Translated by Miriam Dashkin Beckerman

Translated by Miriam Dashkin Beckerman

Of the 5-6 thousand Jewish residents of the shtetl around one thousand people were murdered during the first two weeks of the occupation. The others were chased away. From the gathering points, from whence they left the shtetl, especially from the “Beltzer Bridge” they cast their final glance at the shtetl where the Jews had lived for many generations. They left behind destroyed & plundered homes, the murdered bodies of their dear ones & the frozen blood on the streets.

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Jews who had been driven out of other locations were later brought to Yedinitz. The Romanians established a concentration camp there. The Jews who had been brought here occupied the empty houses of the Yedinitz Jews. In some of the houses they found writing on the walls that the Yedinitzer had left.

“Here, in one night 60 Jews were slaughtered.” “Here the fascist murderers killed my family.” Or – “Take revenge – that's our last wish.”

One could notice that some of the writings were written with human blood. Those who walked past this read & for a long time their hearts did not let them wipe away the writings.

Yisroel Shpizl Of Brichan tells about the dreadful appearance of the shtetl at that time. “At the beginning of July we arrived in Yedinitz. The Yiddish part of the shtetl was enclosed by barbed wire. We met none of the Yedinitz Jews there. They had been driven out two weeks before we arrived. The houses were vacant, smashed, shattered, without doors or windows. Inside signs of blood, broken furniture, ripped open pillows, feathers were flying around, etc. There were 2,000 of us herded Jews there…from Novoselitz, Lipcani, Hotin, Hertza, Securan, Czernowitz, etc.”

Frieda Kuzminer tells the following about the convoy of the herded ones from near the Belty Bridge. “The convoy left. We were told that we were going to the train station of Ruznitzeh. We were around 1600 people, men, women, elderly & young children. As we left we were counted but not registered. In the evening we reached our destination. Shattered & deathly tired, we fell onto the ground. We were hungry, but thirst plagued us even more. Not far off there was a well, but the accompanying gendarme shot & killed anyone who dared approach it. The goyim stood around & mocked us. They struck on the head, with a rod, anyone who was carrying a bundle over their shoulders in order to throw them down, with the aim of stealing their packs – the last bit that they still owned. Most of those who were struck couldn't get up in order to walk further.

“We were in the village Redin-Mara for a short time & continued on. The nearest destination – the village Klimantz. In the middle of the way there was a downpour of rain. We got soaked through & through. The one who accompanied us & the Christians who passed by didn't cease to mock us to vex us. We were not given food nor water. On the way children got lost. Families were separated from one another. The cries & the wailing reached to heaven.”

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For over a week we passed through various stations, until we approached Otek. The shtetl was completely in ruins. We walked, we wandered, until we crossed the Dneister. Many remained on the way, & the remainder battered & weary, naked & barefoot, shadows of their former selves. The journey lasted two months. For us it was an eternity.

Yekl Gold who was also in that convoy adds: “The mass of people moves the heat around & there is not a drop of water to drink. We weren't permitted to go near the water. We were marched on to Vertuzen. The march took several days. We walked during the day & spent the nights in the fields. On the way many got separated from the convoy. Weaker ones & the elderly who couldn't keep up were killed. Many elderly, therefore, gathered courage & even ran at the head of the convoy.”

Who can describe the agonizing journey led across the Dneister - & particularly the tragically famous stopping stations – the Kasseritzer Forest, the shtetlech Obek & Vertuzen on the right side of the Dneister, etc. It was in the midst of autumn, heavy rains soaked us. The winds & the autumn cold pierced as with needles, the weary bodies of the driven wandering Jews. And we must not forget the constant brutal torture administrated by the armed Romanians who accompanied us. So it no wonder that thousands perished on the way before reaching their 'destination' – the eastern shore of the Dneister. Those who fell on the way were not always buried.

Yehuda Kafri (Dorf) tells about some of the suffering on the way:

“Where we were given a chance to 'rest' it was generally in the middle of the way for no good reason, even if night was approaching. We would sit down on the ground, actually in an empty field, often in the wet mud & in creeks & swamps. Don't forget that this was in the middle of autumn, the rainy season. During the 'rest' the parents would embrace their children to protect them from the mean Romanian guards who would let out their murderous madness mainly on the old folks & the children because they held back the 'tempo' of the 'order' of the march. Those who lagged behind were destined to be killed.”

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There were cases when parents tried to disguise their children so that they should look older. The parents Of Yidl Dorf, for instance, dressed him in women's clothes. This trick helped him, so it is believed, to stay alive.

In the Clothes of a Woman Before crossing the Dneister, the guards who accompanied us, separated the men from the women. Some suspected that the women would be allowed to cross the river but the men would perish. In the best of possibilities the men would remain on this side of the river. Pinny Parnas also put on women's clothes, smuggled himself into the women's ranks & together with them, crossed the river.

Dobbe Cohen (formerly Gruzman) was amongst those chased out of Czernowitz. The Czernowitz Jews were still living in their own houses at the time that Jews in the Bessarabian cities & shtetlach already found themselves wandering in agony, but they also drank enough from the cup of bitterness. After a brief time in the ghetto the Czernowitz & Buckovina Jews got the order to take the wandering staff in their hands & cross the Dneister. Dobbe tells about this:

“Everyday we get terrible news about the shtetl of our birth. Meanwhile we sleep in our beds & eat at our tables. The truth is – we live in fear & are prepared for the worst, that a great misfortune is approaching us … In half an hour, suddenly, with beatings & threats, we were driven out of our homes & chased to the ghetto.”

“A short time later an order came to start wandering. This was already a half year after the churban of Bessarabian Jewry. We wandered for days & nights. We were dragged along side roads. We were also punished from heaven with rain & storms, in addition to the beatings & vexation from the Romanian guards. Even to the present day, the shouts of the guards clang in my ears. Their shouts – “get going… further… further.” They had no pity for sick women, old folks or young children who lost their strength & couldn't continue to walk. We were forced to leave them behind while their bodies wrangled between life & death. And we had to continue on … further.

