Thus It Began (cont.)

Leaving for the Forest

Riva was very good at her job. She was able to transfer letters to the yard near the printing house, and Bertha would meet her. Riva would always sit by the printing press while we were doing pamphlets. She would clean the area, volunteering so that the Christian girls would not have to do anything, leaving us to print without worrying about them seeing anything. Riva stayed at the printing house after I left the area, and many years later when I met her, she told me that when they asked why I left, she told them that it was hard to know and that it must be that I was murdered when I went to visit Kurenets. She stayed there until October 1942. Eventually they organized an escape from the Vileyka ghetto, and the first to escape was Riva , with a group of ten young men. She was the only woman. The rest of this group were Shimon Zimmerman, later the husband of Riva, and Yehezkel Zimmerman (Charles Gelman) the son of Yitzhak Haitze's. With them were Tevel, the son of G'daliyahu the blacksmith, Lazar Shlomo, and others.

At this point I was still printing pamphlets as well as some materials for the church. Since the nights were still long in April, I could do much work, but still I was always tense, despite the fact that the Germans didn't usually come there at night. One night, after I printed some things for Byelosov and also short pamphlets for us, one of the Christian women for some reason started cleaning the printing house. Once in a while she would come near me, so I had no choice but to drop the form and mix the letters. I had to wait for her to finish and it took a long time, and then once again I joined the letters and finished the job. In our area it was mainly favorable news from the front. The next morning, Bertha came and took all the pamphlets.

Among the pamphlets I did in Vileyka, there was one that called for the residents who worked for the German police to join the fight against the Nazis. It said that the Germans had lost many battles on the Russian front. We announced that if they wanted to find the Partisans, all they had to do was go to the forest with the announcement and a weapon, and the Resistance would accept them. We signed this pamphlet with the words “Death to Hitler!”

Beautiful spring days came and the snow melted. We could see the days but since we were indoors we really did not experience them. The non-Jews in the Partisans kept asking us if we had sufficient weapons, papers, and letters so we could join them in the forest. They were not ready for all the Jewish members to join them, but they wanted me to come so I could start printing the newspaper. Since I needed more letters, I remembered the letters I had seen from the old Soviet printing house. I told Byelosov about it and said we should ask Handl for the letters, since many of our letters were not functional anymore. Byelosov sent me to Handl to ask for them. I explained to Handl that Byelosov sent me to collect those letters for our job, and he told me to choose the letters that were in good shape so I could take them to the printing house. Handl ordered me to weigh what I was going to take so that everything would be exact, so I sat there for a whole day so I could examine the letters, and I took a bag of about 30 kg of letters. When I showed the bag to Handl he forgot about weighing it. I hid them near the printing house and I gave Byelosov only a small package of letters, saying that most of the others were non-functional.

The people from Volkoviczina came the next day. Yorka Balshov took the letters back with him to Volkoviczina. The Germans had their eagle symbol on a stamp and we thought that we could make a stamp from it if we added the appropriate words in a circle around the eagle. So I brought the raw material to Kopel, who was among the skilled Jews that the Nazis needed. There was also a dentist there. Kopel took some plaster from him and he was able to somehow make a print with the eagle and the appropriate letters. Now we had an official German stamp that we hoped to use for the Resistance. Since the labor camp was crowded with many Jews, it was impossible to hide such an operation from them, and someone started yelling that because of this stamp, everyone would be murdered. But someone else yelled to him, “Tell me, do you really believe that if we didn't have the stamp they would keep us alive and not kill us?”

Kopel Spektor was well respected, even by the Nazis. One time, when they were repairing a toilet in the German headquarters, the different technicians were arguing about which way a toilet should be designed. Should it be the French way, where you pull a string, or the English way, where you press a button or lever for it to flush? Since they all respected his technical skills, they called Kopel and asked his opinion. Kopel, who didn't lose his sense of humor, said that there was also a Russian system, in which there was no need to flush at all, since the toilet was not in the house but at the edge of the yard. The Germans loved this answer and they all laughed, thinking of how backward the Soviets were. Kopel made them so happy that they gave him cigarettes.

In reality, Kopel Spektor did everything he could to help people who were going to fight the Germans. He was the head of the committee that had planned the escape from the camp to the forest. They were an Underground group. One of the other heads of the committee was Jonah Riar, from the town of Ilia. He was able to steal a gun from one of the German gendarmes, but when he tried the gun it had some kind of defect and Kopel Spektor was able to fix it in no time at all.

