[Columns 523-524]

On September 1, 1939, at the outbreak of the war between Germany and Poland, many Jews began drifting eastward – towards Russia. Some moved towards Romania. The Russian army quickly took our town, Ludmir, and Jews from other towns in Poland began streaming in. At this time, there were already 28,000 Jews in the town. As we were close to the German border, we had already heard about the barbaric acts of the Nazis.We all knew about the ghettos and the torturing of Jews.

At 3:00 a.m. on June 21, 1941, German cannon shells starting flying over Ludmir, especially on the Jewish neighborhood, its location reported by spies. There were soon victims. The Jewish neighborhood quickly caught fire. Desperate Jewish orphans were already running around the streets, screaming, Oy, my mother, oy, my father!

The next day, following strong resistance by the Russians, the Germans sent their Luftwaffe over Ludmir.^[1] The main street (Farna) and its neighborhood were soon consumed by flames. All the houses of study, as well as two large cellars (belonging to Naftali Bukser and Dr. Rapczewski) in which 550 Jews were hiding, were soon burned to death. Among them were my parents, and the Bikhler, Boym, Bukser, Krishtal, Birman, Kalb families as well as many others.

At 1:00 p.m. on June 22, 1941, the Russians retreated, and the Germans marched in with heavy tanks and motorized units. The great battle then began.

The Germans scurried around, looking for young people. They pulled out the families of Shmukler, Rotnshteyn (the timber–merchant) and many others. These were stood up against a wall and shot immediately, accused of shooting Germans.

Afterwards, a Nazi commander came into town and a Jewish council was set up, to maintain order among the Jews. They put Stars of David on us, and started sending Jews to work on the trains, in the barracks, and on the roads. Men and women alike were sent to forced labor. A Jewish Council was set up, as it were, to supervise the slave army together with the police.^[2] But the Germans carried out the task on their own.^[3] The workers were heavily beaten, stripped naked, and mocked. The Germans stood and laughed at the Jews being tortured. They were amused, and yelled, “Damned nation.” Jews who did not stand up straight were shot, and five minutes later other Jews had to cover them up with earth. When people came back from work, household members would come out to greet the workers, and the wails from the families of those shot split the heavens.

Three months passed in this way. The Gestapo had already seized a thousand Jews on the street and shot them. A new great wave of extermination soon took place, and hundreds of Jews disappeared. The Gestapo announced that they had been sent to work somewhere else. Friday evenings were sad in every Jewish home. The Shabbes candles were covered with blood and tears. In the cellars, people prayed, wept, and lamented the masses of new martyrs and orphans. The remaining young people were in deep despair.

Yom Kippur arrived. With the aid of the Ukrainian police, all the Jews were arrested and put in jail, near the hill. They stood the Jews up facing the wall and beat their heads with iron weapons. Anyone who fell down was shot on the spot. The screams split the heavens. Jewish blood splattered the prison walls. There were cries, and screams of Sh'ma Yisro'el.^[4] The Jews hiding in cellars prayed Kol Nidrei.^[5] I will never forget the image of the Jews wrapped in their prayer shawls. Shots rang out again. New Jewish martyrs fell. The Jews in the cellars interrupted the regular service and said Kaddish.^[6] That day in the prison, all the arrested Jews who did not have a profession or a craft were shot. 180 men were shot by 10:00 p.m. That was the first Yom Kippur.

Anyone who could, hid once again. The Jewish Council was ordered to supply new Jews for work.