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“On the way the supply of bread ran out. The murderers succeeded in satisfying their thirst for murder very easily without wasting even one bullet. People let out their last breath on the way from hunger & cold. It didn't take long & from those who set out very few remained, without a spark of hope.”

It's hard to give the chronology of the resting stations along the way where we stopped, where the driven ones passed through. There were various main convoys, groups separated from other convoys joined others. There were cases when part of the convoy were sent back & others led by the same route to the Dneister. In the following lines we shall attempt to relay what happened at various stops & from this particular case we shall be able to get a general idea of the way.

Winter was approaching. The convoy in which Yehuda Kafri (Yidl Dorf) was, paused in the Kaseuz Forest. Kafri tells:

“Around 200 people were shoved together in a cattle-barn near Kostuz Forest. People were hungry & thirsty. There was no drinking water. The 'mazel' was that the roof of the barn was covered with snow & ice, so people broke off icicles from the roof & stilled their thirst. Even this they could only do when the guards dozed off. People took advantage of the night hours to gather from the fields a few potatoes & other vegetables that remained in the fields. Others reached the homes of the peasants of the nearby village & they exchanged valuables if they still had any for a piece of bread, some potatoes & that's how we was able to calm one's hunger somewhat.”

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In the Lager Camp of Vertuzn

One of the worst stations was the Yiddish shtetl that is in the banks of the Dneister – Vertuzn. Sara Litvak & Frieda Kuzminer were there. They recount:

“The shtetl Vertuzn was abandoned by its Jewish inhabitants. They saved themselves by escaping across the Dneister. The houses were broken into & the surrounding goyim emptied them out. The newly arrived Jews “settled” in the abandoned houses. If there still remained a window or a door in the house, these were used to light the stove in order to warm one's bones a bit & to dry the soaked bodies. The shtetl was surrounded by a fence in order to separate the Jews from the village goyim. On both sides of the fence there would be an exchange market every day.

“The Jews would give away whatever they had for a piece of bread, a few potatoes or beets. Everything was good for exchange: an article of clothing, shoes, shoelaces, thread…people sold the last shirt off their back. They went around in socks, shmates & even wrapped their body parts in paper. They were hungry & shivered from the cold. There were people who had nothing to exchange for something to quiet their hunger. Shmuel Fradis organized a collection for the hungry. Everyone who could gave 2 lei for the needy.

At this station, amongst the ruins, it was the period of Rosh Hashanah at that time. The men gatherd in a “kloiz” a ruin, without doors or windows; they davened while standing. In the middle of prayers soldiers arrived and chased the congregants to work. They were made to carry stones up and down the high hill beside the river for no purpose at all, just in order to “sweeten” the holy yom tov for the Jews. In order to satisfy their sadism they grabbed old men and cut off their beards. Amongst those who had their beards cut off was Reb Aron-Ber Gershl.

At this point many Jews perished, amongst others, Yisrael Rosenthal, Choneh and his wife Henyeh Akerman, the mechutonim Chayim Froim Gutman and David Shwartz (Dudyeh de Jerobs. They died the same day) etc.

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Events of Vertuzn (and once more it is difficult to know whether it happened to the previously mentioned convoy, as with a part of another convoy. Actually it doesn't change anything) as told by Frieda Kuzminer:

“When we arrived at Vertuzn our papers were taken away from us and destroyed. We met Jews from the whole Chatin Region here. People were looking for food. We went to the “market” where the goyim were looking for bargains. We had almost nothing left to sell. It was a long time since we had had to part with our valuables. Even our clothes were rotting, shmates. For this we got a bit of flour, mixed with earth. We cooked a mameligeh. You can imagine what kind of a taste it had.

“In Vertuzn a committee was established for mutual help. There was no shortage either of sickness and epidemics. Worst of all was the dysentery. It was caused by unclean water with which we quenched our thirst and suddenly proclaimations appeared in Romanian saying “The Jews want to return home.” In one day the men were separated from the women and were sent to Kaseuz. When a few days passed and they did not return, we asked the authorities where they are. We didn't receive any reply. Only Pinsy Prenson managed to escape from the lager and return to us in Vertuzn.”

Incidentally the matter of gathering the documents gave a source of income for the Romanian soldiers and guards – much to our regret, also to some of our fellow Jews who made the shady deals and had suspicious business with the Romanian soldiers. It wasn't a matter of normal papers such as identity cards or birth certificates that had long ago lost their significant value. It was a matter of professional certificates, academic titles, etc. which could, so it was believed, serve their owners in the future in question of personal security and income. The suspected persons understood that for such papers their owners would pay any price just so that they will be able to hang onto them. The people mentioned weren't wrong.

Regarding one case of taking away papers and documents that happened in the Kosevitz forest lager as well Clara, the wife of Dr. Shyovich of Czernowitz (she herself from Brishan) tells: The family was on their way of deportation and came to that forest. Dr Shyovich and his family were ready to endure all measures of pressures and threats and all the draconic means in order to not give away his doctor's license, especially when the family no longer had any valuables that the robbers were willing to take for the documents.

Yekl Gold confirms, as a witness, that two of our Yedinitz Jews were amongst the band of those who worked along with the henchman, much to our pain and disgrace.

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Yom Kippur in the Forest Lager

If for Rosh Hashanah, the refugees could daven partially within the walls of a “kloiz” in Vertuzn, even though it was a dirty and neglected place, they were destined to observe Yom Kippur outside, beneath the sky, in Kaseuz Forest. Such a Yom Kippur one doesn't forget until the day of one's death.