When I think of those days I remember how we all wished to get revenge, and every little bit of revenge would please us. In Vileyka, there was the daughter of Doctor Shostakovich from Kurenets. He was born in one of the villages nearby, and now, since the Germans came, he became their assistant, and maybe because of his collaborating with the Germans, his daughter now received an important job as an editor for them. Lazar, who worked with us, fell in love with that girl, and would often go from the printing house to deliver the prints we made. Despite the fact that it could endanger us, we were so angry and revengeful that we would change the letters and make, as if by mistake, errors that would say something nasty. That would make us feel a little bit better, that we were able to embarrass her in some way.

At the end of April, I was told that I should go to Volkoviczina to meet with Ivan. The letters were in his attic, and he asked me to check what we could do with them. While I was checking the letters and separating them, the Germans came to the village to get some chickens. I immediately hid, but I could see the Germans looking. From where I was hiding, I also saw one of the soldiers making love to a local girl from the village. At the end, he gave her a loaf of bread as payment, and a big smile lit up her face. Finally, the soldiers left and I was able to get out of my hideout and continue with my job. During that meeting, Ivan informed me that the next morning I had to go to the forest with two other people. We decided that Zalman Gurevich and Elik (Eliyahu), the son of Ruven Zishka Alperovich, would join me. Meanwhile, Itzkaleh Einbender went to Vileyka and spread a rumor that I had been murdered. A decision was made that if Schatz, the head of the Judenrat, would start investigating, Itzkaleh would kill him. My sister Doba worked in Vileyka for the German officer Riddle, putting together clothing for the soldiers, and she also helped them make packages to send home that basically consisted of pillage from the Jews.

Monday morning, while I walked to Vileyka with Itzkaleh, I transferred my rifle with three bullets to Itzkaleh Einbender so he could threaten Schatz if needed. Near the village of Zimadora, I decided to leave. I fell off the little bridge, and a policeman who saw me asked what had happened to me, and I said that something was wrong with my shoe and that I must fix it. They continued walking and I stayed there as if fixing my shoes. As soon as I saw them passing, I ran to the forest nearby, and there I stayed the entire day. When night came I went to Volkoviczina, where I met Yorka Balshov, who told me that Zalman Uri and Elik were ready and that we would leave that night.

Weeks later, Itzkaleh told me that Schatz was very helpful and spread the word that I had been killed, in spite of the fact that he knew I had really left for the forest. More than that, Schatz said that if he could only do it, he would join the Partisans in the forest. Doba also told me years later that Itzkaleh and Kopel Spektor came to her and told her not to worry about my escape and that no one would hurt her for revenge.

The Dream of the Forest

The head of our unit was a person by the name of Andrey Ivanovich Volinitz. He was a very

pleasant man from a village near Vileyka. Zalman Uri Gurevich knew him well. His sister worked for Zalman's family as a housekeeper before the war. The reason they used a housekeeper was because Batia Gurevich, Zalman's mother, was sick and needed help with the house chores.

The place where we rested was in the forest near the village of Tsentzevitz, not far from the ranch of Luban. We had a lot of food supplies: eggs, potatoes, flour, butter… The area was one of marshes. At this point they didn't use us Jews for any missions. We were only used in guard positions, because they were afraid that since we were Jews, if we were caught as Partisans, the entire Jewish community would pay for it.

The first Sunday we spent in the forest, many of the Partisans went to a dairy near Tsintzevitz to get some food. The guard at the dairy asked them to beat him up so the Germans would not suspect that he collaborated with them. They also took a horse and carriage and brought some alcohol with them. When they returned, most of them were drunk and fell asleep while we were guarding them. This was in the early morning hours, and all of a sudden I saw a shepherd not far from us. I did not know that he was the Partisans' contact. In his hand he held a horn made of an animal's horn. All of a sudden he started making loud sounds with the horn, and he announced that the Germans were approaching. There was a big commotion. Everyone ran from the place and the whole camp dispersed. We could hear many shouts of the Germans, and then there was quiet. We, the three Jews, also ran some distance from the camp, but when it turned quiet, we returned to the camp in the marsh area. We didn't know what to do next, since there were a lot of supplies. Elik decided that he should watch the supplies while the two of us went looking for the Partisans. Elik had a hunting rifle in case people came. So Zalman and I went to look for the Partisans. All of a sudden we heard an announcement. “Comrades, where are our people?” It was Volodia, one of the heads of the Partisan unit. While we were talking we heard heavy fire. People were running all over the forest. In one place we saw a large group of Germans approaching the area. We saw that there was a large fir tree that was very thick, so we hid in the branches and very fearfully we waited to see what would happen. The Germans came very near us and we could hear them talking, saying, “There must be some near here. We must be careful lest they surprise us and attack us.”        “Maybe we should bring some dogs with us,” said another soldier. And that was all we heard as they walked farther way.

