth day. In Międzyrzec, I formed a brotherly relationship with the Jewish police commandant. Thanks to him, I was able to obtain things from murdered Jews and sell them to the surrounding peasants. With the money I purchased a revolver.

At that time, a secret emissary of the Jewish partisans, who were moving about in the surrounding forests, arrived. I was accepted into the partisans along with another ten lads of Międzyrzec. We began to confiscate pigs from the wealthy peasants and distribute them among those in the village who had weapons.

Thanks to this, we not only purchased guns and revolvers, but even machine guns. With time, our numbers reached 800. We were divided into different companies and groups, including the sanitary, scouting, and other support groups.

With time, we made radio contact with Moscow, and from there we received weapons, radios, food, etc., from airplanes.

Our task was primarily to destroy bridges and railway lines, and to attack the German guard posts or military units that would pass through our area going to and from the front. We forced the Germans to dedicate large army units to fight against us. This restricted their freedom of movement and badly damaged their transport and communication networks.

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In the middle of the night, we suddenly attacked a village in which there was a German guard post. After carrying out the bit of work – we quickly disappeared… White Polish partisans appeared in the forests during the years 1942-1943. We endured the most bitter battles with them. Any Jewish partisan who fell into their hands would not come out alive. It was the same thing when we captured a white partisan. The partisans did not take any prisoners; therefore, every partisan knew that he must kill the enemy or he himself would be killed! If a partisan was badly wounded and it was impossible to take him along, the wounded partisan would shoot himself to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy, and meeting his death with suffering and pain.

One night, when my company passed near a village, guns started shooting at us. Since we knew that there were no Germans in the village, we understood that those who were shooting were peasants who were collaborating with the white Polish partisans. Then fell our beloved commander, who was known by the name “Piri.” We decided to teach the village a lesson, so that it would serve as an example to others.

The following night, several groups surrounded the village and set it on fire from all sides. Anyone trying to escape was shot. No living person remained in the village.

Thus did I live a partisan life in the Polish forests for two years. When the Russian army liberated the Polish regions, I enlisted in the Red Amy, returned to Biała Podlaska, and in time became a prison

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commissar over criminals. As time went on, a significant number of anti-Semitic criminals and murderers of Jews were appropriately punished. About a half a year later, I felt that it was time to resign – too many complaints had been made against me. At the same time, I wanted to free myself from Poland and its human-beasts. I crossed the Russian-Austrian border in a Russian military vehicle. I arrived in the Land of Israel through the Ma'apilim route in the spring of 1946.^[4]

As a former commander of the Eishishok militia under the Soviet regime, I had to hide immediately after the entry of the Germans. I did not succeed in escaping with the retreating Russian army. I disguised myself as a peasant and managed to evade the German police, who were searching for me. I escaped to Varanava. On May 4, 1942, the German-Lithuanian police drove all the Jews to the market. They selected the professionals and placed them on a side. When the commandant asked me what was my trade, I told him that I was a watchmaker. Then he said, “Good, for the time being you will remain alive – go quickly to the right side!” Hundreds of Jews – women, children, and those “without a trade” remained standing on the left side. The police forced the unfortunate ones to lie in prepared pits, and then opened fire with a machine gun. After a while,

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the marketplace was full of dead bodies and rivers of blood. The peasants gathered around and quickly pillaged the dead as well as the wounded Jews. Everything took place before our eyes…

I will never forget this image…

Then, the commandant entered and said: “You Jews are guilty! The war broke out because of you. You will all be killed. However, for the time being, you are still useful – so you will remain alive in the interim”…

From there, we were sent to the Lida Ghetto. Rumors reached us that there were Jewish partisans in the surrounding forests, and anyone who could bring weapons with them would be accepted into the partisan group.

I decided to escape from the ghetto and go to the partisans. I succeeded in buying a gun for 30,000. I dismantled it into small pieces. One dark night, I and a group of 100 men cut the barbed wire fence and escaped from the Lida Ghetto. Our route passed through the large Naliboki Forest. According to our information, that is where the Jewish partisans were located. During the day^[1], we hid in the thick parts of the forests, and we moved on further during the night. We encountered a patrol of the Jewish partisan group, which was under the command of the Bielski brothers from Nowogrudek. There were several hundred Jewish fighters in the camp, among them women and a few children. They [i.e., the women and children] were involved in preparing food, fixing things, and other housekeeping tasks.

I was with Bielski's partisans for two years. Our work was to destroy bridges, railway lines, and other important military objects. [We also] would attack German or White Russian

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police stations or military points. We obtained food from nearby peasants according to a great protocol and system. This was all described well enough in the “Forest Jews” book that was published in Hebrew by the Bielski brothers (today living in the Land of Israel).