“The morning of erev Yom Kippur an order came that the Vertuzn lager-people must “march on.” It appeared that they were going back on the road they had come from “We're going home” – was the rumor that was spread. Avraham Greenstein (Kechel Klugman's son-in-law) was sure. “Children, we're going home.” Meanwhile we walked. It started to rain – in order to “lighten” our way and make it “pleasanter.”

“At the approach of evening, we came to a forest, Kasvitz Forest. It was the eve of Kol Nidre… we sat down on the ground on the soaked earth from the rain of the whole day. Only the fallen leaves served the unfortunate ones as aid against the forest swamps. The mothers held the children in their arms, pressed them to their skinny bodies, hoping to perhaps warm the little ones in this way.

“That's how the Yom Tov was ushered in. At first the davening was very quiet, in a whisper, but then the prayers got stronger and louder until they turned into a mighty cry that wasn't, however able to shatter the leaden heavens… the soldiers and guards couldn't stop the crowd. They also, these sub-humans with ice-cold hearts, were embarrassed and moved by this dreadful sight.

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“And it's very dark. We gathered dry twigs and we light fires to boil water in order to warm ourselves. The fire spreads throughout the whole forest. It gets light as day. These fires were instead of “memorial candles” of those who had fallen and were thus spared further suffering. Their bodies and souls were thus redeemed.

Kol Nidre Eve/Night in the Kaseuz Forest A drawing by the world-renowned artist, Ben of Paris Special for “Yad Yedinitz” During the visit of the world renowned artist Benn, in Israel in the winter of 1971 in connection with his Song of Songs show, he heard from his old friend, Yosef Magen, the story of the Kol Nidre night in Kaseuz Forest. The story made such a strong impression on the artist that the artist drew the terrible night as he pictured it when the lit outdoor fires burned like Yiskor candles.

The dislocated ones “spent” several days in Kaseuz Forest. Every day, but particularly the nights brought its sacrifices who were burned in the depths of the forest. Yitzhak Shpizl, who has already been mentioned, recounts:

“We were led deep into the thick old forest. The tops of the tall trees closed off the view of the sky. In addition, it rained. We sat in the puddles and the mud. We had no water so we drank the stagnant pool water. In order to calm our hunger we ate the beets that we gathered from the long-ago harvested fields. We ate everything raw, naturally, because the surrounding peasants didn't let us get near & hit anyone they found gathering in the fields. Families were lost. Somehow the days passed but the nights! Dear G-d. This was indescribably horrible. People sat all huddled up – the living and the dead. People fell like flies. In the morning we saw how many had died. Pits were dug, the dead were undressed and buried naked. The others were hungry and thirsty and swollen. Sickness, the epidemics of the typhus and dysentery because of the dirty water and the raw food cut down lives mercilessly. Woman aborted. Other women died in childbirth. It was dark. Close relatives held one another by the hand. When they let go of hands they lost one another. The young people were gathered and let out of the forest. The elderly were left. They had to take care of themselves.

“Those who did the burying had much work. They gathered the clothes and documents from the dead ones and shared them with the soldiers. Amongst those who did the burying was the tragically familiar traitor, Sh. L of Yedinitz. (It was told that after the war he managed to reach Brazil where he was killed in a car accident.) His partner in this sin Sh. G---M disappeared. Nobody knows where or when.

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“Finally the saving order was given in Kaseuz Forest. (At that time it was like a rescue from hell): “Get up and march.” The next stations was the shtetl Otek near the Dniester, the Jewish residents had long ago left this shtetl. They had crossed the Dniester in order to save themselves, running away deep into Russia. The houses had been burnt and destroyed. Everywhere one could recognize signs of the pogrom. Dead bodies were still in the streets, yards and cellars. On the walls there was writing in blood in Yiddish: “you who will pass here say Kaddish for the soul of …(and a name would follow). It was written with their own blood, that of the victims themselves or those who were present. Who can know who left this kind of a “matzeyvah”? You who in those days were sleeping in your beds will never be able to imagine it, the immensity of our suffering, the horror of the filth, the degradation. How tragic is death when it comes so far from one's home. Yizkor! Remember those who died at the roadsides.”

Who could count the dead in Kaseuz forest that burned into a huge burial ground? Many of the dead weren't even buried. It was only later that we realized the extent of the deaths that took place in the Kaseuz Forest.

And the “fortunate” ones who came out of there were exhausted, weak, tired, dressed in rotten rags but still there was a spark of hope in their hearts because if they had succeeded in emerging from this hell, nothing will be able to overcome them.

We reached Otek. There there were several thousand chased out Jews. Dr. Maier Teich, a familiar Jewish community worker from Bukovina, a leader of the “Poele Zion” and head of the Jewish community of Suchaveh, (presently in Israel) who was there before the Jews of Yedinitz and the Jews of other shtetlach arrived there, was a witness of the arrival of “Kaseuz” in Otek. He later described what he saw:

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“It's very dark. It's wet and dirty; cries and wailing and yet people are standing on their feet. Parents have lost children, children lost parents, Chaos! People are searching, shouting, howling; hunger, despair, death! In vain is the attempt to comfort, to calm. There is no food available and most go to bed hungry with fear for tomorrow and with the hope that the night will be long and peaceful. Nobody sleeps, yet the night passes quickly and with trembling hearts we greet the new day. Soon the peasants arrive with some milk and bread but they demand very high prices and most don't have money to pay.