We sat there in the branches of the fir tree for a long time. It was mostly quiet, but once in a while we could still hear shots. When evening came, we came out of the tree and looked at where we left Elik that morning, but we didn't see anyone there. We continued towards the road between Karlietza and Kurenets. All of a sudden we heard dogs barking and Volodia said that I should go check the place. I went to check but found nothing. I was very tired and sat for a minute, and somehow I fell asleep. All of a sudden I woke up and didn't know where I was. I stood and started looking around, and I saw a shepherd with cows. When he saw me he became very scared and tried to run. I approached him and told him not to worry. I asked him where the village of Karlietza was. He pointed to a few homes and said that was it. I sat with him to talk and he told me that in a village named Uzla, the Partisans had burned the big mill and that there were police forces on that bridge, and the guards kept changing. I was very hungry, and the shepherd took some meat from his bag and shared it with me. I wanted to give him something in return, but all I had was a cigarette lighter, so I gave that to him as a present and then we parted.

The Unit is Spreading

“Why are you walking around so early in the morning?” one of them asked.Since I had papers showing I worked at the printing press, I showed them my permit. They immediately said, “If you work in Vileyka, what are you doing here in Luban?” I told them I visited my sister who worked here and decided to sleep here, and that I was on my way to Vileyka. They asked me if I had seen any Partisans in Luban. They seemed to be very busy with their own problems, and they didn't really pay any attention to me. They were talking about the Partisans who had burned some buildings and taken cows and other livestock, and they gave me back my permit and continued on their bicycles to Kurenets, and I walked behind them. Since I was near the village of Diyadich, I decided to visit my family's friends, the family of Kostya, where we once bought a cow. Now a lot of our belongings were hidden, so as soon as the policemen disappeared, I went there. Anyway, as soon as I arrived in Diyadich, I saw that there were Germans with weapons shooting towards the forest, so I couldn't continue. I went to the home of Kostya and Agassia. They were scared to see me and I told them a lie, that I was in Luban and had come back and I was just here to visit them. They told me about Partisan activities in the area, and how the Germans were searching for them. They worried that the Germans might find me, but they still gave me food. “In any case, I had already prepared a hiding place in my barn, in the hay,” Kostya told me, adding, “From that barn there is a secret way to the forest. So go there and rest. If you see that the Germans are coming, run to the other side, to the forest, to live.”

I entered the barn and lay down in the hideout. Shortly thereafter, I heard people speaking in German. They were soldiers, who had come to get water for their horses from the well in the yard but were not looking for anyone, and they left. I was so tired that I fell asleep and woke up in the afternoon. It was quiet.

When it turned dark, Kostya's wife came in and brought me bread, honey, butter, and milk. She said this would be a good time for me to leave, since it was dark. Further, she said that the Germans might come again that night to look for me. Although I promised her I would leave when it got a little darker, as soon as she left I fell asleep again and I stayed there until morning. I was very embarrassed that I hadn't done what they wished, so I didn't go to say goodbye. I came out via the secret way and continued towards Kurenets. I passed by the village of Litwinki, and came to the end of Myadel Street, a place that we used to call Der Shvashtzapola. The first person I encountered was Zinia, a member of the Judenrat. From him I found out that our Elik Alperovich was killed in the forest, that in Kurenets it was not a secret, and that everyone knew we had left for the forest. He further said, “You only bring troubles for us.” He told me that the Jews paid a huge sum of money to Silak, a Christian villager, so he would not tell the Germans that the person they had killed was a Jew from Kurenets, something that would mean the destruction of the entire Jewish community. Silak was a forester who was very familiar with the area. He was a collaborator with the Germans, and he would guide them in the forests when they would chase the Partisans. He was the person who brought the Germans who chased us, and he witnessed the killing of Elik. We found out from Silek that Elik fought fearlessly, but the Germans caught him while he was standing guard. They caught him and interrogated him. It must be that during the interrogation he decided to scare them, saying that the Partisan camp had hundreds of people with heavy weapons and grenades and machine guns. We understood that he did it so the Germans would not continue looking, but would organize themselves, giving the Partisans enough time to escape. After the interrogation they killed Elik. Silek, who witnessed this, was the father of two of our friends from school. He would often visit the home of Ruven Zishka Alperovich, the father of Elik, so Silek knew Elik very well. When he found Elik, he didn't tell the Germans who Elik was, and for his silence, he received money. He was the very first person to reach the parents of Elik and tell them of the death of their son.