When the Russians drove the Germans out of eastern Poland, and we could emerge from [hiding in] the forests, I returned to Eishishok. In the town, I already found Shalom Sonenson, his brother Moshe and wife Tzipora, with their children, Tzirel Jurkanski's family, Sara Kabatznik and her family. I registered with the N.K.V.D. unit whose task was to clear the region of Polish white partisans and others who had collaborated with the Germans. I and Moshe Sonenson, who was with me in the same unit, took revenge on all the hooligans whose hands were dirty with Jewish blood. We recovered many Jewish stolen articles that we recognized. The gentiles who fell into our hands paid dearly.

During the first period, we captured small groups of German soldiers who were hiding in the surrounding forests during the time of the great German retreat. Once, we, a group of armed Jews, captured six Germans near Eishishok, among them an S.S. officer. We brought them to the old cemetery. We placed the S.S. officer at the side, and shot the other Nazis on the spot. The officer fell at our feet and began to cry and beg us to not kill him. He had a wife and children in Germany, and he never harmed Jews – so he claimed and kissed our boots. “You have a wife and children,” shouted Moshe Sonenson, “ and did we not also have wives and children, you scoundrel?! Did you

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bloody beasts have mercy on our parents, wives, and children? You want to live, murderer? You will not merit such!”… As he [Moshe] was speaking, he lifted up his gun and smashed his head with its butt. Then he dipped his hands in the blood, raised them heavenward, and said, “See, G-d, my hands have spilled the blood of the murderer! For my father, and for my mother, for my two brothers and sister! For my young child whom the Jews had to suffocate so as not to fall into the hands of the Nazi scoundrels! – Revenge for them all!”…

Thus did we take revenge upon many of those who ha collaborated with the Germans, and this cast a pall upon the gentiles. After some time, the Soviet military forces left Eishishok, and only three militias remained in the town. We happened to learn that white Polish partisans, who were hiding in the forests, were planning on mounting an attack against us, and that the gentiles in the town planned to join them when they arrived. We told a Russian captain who was passing through the town about the danger that was threatening us, and we asked him to send a division of soldiers to defend us. The captain tried to reassure us, saying that our “fear” was without merit. Such things do not take place under the Soviet regime, he told us, and with that he travelled onward.

We then decided to gather together in Shaul Sonenson's house, which was made of brick.

Indeed, a large group of Polish white partisans attacked us that night, together with a throng of gentiles of Eishishok. As long as we still had bullets, we were protected and kept the attackers at bay. However, when our bullets ran out, the murderers broke the doors and burst into the house.

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I jumped through a window in the attic, and set out for the orchard that was behind the house. The other Jews also escaped. I found Moshe Jurkanski, Mariashel's son, in the orchard. We ran through the gardens and the Pig Alleyway to the river, and hid the entire night among the bushes. In the morning, when it became light, we did not hear any shooting or shouting from the town, so we took the risk and returned to the town. We saw the destruction that the hooligans had perpetrated.

Moshe Sonenson's wife Feigele^[2] and their young child had been murdered that night. They were hiding together with all the Jews in a dark side room. Because of the child, they could not escape. They heard the murderers breaking the furniture, looking for money. Then Feigele said to Moshe, “I recognize the voice of the Polish pharmacist. He knew father very well. He used to come to our home. I will go out to them, for in any case they will find us. Maybe they will have mercy on a woman with a young child?…”

That is what she did. However, as soon as she opened the door and the murderers saw her, they shot her and the child on the spot. They fell dead upon the doorstep. Hearing the shots and understanding what had taken place, Moshe Sonenson jumped out through a small window and fled to the surrounding forests. Thanks to that, he survived.

We, the few Jews, gathered together again after the pogrom. We sent word to the Jews of Radun, where there was still a Russian garrison. We told them what had taken place in Eishishok, and asked them to send a military division to us.

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When the military division arrived, we conducted searches among the gentiles of the town, and found our stolen goods with them. We arrested fifty gentiles and held them in what had been Yankel Kyoczewski's brick house (the former post office). A few days later, a large group of white partisans attacked again and freed the arrested gentiles. The exchange of shots between them and the Russians lasted an entire night. At dawn, the [white Polish] partisans fled into the forests. With time, things became calm. Life became normal. Polish shops opened in place of the Jewish ones. Also, Polish tradespeople, such as shoemakers, tailors, etc., came to Eishishok. A market once again took place on Thursdays, and gentiles did business with each other – they could manage without Jews. Poor gentiles from “Neien Plan,” the Pigs Alleyway, or from nearby villages settled in the better houses. Our hearts were pained seeing how life went on normally, and we Jews were superfluous. However, seeing gentile men and women dressed in Jewish furs and clothing, and one could not do anything against them…

The hatred and the brazenness of the gentiles grew from day to day. They began to demand from the Soviet authorities that they punish us for our searches that we conducted, and accused us of stealing “their” goods. This was an infraction that was punished severely in Russia.

We felt that the earth had begun to burn under our feet. The Russian police commandant told me that it would be better for me, as well as for the remaining Jews, to leave Eishishok. I understood the hint, and decided to take his advice… I snuck across the Romanian border and came to the Land of Israel as a Ma'apil.^[3]

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