“Suddenly we hear a murmur from the distance. It gets stronger and louder until it turns into a lament. The Yedinitz Jews arrive. They are naked, hungry, and are driven like a pack of dogs. Here they are. I'll never forget that sight. It's not humans whom I'm beholding. These are skin-and-bones, dressed in rags, who can hardly drag themselves along. They are shivering groaning, wailing. There is a deathly-fear in their eyes, just like those of an animal that is being chased by a pack of dogs under a spray of bullets. This herd that is being beaten and chased with whips and with armed guns of soldiers, moves as one with slow movements, worn out, almost unconscious. The beastly ones don't allow anyone to stop and keep on driving us towards the Dniester to the “gehenom” but we surround them and in the few moments of confusion we manage to hand them some bits of food, garments, even managing to sneak away a few of them and hide them amongst us. The soldiers, though, soon manage to break up our circle and after reestablishing the convoy, I heard the orders for the first time, the order that from that time forth will often ring in my ears:

“Whoever can't move on, remain behind – you'll be shot.”

Crossing the Dniester was a tragic chapter in itself. About this also it is hard to tell as one event because many convoys and partial convoys crossed the Dniester to “Transnistria.” Numberless are the gruesome stories that are connected with this crossing. Some who crossed over had “mazel” and they reached the opposite side “b'sholom” and somehow “settled,” others found their death in the world of the river that carried the drowned bodies far off.

Particularly well known in the crossing of the Dniester is the horrific case of a convoy or part of one, that had made their way through Vertuzen-Kaseuz-Otek. Near the crossing point the people were divided into two groups. One group was sent in the direction of Yampole, the

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Second group-on the way to Rezina. The group of Yampole crossed the river safely. The second group perished completely in crossing the river.

One rumor has it that when the people were half way across on the bridge; it was blown up, as they were crossing. According to another rumor the people were lined up near the bridge and they were shot by machine guns. One way or another not one person of that convoy remained alive. The conditions of this are unknown up to the present day because nobody of that group survived. All kinds of rumors abounded: shot, drowned in the Dniester, and blown up on land mines. The dead took with them the secret of their death. Amongst those who perished was Rochel, the sister of Motty Reicher and her 8-year–old talented son. This after they had endured the Kaseuz Forest ordeal where they had left, in the ground, the parents-Eliezer and Golda. Others who perished on the way to Rezineh were the children of Yekl Zilberman, the watchmaker's children, Itzik and Esther and the children Duku and Shulia, as well as the mother Zelda.

Once the “goal” was reached, Transnistria, how were the deported received there to where they had so long been driven? About this “nice reception” there are terrifying witnesses:

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Here on the eastern shore of the river, a high hill rises and the area is full of rocks. The sadistic Romanians and Germans prepared quite a “reception” for the exhausted broken wanderers. They commanded that each one of the arrivals should climb the hill carrying a heavy stone. And when the unfortunate ones mounted, the order was given to get back to the riverbank. And from the river bank-once more to climb up with a heavy stone. This went on repeatedly, up and down until people collapsed in the middle of their way up and more than a few of the collapsed ones rolled down into the river and didn't have to get up again…Their final way led to the bottom of the streaming river.

On the Bank of the Dniester The departed ones wait to be transported across to Transnistria in points along the length of the Dniester the unfortunate ones were kept for many days. Here the sun beat down upon them, the rain soaked them and the cold nights plagued them. Many lost their lives here. Many drowned in the river. {from the Masias-Karp archive}

Back in Otek

Mendl Lieberman tells about the night he crossed the Dniester from Mohiliv back to Otek:

“A rumor was spread that the Germans who are accompanying the convoy want to drown us in the water while we cross it. The young of the convoy, aside from myself, there were Zusya Grolnik, Yitzhak Rabuch, Pesach Fishberg, Yacov Rosenberg, Baruch Hindler, his brother Binjamin and others, decided to oppose this strongly if an attempt will be made to commit this sin…we reached the brink of the river. Over the destroyed bridge between Mohilev and Otek a small bridge was erected. Here, on the Mohilev side of the river we stood for a long time. We weren't allowed to sit. We heard the telephone conversations of both sides of the Dniester. From our side they shouted across to the other side to take us. The opposite side countered that they did not want us. Suddenly we heard a German shouting loudly and decidedly to those in charge on the opposite side that either they accept charge on the opposite side that they accept us or we will be thrown into the river.

“It's hard to describe how the night passed for us. With our last bit of strength we stood on our feet because, as already stated, we weren't allowed to sit down. Some held young, crying children in their arms. Amongst the elderly many fainted.

"Suddenly, and unexpectedly the barrier of the bridge was opened and we were told to go upon it. Fear struck us. What do they want from us? Are they considering taking us across to the other side? Or are we being put on the bridge so that from there to be thrown into the river? But there wasn't much time to reflect on this. So we went up onto the bridge and reached Otek, sixty kilometers from Yedinitz.

“The group of Yedinitzers who were being chased from Mohilev to Otek numbered around 400 people, and when they looked around and saw that they were not being accompanied or guarded by soldiers, neither Germans nor Romanians, an argument broke out amongst them, regarding whether or not to try to go home. I was against this. Still, half of the group did set off on the way. The remainder also prepared to do the same. The argument continued

“Suddenly something terrible sprung up before our eyes: Those who had previously left the spot turned back. They were almost completely naked. They told us that on the way they had encountered Germans, Romanians and local goyish inhabitants who beat them up badly and drove them back. We helped them with whatever we could.

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Water … Water … Several convoys or splinters of convoys of the wanderers crossed the Dniester during very hot days. These people were dying for a sip of water to drink. The water was after all, so close…all one had to do was stretch out one's hand, scooping up some water and still the plaguing thirst. But woe to the one who dared to stoop down in order to drink from the river. He was shot on the spot. With their last bit of strength, with wounded and swollen feet, the people dragged themselves up the hill. When they finally reached the top, the accompanying guards told them that they have permission to go down from the hill to the river to drink. In spite of their exhaustion all, including the elderly, children, women, nursing mothers with their infants started to run downhill in order to reach the water all the sooner. But it turned out that there was no end to the cruelty of the devilish vile, Romanian guards. When the exhausted and unfortunates reached the brink of the water the soldiers didn't let them drink. They shot the drinkers, but even the shots did not stop the people from drinking. Some of them even jumped into the water and drank with their last bit of strength…Some remained in the water forever, after drinking.