I left Zinia and arrived home. Soon thereafter, the mother of Elik came to our house to ask me more details about the tragedy. Meanwhile, Zalman returned and for now our activities ceased.

What's Ahead?

As for my family, we realized that the central market where our house was located was a very dangerous place, so we moved to an empty apartment in the alley. My father particularly liked the apartment because it was next to the “rabbi minyan,” where he often went to pray and to open his bitter heart to express his distress with passages from Psalms. Father, at that point, became deeply religious. He said he believed that God decided everything and that our fate was sealed and there was nothing we could do about it. I knew that Bertha had already left and was in the forest, and now she didn't come to contact us anymore. So I decided to go on my own during the night to Volkoviczina and try to meet with Ivan to find out what we should do. I came to the edge of the village but I was too afraid to enter. I was hoping to meet with someone but no one came around, so I returned with empty hands.

During those days, I met with a girl from Dolhinov. Her name was Bushka nee Katzovitz. She used to visit often in Kurenets because she was a member of Hashomer Hatzair, and we knew her well. This was the first time I saw her since the war had started. “What are you doing here?” Iasked her, very surprised. Bushka told me of her ordeal, a story that was very common to most of us. At that point, most of the Jews of Dolhinov had been killed, but Bushka and her sister Chaia had escaped to the forest. However, the situation was difficult there so she decided to come to Kurenets. I brought her to my house, and my mother was happy to take her and she stayed with us for a while. Eventually she went to the Kenanina Camp, a place where survivors of slaughtered towns were taken for forced labor. Eventually she escaped and went to Russia. Now she lives in Israel with her two sisters.

Once again, I went to Volkoviczina, and on the way I met with some members of our Partisan unit who stopped in the village of Ivanovitz to meet with Matyokevitz to get instructions. Matyokevitz volunteered to serve in the German police as an agent for the Resistance. He wanted to find traitors and to get information about the plans of the Germans. Under his command they attacked a police patrol of the Germans that guarded one of the bridges on the Vilia River. This took place when Matyokevitz was guarding the river. When the Partisans arrived at the bridge, they killed the other guards and burned the bridge and took two machine guns. After this attack, Matyokevitz had to hide from the Germans, who realized his loyalties and started looking for him. We didn't know about his involvement in this mission, and we went directly to the village of Ivanovitz to get information. This was during a late night hour, and when we entered the village we encountered the wife of Haikovitz, who used to own the ranch there. It seemed that she stood there on purpose near the home of Matyokevitz to warn us, since the Germans were watching the home of the Matyokevitz family, looking for the son they were very suspicious of. We found out that she had been standing there for many nights, on guard, to warn anyone who came to the village about the dangerous situation. I am sure she saved us from certain death. Not only that: she immediately took us to her home and gave us food and drinks and also gave cigarettes to the people who smoked. Years later, when the war ended and I came to the area, I looked for Mrs. Haikovitz, wanting to thank her, but I was told she went to Poland. When I was in Poland I also looked for her but could never find her.

When the Germans realized that Matyokevitz was not to be found, they imprisoned his father and interrogated him. In the end they hanged him. Once again we didn't know what we should do. We received no instructions, and then we received a note. We learned that the Germans hadn't found the letters that were located near the place where Elik was killed, and that these were now in the possession of the Partisans. Once again I went in the direction of Volkoviczina and met with Bertha. A Partisan whom I had never met before, Lonka Verebayov, was with her. He asked me if I was ready right then to go to the Vostok, meaning to the east, to the area that was still in the hands of the Soviets. I didn't know what to say. My friends had sent me there so I could tell them the situation. How could I just leave them? Anyway, I didn't like Lonka. Before I even had time to answer him, he asked, “Do you have a weapon?” I was naïve and showed him my gun. He took it from me and refused to return it. Instead he gave me an old Colt with no bullets. “Why aren't you returning my gun?” I asked him. He said, “Now it's my gun.”

I felt that Bertha was uneasy with him and a bit scared. Once again he asked me if I was ready to go to the Vostok. I answered, “From here I cannot go anywhere. I am connected to some comrades and I have to return and give them a report about our situation. We will all go together when we are ordered to go.”        The place where we met was located near one of the bridges where there was a train track running between Kurenets and Vileyka. All of a sudden Lonka said to me, “You know, I would like to know if you are at all suitable to be a Partisan. Are you able, for example, to put explosives under the bridge of this train track and blow up the bridge? You must understand that only if I watch you can I test whether you are suitable to be a Partisan.” I explained to him that up until then I had not blown up any bridges, but I was sure it would not be too complicated if he told to me how to do it.Lonka gave me the explosives he had, and also a fuse that was only about 30 cm in length. He further explained that 30 cm was sufficient for only 30 seconds, so I would have a very short time to run from the place after lighting the fuse. “After you blow up the bridge, you can return to your friends in Kurenets and wait for our instructions.”