[Columns 525-526]

Guarded by Germans, they are taken to work, forced to sing while they march. The Nazis mock them, and when the song grows weaker, the order “Louder! Louder!” rings out. The Jewish streets are empty. The song ordered by the Germans is heard in the distance: Far mir bistu sheyn – the voices of beaten, broken, hopeless people.^[7]

So the year 1941 passed. Immediately after Passover 1942, the order came down that all Jews had to wear another yellow patch, one on the front left side and the other in the middle of the back, eight centimeters long. Then an order from the High Commissar Westerheide was published, creating a ghetto. It was established alongside the prison, and had two police–controlled gates. All Jews had to enter the ghetto on May 1, 1942, except for Jewish physicians and members of the Jewish Council, who remained outside. The Nazi commander of the ghetto carried everything out very methodically. Two ghettos were set up, one for Jews with a craft or a profession, the other for Jews with neither. Diseases quickly spread through the ghetto. The food supply was strictly controlled.

Word came of a mass pogrom in Rovno, in which 22 thousand Jews were murdered. Similar news came from Kovel and other towns in the vicinity. It was hard to believe that so many Jews could be shot. The Jews went to work again. The Nazi commander of the ghetto extorted more and more money from the Jews. People handed over all their possessions, hoping to be saved.

On September 1, 1942, the ghetto was surrounded by German and Ukrainian police. At 6 a.m. the policemen came in holding weapons and ordered everyone to leave their houses. They broke down doors, roofs, and shutters, searching for anyone hiding. Everyone was ordered to climb into trucks and sit, heads down. They were driven seven kilometers out of town, to Piatydny, where a huge grave pit 30 meters long, 15 meters wide, and 4 meters deep had been prepared. The site was encircled by German policemen. Two more large pits were ready nearby. The Jews had to strip naked and, holding hands, were ordered to jump into the pit and lie face down. Each person was shot in the ear by a German. Not everyone died on the spot. The pits were filled by thousands of martyrs. 18,000 Jews were shot in this way in the space of 15 days. Those who went to their deaths cried out, “Jews, remember, anyone left alive must take revenge on our blood!” Children wailed, “Mama, take me to you, I want to be killed together with you!” The rabbi went to his death holding the hand of a small child, telling him, “My child, don't be afraid, we're going to a nicer world, by God's decree.” Several thousands of Jews stayed in their hiding places. Lack of food and water drove them out into the street. The sight they saw was horrendous: ripped–up holy books littered the pavement. Homes had been plundered.

Soon afterwards, the Chief Commissar told the Jewish supervisors that there were too many Jews. It was decided to remove craftspeople (250), whereas those without a craft as well as widows and orphans would stay. On November 13, 1942, those in the latter category were taken to Piatydny, where they were shot in the pits. The Jews in the “craftsmens' ghetto” heard the screams of their brethren being murdered, but could not help. There were cases of resistance, but not one of those survived.

The handful of craftsmen drew out their existence until December 13, 1943. When the Russians marched into Zhitomir, the Germans wanted to liquidate the last remaining Jews. The tiny group of Jews in the Ludmir ghetto was surrounded by the Gestapo and taken to jail, where they were undressed. They were loaded onto trucks and taken to Khvalimits, four kilometers from town on the road to Lutsk, where they were shot.^[8] Their bodies were drenched with gasoline and burned, to remove every trace.

Thus Jewish Ludmir was erased.

Below is a list of the survivors from Ludmir, who ended up in many countries.

Rokhtshe Roytnshteyn and her daughter; Dr. Bebtsiyuk and his daughter; Basya Shulman; Motke Roytnshteyn and his wife; Hershl Roytnshteyn and a four–year–old child; Shmuel Shatz; Hershl Bik; Motke Sanders and his wife; Menashe Katz; Khone Lishner and his wife; Fayvl Broder and his daughter; Yehudis Goldshteyn; Genye Hoyzman; Freyde Migdal; Dr. Yitzkhok Grinberg; lawyer Grishe Grinberg; Shrage Efroyim and his wife and daughter; Dovid Bubes; Tel Hokhman; Yankev Zavedovich; Notke Shtern; Lipe Mendelson; Yoysef Shafir; Yulek and Fireh Bardakh; Shmuel Zelonik; Yekutiel Goldberg and his wife; Eliezer Gitklig and his wife.

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