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Those of us who hadn't set out at least had a chance to rest a bit”

Other facts about the horrors endured by those who arrived:

The convoy in which Yitzhak Girtzman was, arrived at the Dniester. The people got chased onto the bridge, but suddenly the bridge was raised. The guards gave this no consideration and commanded the convoy of Jews to proceed….that is….straight into the water…who will it bother if they drowned?…Yitzhak decided that quickly. He collected from everyone is much as they had, approached the chief officer on the bridge and told him: “If a spark of 'menshlekhkayt' still remains in you, like what we still have left and don't send us to a certain death. The money worked. The officer lowered the bridge and the people crossed the river.

The convoy which included Moishe Steinwartz and his family arrived in Otek in order to cross the Dniester from there. But the bridge was locked. Meanwhile there was a pouring rain. There was no point in returning to the shtetl where not only the ruins but the streets also were full of exiled Jews. Looking for a way out, Moishe Steinwartz accidentally discovered a few non-Jews whom he had at that time served and had done favors for, as bank director. These Christians intervened with those in charge of the bridge. The bridge was opened and the whole convoy crossed the river.

There were also other ”reception ceremonies.” For this there was no uniform plan. Everything took place according to the initiative, ideas and fantasies and mood of the local powers.

There were cases when representatives of the Red Cross awaited the arrivals and they were received with bread and tea, with warmth and understanding, as they are duty-bound in the framework of their activity. There were people who fainted when they saw people handing out bread and tea. One could also see tears in the eyes of those who were distributing the bread….(according to the witness, Yekl Gold)

There were cases as well when the Ukrainian inhabitants of the villages that were near the crossing point who conducted themselves nicely towards the deported Jews whose pitiful appearance elicited pity from them. These Ukrainian villagers brought bread and drink and exchange food for their last remaining things that deportees still had. (According to the witness Mendl Lieberman).

But even these cases that gave an impression of menshlekhkeyt didn't cause any faulty illusions for those who had been driven away, it certainly didn't give them the feeling of security, especially when the Romanian and German guards started to ”worry” about them. Often the nice “reception” was a swindle. It soon became clear that the deported Jews still had to go through a lot until they reach their “final goal,” a long way, with many temporary stations whose horrors nobody is capable of describing.

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The Fur Coat

In the Verburzn lager the family of the teacher Yosef Shpiro became ill with syphilis. Father and daughter couldn't move at all. The “hero” was the mother Yentah (Mayansky). She wanted to get a bit of milk from the nearby peasants. Perhaps this would help the dangerously ill family members to feel a bit better as they lay on their deathbeds. There was no money, but in the bundle there was a fur coat hidden, from the good times at home.

Since it was autumn and winter was approaching and warm hats could be made from the coat, she gave the fur coat to a Jew from the shtetl Brickov so that he would, as he promised, sell it to the goyim and give her the money….the coat was the very last possession of the family for which they could get some money with which, she hoped, save the life of her husband and child.

What happened, though? The Jew took the coat, left, and “forgot” to return. No Brichov Jew was to be found. No coat, no money. Everything disappeared and there is no milk for the expiring family members. The unfortunate and deceived mother Yeteh couldn't survive this grave disappointment and in despair committed suicide.

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The First Stop in Transnistria

Mendl Lieberman, in his writing, tells about the first stop on the soil of Transnistria. He arrived at this cross over point together with all the other tens of families on route from Securan to Otek:

“The following day we were led upon the hill at the foot of which a river flows. A white chalk mark was made all around us and we were told that we must not go beyond this mark. Who so ever does so will be shot. And they carried out their threat. They shot in the direction of the lager so that one bullet could kill more that one person. They didn't allow the locals to approach us lest they attempt to help us. It started to rain and soon it became a heavy downpour. People clung to one another so that they wouldn't be swept into the river that flowed below. There was nothing to eat or drink. The water from the river we couldn't drink because that was where the people relieved themselves. They also threw there the lice with which they were all infested. But even to this water it was difficult to get to because the place was crowded and there were many people. It was hard to see what was going on here. People fainted from lack of food. The situation was unbearable.”

Mendl Lieberman managed, with the aid of some cunning tricks, (on which we can't dwell because of lack of space) and with the promise of a fair amount of rubles, as bribe, so the commanding Romanian officer of the lager and its surroundings, to take out the Jews from the vale of tears and make it possible for them-now it will appear unbelievable-to continue on their way, free and unaccompanied, deeper into Russia. The people went forward for some distance. The conditions for walking, water and food being as scarce as before. They tried to “settle” in a deserted kolkhoz, in an abandoned yiddish shtetl, called Kozlov, basing themselves on a recommendation letter and a permit that that officer had given. But the local civil authorities were against this, motivating its opposition with the supposed “worry” for the peace of the arrivals because, so they argued, Romanian and German soldiers will a attack them and maybe kill them.

[Page 797]

Suddenly the people saw themselves so called “free” but where were they to go? What were they to do? Some argued: If the decision is in our own hands why not return “home to Yedinitz. But immediately it was obvious that on all the roads and in the whole area there are German and Romanian militia and it is deathly dangerous to meet up with them. Since Yedinitz is far anyhow, Mohilev is much closer, it was decided to set out for Mohilev.

Only a mean mind could arrange the hour of arrival for the wandering Jews in a new station to occur in the evening hours so that they wouldn't see the ruins where people were being led to and so that the people would get lost in the darkness. They weren't able to settle down even in the most terrible conditions.

[Page 797]

Conscience Or Galoshes?