There was no continuous patrol on the bridge. Only once in a while would there be a patrol that checked the place, so I took the explosives and quickly went under the bridge. I did what he told me to do, and as soon as I realized that the fuse was burning, I started running away from the bridge with all my might. Those seconds seemed like an eternity to me. I was so nervous. Only when I heard the explosion could I relax. There were other bridges that the Partisan unit blew up at the same time, among them the bridge of the train tracks in the direction of the town of Kriviczi.

Don't Be Together

I must say here that every time a rumor started that the young people were escaping to the forest, someone in town would say how this would cause the killing of the entire Jewish community, since the Germans would use it as a reason to take revenge on the Jews. So now when my mother begged me to run away, I reminded her of what her peers said. She said, “Son, you are as experienced as all of us. Do you really think that the Germans need excuses to murder Jews? Run away, son, don't listen to all this nonsense.” She told me that even the first time, when we went to the forest, one of the Judenrat people came to her and said, “Don't think for a minute I don't know about the preparations of your son to go to the forest. This can cause the entire community's destruction.” My mother told him that her son was already an adult who could stand in his own right, and that he didn't need any permission from her to do whatever he wanted to do. “Further,” she said to him, “if you want to hear my opinion on what he is doing, I must tell you very openly that it is very good that he is doing that, and I so wish that I could do the same thing.”

Despite the fact that she urged me to go, now that it was finally a reality for her, she was very emotional. Her eyes filled with tears, but she was very strong in her commitment to walk with me part of the way. Her mother love was very strong, stronger than any rational thoughts. So when I left, she walked with me. We walked through Kosita Street. I was barefoot, holding my boots. It was very warm and pleasant weather, but when we came near the train tracks, we saw that there was some kind of commotion by the German army, and soon we heard shooting. The shooting was not in our direction, but still we decided to return home. When we entered our home I realized that one of my boots was lost. I decided to go to my friends and give them the information, since the Germans seemed to be busy in another area. I was only able to find Nyomka Shulman. I told him how we needed to leave town immediately. I also told him about Bertha and the bridge; I said that we needed to go to the forest and I asked him to relay my message to other people, and I immediately went home.

When I entered the house, I saw my mother talking to a young Christian girl. It turned out to be Zina Bitzon, whom I hadn't met before, but I knew her name. As soon as I entered, she said the code “Hantiev,” which was my fake name. Zina was also a contact with the Partisans. She told me that she had come to take us to the forest and we must leave immediately. She said that Ivan was also in town and he would take the weapons that were now located in our second apartment in the alley. Zina said we must get some food supplies, clothes, and personal weapons, and we must leave immediately. Whoever was not notified now would be sent for at another time. Mother went immediately to Nyomka and she found out that he had only been able to contact Itzaleh Einbender so far. Zina was very nervous and impatient. She kept repeating that time was running out and that we could not wait. She told us that when we walked we should walk some distance away from her but watch her all the time. She said that the three of us should not walk together, but each one separately until we were some distance from town. We should not take off our yellow stars. When we started walking I saw, at the corner of Kosita Street and Dolhinov, Perla Einbender, the mother of Itzkaleh. She knew that her son was leaving for the forest, and she stood looking at him from afar with a quiet but sad expression. Who knows what she was thinking during those moments? Every time I remember the occasion of our leaving the town, I remember Perla and her sad expression. [Perla, her husband, and their other children all perished.]

That was the afternoon hour. We had no time to find our other friends, so it was only the three of us. I didn't even have time to really say an appropriate goodbye to my parents since Zina was in such a hurry. We walked as we were told, watching for Zina. When past the train tracks, all of a sudden Zina disappeared, but we continued towards the village of Kosita. All of a sudden we met with the Partisan Lonka Berbayov, the leader of the unit, and there were fifteen people with him. “It's very good that you came,” he said, and we joined his unit. Now he was a little more personal, and continued going along the edge of the forest. Then Lonka ordered us to enter the forest for a short rest. Here he showed us a bag filled with the letters and other printing materials, like paper and ink. Here I would like to say that the Christians had great respect, which in my opinion was a bit overblown, regarding the subject of pamphlets. Lonka divided the materials among the different people, and said that as soon as we got to an appropriate spot for printing, we would print some pamphlets for the local population so they would feel that the Partisans in the area were alive and active.

