Afterwards...
they ordered all the Jews to pack their belongings.
There were many policemen and a punitive detachment from Lithuania.
Germans, and a lot of vehicles.
All the streets were blocked. They said all the Jews would be moved
to the Ghetto. Everybody packed what they could.
Before we knew it our entire family was arrested,
including young children.
I had two little cousins, girls, and a boy cousin,
my mother, my grandmother and my older brother.
There were 9 of us.
We were a family of 9. They took us outside,
and as we went on, other Jews were joining us.
It seemed like we were taken to the Ghetto.
Some people took suitcases, others took bags,
and we went through the town.
I remember very well that we passed Yuzhny Poselok,
Zaporozhye-1 Station, Yuzhny Poselok,
and Stalin's Sovkhoz.
This Sovkhoz was located on the outskirts
and there were anti-tank trenches.
When was it? -On the first day of Passover,
March 28, 1942.
On the first day of the Jewish Passover.
In spite of everything, the Jews were preparing to celebrate Pesach,
Passover. We were taken there,
to the anti-tank trenches.
We also called it "the Pitfall".
During an enemy attack the pit would be covered by trenches,
the tank wouldn't know about the pit and fall into it with no way out.
And if you had sappers, they could lob grenades at the tank.
But no tank fell in there. One German tank fell into the pit near our street,
but not there. There was a small hill and we were lined up there.
The soldiers passed from one row of Jews to the other,
and if they saw nice clothes, they ordered to take it off.
Sometimes they forced women to get totally undressed.
As for us, they told me...
I had a nice coat, they took it.
It was cold, but they still took it.
They took something from my brother too,
and they put everything in one pile.
Did you understand where they were taking you?
Yes, we understood everything. We already knew everything because...
One German was standing on top of the hill
and he was hitting his leg with a crop.
After a while he gave an order and machine guns began to fire.
No, before that... Sorry, when...
when they passed us, my brother...
I still remember the look in his eyes.
He liked the word "Fritz" (German), "damn Fritz".
And when the policemen passed us, he said: "Damn Fritz."
That tall policeman grabbed this little boy,
threw him in the air and caught him with his bayonet.
Do you understand?
Just in front of his mother, his sisters and me.
We have seen it with our own eyes.
And I still remember his eyes. He caught him with his bayonet
and threw him to the pit with the bayonet.
And a minute later machine guns began to fire.