The convoy dragged along. It was during the hot summer days. The leather-dealer Yosef (Yosl Gertzman) Leib Odesser's neighbor, sent together with his family. Suddenly he got sunstroke and fainted. The accompanying soldiers didn't give this any consideration. They ordered to keep on going…no stopping allowed… Yosl's daughter, Esther gathered courage, approached the officer in charge and said to him:

“You can kill me, I don't care but I won't leave my father…remember, you're still young. You have parents as well.”

While saying this she didn't forget to shove a pair of new galoshes into the hands of the officer. He commanded the soldiers to give Esther some water. Esther revived her father with the water and then gave him a drink. Once he was revived he was able to continue on the way with the convoy.

[Page 798]

That's what happened at the Molochneh station. We came to the lager table in the evening. People were led into a broken dirty building, without doors or windows, without lights, the pouring rain added to the suffering of the people. That night children got separated from their parents, got lost in the roads and some of them were found by the peasants of the area and brought to the peasants homes.

That's what happened to the young daughter of Sara Litvak. The child vanished during the night. It was a few days before the mother discovered that her child is in the home of a peasant family of the nearby village Buda. The unfortunate mother went out to track down her daughter. As a sign there served the shmates in which the child's feet had been wrapped. But here, to the amazement of the mother, the child didn't want to leave the peasant home. “It's good for me here. I want to remain here,” the child sobbed. It was hard for the mother to convince the child to go with her. The mother took the child on her shoulders, and in this way, in the snow and over a frozen stream, they struggled “home.”

A much more horrendous situation awaited the group of deportees in another station-stop as Dobbe Gruzman relates from her own tragic experience.

With our last bit of energy we reached, in one evening, the first kolkaz in the cursed Ukraine. To my last day I shall not forget the terrible scene. In a large broken building surrounded on all sides with filth, there lay on the dirty straw that was spread on the ground, men, women and children who were spasmodic, between life and death – shadows of humans. These were fragments of Bessarabian Jewry. The people were frozen and starved. Amongst them were paralyzed children who could hardly utter their last request. “Give a piece of bread.” And whom did I meet in this gehenom? One of the finest Jews of our shtetl, Shmuel Fradis z"l. He was alone and deserted and was expiring, suffering terribly and prayed that death should come all the sooner because he couldn't suffer any more.

“Tired and exhausted we fell down on the ground and lay pressed together in terrible crowding. At dawn the guards and soldiers ordered: Arise and get going, faster. Many of us never got up again. We continued to go naked and barefoot. The cold penetrates through and through and the hunger is plaguing, oh how it plagues, so much so that we could hardly go on breathing, but there was no help, no salvation came.

[Page 799]

“The Forgotten Child in the Forest” - a drawing by Zinovy Tolkochev

“A Lengthy Boredom”

There were stops of a “lengthier boredom” if we can express ourselves in this way. These were not permanent camps such as Mohilev, Bershad and others. In such a camp of a “lengthier boredom” we managed to “settle down” so-called. Here we could get food, get to know the inhabitants of a nearby village and establish contact with them.

In one such camp, Katashun, Yehuda Kafri found himself. According to the conditions that prevailed there, we can learn about other stations. Here's his account:

“A convey of around 900 people arrived in the village Katachun and here we were told to stop. People were “quartered” in a stable, without windows. The roof was broken. The hunger increased. The temperature was 30 degrees below zero. A typhus epidemic broke out. Death felt quite comfortable and had a good cut. People fell like flies. More than once the living envied the dead.

[Page 801]

“It happened that the dead would lay for days in the room because permission wasn't granted to bury them. Let's keep in mind that even to bury the dead was an act of courage and a risk. One could either be infected from the dead body or get a bullet in the head from the guards of the camp.”

“When the first winter passed, and it was a particularly cold winter, we could tally up the losses. Two thirds of those who had come to the lager had died. When the remainder saw that they would be here for a long time an attempt was made to arrange 'more comfortable arrangements.'”

The “New Wind”

A small committee was formed that tried to get more “humane” houses in the village. The committee collected everything of value that the people still had. After bribing the camp guards we initiated lengthy dealings with the head of the village. Once more, with the help of a sizeable bribe, we managed to get three deserted houses. True, they were broken and dirty but we managed to repair them and even paint them with lime that we had dragged over from a nearby military camp. The people moved in. This was ideal “housing” when compared to the barn stable where the people had been before.

In the Spring we felt a fresh new wind starting to blow in the treatment of the guards to the camp inmates. They were allowed to go out during the day to look for food in the fields or in the houses of the peasants. If lucky, one got a piece of bread or a bit of a vegetable for the hungry children.

As time went on good relationships even developed with the peasants. Some peasants even employed camp inmates in their places and paid them with a warm meal.

Aaron Chachmovich, for instance, even dug a grave in the Christian cemetery and got a filling warm soup in return, plus a glass of milk and as a gift, a container of potatoes for his family.

When the situation got “better” so to speak, the young people began to think about starting a family. Young people got married and there were also weddings amongst older people.

[Page 802]

In the Ghetto of Securan

We have already mentioned that part of the convoy suddenly got an order to leave Mohilev and return to Yedinitz. One convoy on its “way back” remained stuck in the Securan ghetto. This was in August of 1944. Jews from deportation from Cholin were also stuck in Securan ghetto, as were Jews from Bitshan, Novaselitz and other places. This was in addition to 350-400 Yedinitzer Jews. It seemed that they would be stuck here for a lengthy period.

About life in the Securan ghetto Mendl Lieberman tells the following:

“There was a central committee in the ghetto that kept in contact with the committees of the smaller groups. We, the Yedinitzers were the smallest group. Every committee got the bread portions for the group, as well as other products, sometimes sugar too. Everything possible had to be done in order to get as much as possible. We had to worry about the elderly, the feeble and sick who couldn't take care of themselves. I remember I had to take care of the mother of Tzipora Skolnik.”