We Are the Masters Here

When we arrived at a bathhouse near a village, Lonka said that this would be an appropriate place to prepare a pamphlet, so we wrote something in the standard wording: “Don't Give the Horrible Ones Anything! Help the Partisans and Join the Ranks. Death to the Nazis.” We also wrote some news from the front, some of it true, some made up. We also announced that we were the Partisans who had blown up the bridges. Shortly, the pamphlet was ready. The sun set and night came, and then we entered the village. This was an out-of-the-way village far from any road, and the Partisans had a party where they had evetzerinka and handed out pamphlets. Everyone was singing and dancing, and Lonka made a speech where he called on all the young people to join the ranks of the fighters. We, the Jews, did not enter the houses, worrying that someone would recognize us and inform the Germans, leading them to take revenge on our families and the Jews of Kurenets. The party continued until eleven in the evening, and then we continued on our way. The village was near the river Vilia. Before we left, we took a lamb from one of the yards. Some of the people were already across the river, and others were still on the other side, when all of a sudden, shots were fired. Kolbosin, who walked next to me, was wounded. His rifle was also shattered and became dysfunctional, so he threw it. He was wounded both in his hand and stomach, and he started running to the river. I entered with him, helping him. His condition became more grave. Nyomka and Itzkaleh were already on the other side of the river, where together with the other Partisans they started shooting back to cover us, which helped us get across. Kolbosin's situation was grim and he begged us to kill him. “Kill me. Why do I need such torture? Just kill me and end it all,” he kept begging. I tore my shirt and a piece from someone else's shirt and made bandages. I covered his wounds and took care of him. He kept begging us to end his life, saying that if the Germans caught him alive they would torture him so badly and he didn't want to experience it. Lonka decided that two would stay with Kolbosin and the rest would go east, and that's what we did.

Once in a while new fighters would join us. It went on like this for days. We'd enter new villages and take food. Hudjanski was originally a native of Tservitz, a little village near Katzinovitz. Tservitz was really just a ranch that belonged to his uncle. Lonka decided to reach Katzinovitz first, since Hudjanski said he had some weapons hidden in Tservitz, enough weapons for all of us. We didn't go the usual way from Kurenets to Katzinovitz, meaning west to east, but we went in a roundabout way that took much longer. Hudjanski, who knew the area, served as our guide, and he told us that right after the First World War, when the area was near the Russian-Polish border, his uncle was a smuggler who knew the area very well. When we arrived at Tservitz, the uncle became our guide, and when we got to a certain bridge, someone opened fire on us. It turned out to be Polish residents of the area. One of them got up and yelled, “Why are you shooting and whom are you shooting?” But he was killed as he was saying it. Once again they returned fire and Hudjanski's uncle was mortally wounded, so now we were without a guide. We walked around the town of Dolhinov, which at that point was without any of its Jews. All had been annihilated.

We rested nearby and then left in the direction of Pleshensitz. Once again we made some pamphlets, and once again new fighters joined us and eventually we were joined by Bertha. At that point, one of the officers decided that Nyomka, Itzaleh, and some other fighters and I should go to the area of Borisov near the marshes, where the Partisan brigade Dyadia Vasya was situated. Dyadia Vasya was named for the head of that brigade, Vasya Narinaski. This brigade contained two battalions, one named “Revenge” and the other “The Battle.” We walked for three days, until we came to the brigade that was in the middle of the marsh areas. Vasya himself was the first to welcome us. His first question was whether the printing press was functional and whether we could start with the job. Once again I saw how important it seemed to them to print. I said that I could start right away.

They sent us to rest and to get acquainted with the new place. There were thousands of Partisans in this area, and they were of different leadership ranks. They also had a hospital with many doctors. Here we met with a native of our town, Ita Gilberstein, who was renowned as a brave fighter. [She was later killed. Her sister survived and she is in Israel.] The Partisans lived in huts made from tree branches. They also had tents and many zimlankas built in the ground. It was a big settlement in the middle of the forest.

I showed the commander samples of my pamphlets and he was very complimentary. He asked us for information about how long it would take and what sort of productivity we could maintain. I told him that we could make thousands of pamphlets a day, even in such primitive conditions. That made him very curious.

