In 1943, the mass killing came, and the town was declared Judenfrei - meaning that no
Jews were allowed in the town anymore.
So, on the first day, the ghetto was completely annihilated.
No one remained in the ghetto.
[Speaker 2:] When you say "annihilated", what happened on that day?
[Speaker 1:] They were all killed.
[Speaker 2:] On the spot?
[Speaker 2:] Either on the spot or after being taken to a mass grave some distance
from the town. [Speaker 2:] Do you know where?
[Speaker 1:] Yes, I know.
I was there. It was on the way to another little village, called Jagelnicka.
There was a Jewish cemetery there.
The people themselves had to dig the grave, and were then put in it.
And then they did the same thing to the
camp.
On June 23, we were awakened, and we all had to come down to the
assembly point in the courtyard at 5 AM.
We all had to lie down.
We were immediately surrounded by Gestapo and SS men, and by Ukrainian policemen.
The women were separated from the men.
And he walked around with an Uzi.
You know, like a machine gun.
Tomanek. That's the chief.
[Speaker 2:] Could you spell his name for us, please?
[Speaker 1:] T-O-M-A-N-E-K.
He was a Czech. He had very red hair.
He was about 40-50 years old.
He assembled us all and gave the order.
Everybody should come forward and lie down on the ground.
We were forbidden to raise our heads.
Anyone who raised his head would be shot, you know, just like this.
He walked around. Some people raised their heads to ask him something or plead with him
. He would shoot them at once.
His whole uniform was bloody.
And that's how he walked around.
And he picked only some of these people.
He called out the names of the people whom he needed for that particular day, because
they were professionals.
And my husband had just made a dental bridge for him, and also dentures for his
father, who lived with him.
So he called out his name - and, naturally, we were secretly married.
Because you're not supposed to know that in the camp - because they kept you separate,
anyway. So my husband started pleading with him.
He held the gun like this to his head.
And my husband is pleading with him: "What about my wife?
What about my wife?" And he said in German: "Yesterday, you were a bachelor.
Today, you have a wife." And my husband just didn't let go, and kept pleading and
pleading. And finally, he said: "Ah, all right.
What's the difference? Another day to live." So he let me go.
But I left my sister lying there, and my husband had a sister, too.
Her name was Rose, and she was lying there.
And I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to my sister.
And they told us to go into the side of the building.
And through the window, I saw them sitting there: my sister, my sister-in-law, all my
friends, and my cousin.
And heavy trucks drove in, you know, and they loaded up these people and took them away.
And when the Russians came, in 1944, they opened up the grave.
And we saw people without any bullet wounds.
They had buried a lot of them alive.
A lot of them. I couldn't find my sister.
So I don't know.
But anyway, that was the mass grave.
Up in the Jewish cemetery, some distance from the town.