“We also constructed a bathhouse. The biggest problem was to get wood to heat the bath, as well as to keep it in order inside. Life began to take shape. A small “exchange market” even got built up. People sold gold and silver here, that they still owned. The local goyim from the surroundings started to bring food items in order to exchange it for valuables. The local goyim even looked for craftsmen amongst the Jewish tailors and cobblers, etc.”

“We even constructed a 'factory' of confections and “exported” it out of the ghetto. We found raw material in the abandoned factories that were left without their Jewish owners who had been deported. We also managed to get various medications. The doctors amongst us did everything possible to help the sick and the wounded and save whomever they could.” Then the Jews who were concentrated in the ghetto of Securan were again deported to Transnistria. We find it necessary to record this station also of the martyred Yedinitz Jews.

[Page 803]

This long wandering, spending time in the camps and in the ghetto obviously didn't fill our cup of fears and torture…The deported Jews had to taste the taste of an actual concentration camp.

Mendl Lieberman tells something about this place:

“It's hard to describe the Kuzmink concentration camp. Even the word 'horrendous/horrible'is too mild. Everyone was crowded into a small building that was encircled by barbed wire, six meters from the wall. Here we had to live and carry out our minor and major needs. There was no water for washing. We were filthy and full of lice. In order to drink water, we had to go a distance of 500 meters. Soldiers accompanied us, apparently by an order from superiors and they hit us all the way there and back. It often happened that people fainted on the way back and spilt the water that they had brought in spite of the fact that those who went to bring water were happy to go.”

“There was nothing to eat. Food consisted of leaves from trees. Those who were the strongest succeeded in tearing off leaves. Others didn't even have leaves. From the roots a fire was made for cooking the leaves. Up to now I don't understand where we got the energy for this.”

“The days were like 'paradise' compared to the nights. At night the soldiers used to break into the lager like wild animals and look for women and there was also no end of the fights that went on left and right.”

“One girl went to complain to the officer. She was withheld to service him but the nightly attacks of the soldiers stopped.”

[Page 804]

Apathy and Resignation

As many witnesses recount, the convoy of deportees were accompanied by a surprisingly small guard: 4-5 soldiers or gendarmes sometimes led thousands of people. The small watch ruled over the deportees, cursed and mocked them, beat them and killed some and nobody stood up to them. Many ask: How is it possible, why? Amongst the thousand of deportees there were not only elderly despairing ones, pregnant women, etc. There were, amongst them, after all, young men in whom there streamed hot blood. Why wasn't a spark of revolt lit within them?

The reasons are understandably varied, according to the circumstances, but the main reason was apathy, resignation and indifference. These characteristics developed amongst the deportees because of the terrible and cruel conditions in which they found themselves. The hunger, thirst and exhaustion, the endless cases of death during the wandering and in the stop stations – all this atrophied people's feelings, dulled their feelings. People became apathetic to everything and to everyone and nothing could stir them up, never mind revolt. Therefore, it's no wonder that one Romanian soldier could lead a convoy of hundreds of deportees, do with them whatever he wished, take advantage as much as they wanted without anyone protesting…so it shouldn't surprise us that people remained indifferent, seeing how their parents or children die suddenly on the way. So the dead were left on the way and people continued on their way because – and this was the most important of all – one must not remain behind.

It was proven that anyone who wanted to do anything did sometimes succeed. We have mentioned above the initiative of Mendl Lieberman who risked his life to save his family and together with them, all the people in the convoy.

[Page 805]

Bershad

Some convoys, so it was conveyed to us, as soon as they would cross the Dniester, will be lucky and arrive at the large lagers of Mohilev, Bershad, etc. But before reaching this hoped for “aim” the deported ones had to pass, as we have seen, various stop stations, mainly in open fields, without water, without food, without a possibility of resting one's head. During the autumn they were exposed to pouring rain. Winter, the snow covered them and they were frozen in the cold. Epidemics spread death non-stop amongst them.

Clara Kalmanovich (then Brand) recounts frightening scenes from those days:

The living mixed with the dead…parents bemoaned the death of their children and children – over the dead bodies of their parents. Throughout the lager the plaintive cry could be heard. “God, take a look at your people, how it is being destroyed…'Shema Yisrael Adonai Elohaynu, Adonai Echad.” No answer came ,though. Why? I kept asking with my childish sense…for what sins? I saw how goyishe children go to school happy-go-lucky. So I asked myself. 'Why have we Jewish children been so punished?'

That convoy from which a part perished on the way to Rezina, after much painful wandering and Tzores, arrived in Bershad. The wandering from the time they left Yedinitz, until they reached Bershad, took altogether two months, but “for us it is an eternity.” Frieda Kuzimer (Mitl) sums it up. She was in that convoy:

“Bershad was a neglected Yiddish shtetl in the Ukraine. There we already met a large number of deportees. We were told that here we are remaining and we have to 'settle.' Where? The stables, the barns, the rooms, the stores, the cellars and in general every hole was already full. And it was winter. There was no where to warm up. The cold and the hunger increased. That winter people died like flies. Often the snow covered the dead bodies and nobody paid attention to them.

[Page 806]

A Search for Lice The “plague of lice” was the worst of all the plagues that affected the deportees. The lice accompanied us everywhere. They took up residence in the human bodies and became a part of them. People came to the conclusion that in the deportation circumstances there was no means of warding off the lice plague, and came to terms with it. People got so used to the lice that even when they could get rid of them for a short while, they had the feeling that they are missing something. That they can't live without them. Chaika Mayanski investigated this development. Once she happened to visit the house of a Ukranian Jew. This Jew saw her terrible condition and that of her husband and daughter so he asked the family to spend the night with him. He gave them the opportunity to wash and a room in which to spend the night. For the first time in a long while, their bodies had the chance to feel water on them. True, they washed, put on clean under clothes, feeling sure that the night would pass with a deep sleep. But what happened? They didn't shut their eyes all night but tossed and turned from side to side. Why? The lice… They were already so used to sleeping that without these blood suckers, they couldn't fall asleep. Chayka Mayanski also noted that men have more lice. Lice survive only on living bodies from which they draw, curse them, their sustenance. As soon as the body is dead, it seems that their source of sustenance vanishes and they leave the body. They disappear as though they had never been on the body.