On the Way to the Vostok

It didn't seem that he wanted to mock us; he just wanted to understand. He said that he had seen a hundred Jews taken to be killed by ten Germans, and not even one of the Jews tried to hurt the killers. Not only that: not even one of them was crying or begging. Like lambs to the slaughter. I told the officer that I could answer him if I could also ask him a few questions. “Look at those hundred Jews who are taken by ten Germans. More than half are women and children, and many of the others are old and sick. It may be that some men could have fought, but they did not because they didn't have weapons and also because of concern for the community. They think that every such act would cause the killing of thousands of Jews as revenge by the Germans; there is no weakness in the fact that they are not crying or begging. I see strength in it.”

I told him about the resistance of Arke Alperovich, who hit the policeman who took him and who was able to take a rifle from one of them. I described this in the first chapter of this book. Now I wanted to ask him questions. How could he explain that a few Germans were able to take thousands of POWs down a very long road? These POWs were soldiers in the Red Army. They watched as the Germans killed anyone who was not able to walk. All of these people were men who knew how to use weapons, yet no one seemed to be fighting, and very few were trying to escape. And they were in a friendly area, where most of the population was Belarussian. He didn't really have an answer to what I said, and he accepted my explanation.

Shortly thereafter, we were called to the head of the brigade and he told us that we were going to join a group going east, past the front lines, near Witbesk. There we would go to the other side, to the east, where we would receive real weapons and also printing materials. On the way there, he said that we would encounter many wounded people and refugees and we should help them as much as we could. So we left, along with other Jews, like the Meyerson brothers from Dolhinov, the Schuster brothers, one whose last name was Kremer, a man named Bakshatz, and some non-Jewish Partisans. On the way east I met with the mother of Bushka Katzovitz from Dolhinov, whom I encountered in Kurenets. Her name was Chana nee Gitlitz Katzovitz Forman. She was there with her youngest daughter, Sarah nee Forman, who was about ten years old. She was wounded during their escape. There was a bullet in her right cheek. Earlier I had dreamed of being a doctor, and now I tried to take care of her as much as I could.

The leader who guided us was Captain Latishov. We kept transferring from one unit to the next. Itzkaleh befriended a Russian Partisan and they became like brothers, and his connection with Nyomka and me suffered. Itzkaleh was blond and didn't look Jewish. His personality was not typically Jewish either, but he was a very decent and honest person and was extremely courageous. Nyomka and I kept our friendship. Nyomka was in very bad shape and needed assistance; though spiritually he was very strong, physically he had many problems. He had eczema that had spread through his entire body. Also, his boots were too tight and since we walked so much, his feet were filled with blisters and cuts. We traveled about a thousand kilometers, most of it by foot. Once in a while I changed boots with him, since mine were a little bit bigger. This was the month of October 1942. We knew nothing of what had occurred in Kurenets. It took many months to find out that on September 9, three days before Rosh Hashanah, our dear family members were killed and most of the community in Kurenets was annihilated. It started getting cold and it was raining, but there was no snow. We kept walking towards the front. Itzkaleh seemed to me to lose all respect for the paperwork, as he called our pamphlets. Ever since the other Jewish unit sabotaged us, he only wanted to fight with weapons. Although I loved Itzkaleh, who was my childhood friend, I didn't think like him.

The front was near a town by the name of Vilich, which was located close to a big lake in the area of Smolensk-Witbesk. We hardly had food, and many could not endure the walk. All the areas where we walked were under German occupation, but Partisan groups informally controlled the forest and the marshes. Once in a while we would hear shots, but we never knew where they came from. Among us was a group of refugees, women and children who walked with the fighters.

Despite the fact that I kept busy with combat operations, I saw a very important part of the war effort in propaganda. I aimed to go past the front to where I could find an appropriate printing press, and then return to the Partisan area—not just to any Partisan area, but back to Vileyka and Kurenets. We arrived at a place where there had been a German blockade the night before, where the entire group that tried to pass had been killed. We met with a few people from the Ditzkova brigade, and they suggested that whoever wanted to join them could receive real weapons and wouldn't have to pass the front. They didn't want to take any women, children, or wounded, but they wanted to take us. I didn't want to join this new brigade. I felt I could have stayed with Dydia Vasya; I was determined to go back to Kurenets and felt I didn't need a new brigade. Nyomka and Itzkaleh shared this opinion, that we should return to Kurenets and Vileyka, but other fighters joined the new brigade. They let us rest for a few days while deciding what to do. All of a sudden, during night hours, they ordered us to go to the front. We went with women and children in the dark. Then there was gunfire, not directed exactly at us. For a few minutes there was panic, but shortly the situation improved. One Jewish child whose family escaped Myadel started crying, and a Partisan was ready to kill him to quiet him down, but somehow the child quieted down and we started running. Each one held a child and we ran quickly through an area that was filled with bunkers of the German army. We succeeded in crossing the dangerous area peacefully. I think the success was due to the dark night, which had no moon. Our group consisted of fifty people; among us there were Jews from Dolhinov and Myadel, and also some non-Jews from other places. There was even a non-Jew from Crimea, which was very far from this area. Even when we succeeded in getting to the eastern part of the front, controlled by the Soviets, we still carried the wounded, the sick, and the children. But as we went farther from the front, we encountered Soviet citizens, and they were really concerned about the state of the wounded and helped us. As soon as we encountered Soviet officials, they stopped us and decided where each one of us should go. They divided us into those who could help in the fighting and those who would be sent farther into the country. Since we were sent to the headquarters to fight, we didn't know the fate of the other people, the women, children, and wounded who came with us. Upon arriving at the deployment base, they decided who would go back to the front and who would go for more training.