[Page 807]

But when the snow ceased to fall, the dogs sensed the smell of human flesh. The luck of dogs . .

“From Bershad we were sent to all kinds of work, to places near and far, and we even reached Balta. We were even interested in going to work with the aim of finding lost family members and relatives. And there were indeed cases where people found one another. In the villages one could also get a meal sometimes.”

The family of Yitzhak Brand were also in this lager. Clara was then a little girl, and in Yedinitz, a pupil of Frieda. She recounts about that terrible winter in Bershad.

“Winter 1942 was the worst time. More than half the people in the lager died. Snow covered the people who froze to death. Daily the dead were removed in order to be buried. The ground was frozen so the earth would be slightly dug up, put the dead body there and cover it with snow …

“When springtime came we hoped that maybe we would have a chance to gain our freedom… but then the typhus epidemic started and once more people fell like flies.”

Yedl Gold adds: “One third of all the deportees died during the typhus epidemic.”

A group of deportees from Czernowitz and Bukovina also arrived at Bershad. Amongst them was, as said before, Dobbe Gruzman who recounts:

“In Bershad we found around 10,000 people, remnants of North Bessarabian Jewry.” To them there were later added arrivals from Bukovina and Romania. These people lived in broken and deserted houses of the local population, Bershad Jews who ran away with the retreating Red Army. Whatever the Jews left, the local Ukrainians plundered and wrecked. It was terribly crowded. The epidemics took a great toll mercilously. There was no medicine. There was already nothing left to exchange for a bit of flour. Some didn't even contemplate allowing themselves such a 'luxury.' Others, if they did get a bit of flour, they sold it and ate the chaff.

[Page 808]

“In Bershad we met many from our shtetl and some whom we knew quite well, amongst them: Dvoreleh, [808] the sister of Ephraim Shwartzman and her husband. The following day we heard that they were no longer alive. The same happened with Chaya Cooperman. An old friend of ours, Avrom Baron, we came across as he was expiring, lonely and forlorn, in an open house. We thought to ourselves that we will not come out of here alive.

“The men were sent far off to work – to build bridges for the German army. We remained with the children, without protection. Only a small number of the men returned from the work for the Germans. The others – either they were shot or they couldn't survive the hard labor in the stone cutting and other heavy work. But slowly, we got used to the tzores as though we had been born here and this was our eternal destiny. But here there also grew the lust for life and the hope that a miracle would happen. That 'Netzach Yisrael Lo Yizkar.” Thanks to this hope the remnants remained alive. Whoever lost this hope, even for one day, didn't wash themselves or wash their clothes didn't survive to the next day. People set out for the villages even though it was forbidden to leave the larger, and thereby they risked their lives. A 'mini-market' was also established. People took out the few shmates they still had, resewed them, mended them. Pieces of old sheets were made into table clothes which the Ukrainian women grabbed up from us. How did we do it? Our Yiddish heads came to our aid. Where there was a large hole in the sheet we embroidered a nice large flower… and where there was a smaller hole, smaller flowers. These resulted in 'lovely' embroidered tablecloths. There were also other 'parnoses'.”

We have dwelt at length on the problems of the adults, their painful wandering. When we reached a “place.” The parents suffered immensely seeing their children going around idle. The children didn't even have a chance to learn what an “Aleph” looks like. The children themselves looked with envy at the local Ukrainian children who went out, happy and cheerful, on their way to school. There were also children who had lost their parents.

[Page 809]

Some of those who had already been in the lager for a while in Bershad showed some initiative and started a school for the children that became a “Children's' Home” – patricianly an “orphanage” where the children remained until they left Bershad and with the help of the Red Cross, emigrated to Eretz Israel.

One of the founders of the school was Dobbe Grusman who tells about the construction of the school, the studies and the education of the children.

“We gathered together all the learned ones and the teachers as volunteer teachers in the school – actually an orphanage. We got assistance from Bucharest in order to supply food for the house, as well as clothing and medical help. There were 200 children there. The majority were weak and sick, and it was hard to ignite even a spark of hope in them for a better life. We tried to celebrate with them all the traditional and national holidays. We washed them every day and washed the 'shamtelach' that covered their bodies. That's how we cared for the children until a delegation arrived from Romania to take the orphan children from Transnistria, including the orphans from Bershad (amongst them was also our only daughter Chedva z”l) and take them to Eretz Israel.”

As is known, the children were loaded on the Bulgarian ship “Salvadore” and when it was in the middle of the sea a German ship torpedoed it and it sank, together with three hundred and fifty illegal immigrants, amongst them, 150 children rescued from Transnistria. It's ironic because “salvadore” means “Rescue.”

The people of Bershad paid a heavy price for their attempt to survive all the plagues and torture. The number of dead was greater than the number who survived. The majority of the dead were buried in the Bershad Jewish cemetery. And when the day of liberation came, the survivors of Bershad erected a memorial-stone on the large brother grave. On the stone there was engraved an epitaph in Hebrew that was written by the Rav Dov Yechiel (Berl Yaser) of Bricheva, (see picture page 811).

The child of Pesya and Yenkl, the son of Shmuel Fradis (in the lager of Obodovke) got very ill and was expiring. The father went out of the lager in order to bring some water from the well – perhaps with that he would be able to revive the feverish child. When the Romanian officer of the lager commanders saw this, his murderous instincts were aroused at the “chutzpah” of the Jew who dared to draw water from the well. He approached Yenkl and gave him a blow on the head. Yenkl dropped dead on the spot.

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