The Demolition School

As I said before, like many others I admired Walter for his dedication and bravery, and I truly believed he was a Jew. Since I could prove myself with all the flyers that I had kept from the different missions, they accepted the fact that I really was not involved with him and they told me the details of Walter's crimes.

Meanwhile, Nyomka and Itzkaleh were sent to Haburtshuka in the region of Smolensk for demolition school. Once I was cleared of any connection with Walter, I was sent to the school too. I was told that I should learn more about demolition and as soon as they could organize a printing house, they would send me there to run it. When I left the area they gave me food sufficient for one week: bread, a little bit of butter, flour, sugar, tea, and a few eggs. When I arrived at the school I didn't let them know I had food, so there I received food for another week.

When I arrived there, I joined Nyomka and Itzkaleh and seven other guys from Dolhinov; the food was used by all of us. This was in December 1942. The weather was pretty cold and windy. We would train in the snow with all sorts of weapons that the Soviets supplied. Some were German weapons that had fallen into Soviet hands. We were taught how to use explosives, how to lay mines, and how to disarm them; it was very serious training and every day we would train for more than ten hours. Itzkaleh and I were excellent target shooters. Nyomka did everything in a very dedicated way and with deep devotion, but his physical condition was very bad. He had eczema on his entire body, and it bothered him greatly.

We were not only busy with training. Among the ten of us, the ten Jewish guys, there were especially strong ties, since our circumstances were pretty difficult. Each one of us carried a wooden spoon inside our boots, and during meals we would take our spoon out of the boot and put it into the common pot of soupthat was given to us. The soup contained mainly water and a very small amount of meat and potatoes. Since I was very depressed because of the incident with Walter, I hardly tried to get any food. I would just get some liquid and the guys would make fun of me, saying, “Tomorrow we will make zatzirka, so you will have no choice but to have something to eat.” (Zatzirka is a soup made out of flour.) Many times we would talk about our friends from Kurenets and Vileyka. To make us feel better, we would mention how Motik would say, during the hard days in the ghetto in Vileyka, “Hever, seiz nit gut” (Friend, things are not good). So whenever someone would complain about the bad conditions, we would say, “What is new? Our Motik said the same thing a year ago.”

We found out that the main headquarters was planning on organizing a new Partisan brigade to be sent near Molodechno, which was close to where we came from. They planned on taking about 100 people trained here, and they were hoping to use local people from the villages in the area for the rest. We decided to ask the headquarters to let us join that brigade. At first, Itzkaleh said that there was something un-kosher about a true fighter asking to be sent to the area he came from, thinking that a true fighter should go wherever he was told, without emotion. But eventually he joined us and asked to be sent to the area that he had originally come from. We came to the headquarters and explained that we knew a lot about the area and that we could be helpful. Despite that, it seems that we made very little impression on the guy who was assigning troops. He said we must finish our training in demolition, and then they would send us out somewhere. So we returned to our training.

Nyomka, whose condition became worse, could no longer tie his ammunition to his waist, since the eczema was now very bad. He was told to go to the hospital, but he refused and stayed. Itzkaleh was filled with a desire for revenge, and he felt he could only truly get his revenge with weapons. It seemed he was ashamed that much of the resistance he had participated in so far was a paper resistance, as he called the type of missions we had (printing pamphlets). The entire group of ten Jewish fighters that I belonged to was excellent in its abilities, but shortly after we asked to be sent to Molodechno, I was called to the headquarters and was told that I must go to another assignment. They didn't tell me where I was going. I was given new weapons and said goodbye to Nyomka and Itzkaleh. I climbed on a big truck that was ready to go, and I went far, far away.

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