No signs are posted or written instructions
distributed in order to increase the confusion and uncertainty.
Also, it appears that they don't want to commit anything to
writing.
We are notified orally that all Jews of
Czernowitz must report to the ghetto set up for them by 6 o'clock
in the evening and that anyone found in his home after 6 o'clock
will be shot. The Jews are only permitted to take as many of their
possessions are they can carry in their hands. Any possessions
that remain belong to the state. It is also ordered that
Christians are forbidden to accept any objects of value from the
Jews.
Before 7 in the morning, the entire Jewish
population is on the move. With clenched teeth, looking neither
left or right, tens of thousands of Jews carry and pull their
meager belongings to the area set aside for them as a ghetto. It
encompasses a part of Wolangasse, Str. Olteniei, Neueweltgasse,
Pitzelligasse, the entire Russische Gasse from number 46 up, the
Morariugasse, Nikolausgasse, Landhausgasse to the corner of
Tuerkengasse, Schulgasse to the Krankenkasse, Hormuzakigasse,
Mehlplatz, Eminescugasse, Steingasse and the upper part of
Dreifaltigkeitgasse and also the area inside the border of the
city adjacent to the streets named.
The movement of the Jews into the ghetto is
completed quietly, without interruption by 6 in the evening
without moaning or complaining despite provocations by the
onlookers. One quickly throws what ever one can grab into
suitcases, baskets and crates and carries it to acquaintances that
moved into the ghetto earlier. Small rooms, hardly sufficient for
a family now hold up to 20 people. Since the water pipes for the
streets mentioned have already been cut off, it is not possible to
flush toilets. Going to the bathroom becomes a difficult problem.
For the 50,000 unlucky people who inhabit the ghetto, the shutting
off of the water brings the threat of disease. In spite of this
the will to survive remains strong.
Romanians come into the ghetto behind the mask
of friendship offering to safe keep valuable objects. In reality,
they intend to keep these objects for themselves. For small
outlays, they make millions.
The ruble which at the entrance of the Romanian
army was exchanged at the rate of 1:1 now that it supposedly is
good in Transnistrien is exchanged at the rate of 1 ruble = 40
lei.
A deceitful swindle was carried out by the
National Bank. Gold, silver and other valuables had to be brought
there. The officials of the bank arbitrarily estimated the value
of the items. Dr. Blaukopf received the ridiculously low price of
15,000 lei for 35 kg. of silver.
In the ghetto, the anguished Jews tried to get
the possessions they had brought along ready for the long journey.
A 8 year old child named Schwitz fell under the
wheels of a wagon and died before rescue could come.
The mob streamed out of the suburbs and broke
into and plundered the deserted homes.
In the ghetto itself, people are constantly
stopped by the patrols and harassed.
Overall on the streets and in front of the
houses lie mountains of luggage. In the houses, places to sleep
are set up on tables, sewing machines and crates and cooking
facilities are improvised.
Bitter cold sets in. Many who have fur hats and
warm shoes are robbed of their clothing in broad daylight by the
Romanian soldiers.
Mass Imprisonment
A three meter high wooden fence and barbed wire
surround the ghetto. Only at two places is one permitted to leave
and enter the ghetto with special permission from the ghetto
commandants, all Christians, who live in the ghetto reservation.
Jews like the X-ray engineer Margulies, who are urgently needed in
the city are only permitted to leave the ghetto escorted by
gendarmes carrying rifles with fixed bayonets.
A 6 year old girl whose parents were murdered
in Rostoki and who was brought to the city by sympathetic farmers
was taken in by us.
On all faces, you see the fearful question:
What now?
Up to 10 suicides occur daily. Many suicides
are delivered to the hospital unconscious.
The gendarmerie headquarters is located in the
house at Russische Gasse 46. Major Jacobesen and several officers
are in charge. At the street corners, especially at the corner of
General-Averescu and Springbrunnen Gasse, where the path leads
over the open plaza to the synagogue, a sergeant stands.
Athletically built, he stands like a general as the lines of
wagons drive by him. In one hand he holds a whip which he uses to
brutally beat everyone who passes by. He pulls the luggage from
the wagons and spares neither old people nor children.
The commandant of the ghetto, Major Nicolai
Jacobescu controls everything from the sidecar of a motorcycle,
but does nothing to stop the cruelness. Several villainous Jews
like Camillo Harth and Weiser, among others promise the
unfortunate victims, authorizations to remain in the city upon
payment of gold, silver or other valuables, naturally with no
intention of fulfilling their promises. Using the same scam, a
former Tax Office controller called Alexexcu reaped valuables
worth approximately 50 million lei. Out of fear of the
repercussions, the victims made no attempt to report the swindle.
October 14 and 15, 1941
The residents of Franxos, Dreifaltigkeits and
Fraanzengasse in the ghetto are driven like cattle to the railroad
station. Farmers smelling a rich harvest brought their little
wagons and take 3000 lei per trip to the railroad station. On
these wagons ride old people, children and the infirm in endless
lines, without tears and powerless through the Synagogue,
Kaliczanka and Weidengasse to the freight train station. A woman
named Tamler, three days after giving birth and with a high fever,
carrying the infant, died on the way. An especially terrible scene
could be observed at the corner of Dreifaltigkeit and
Albertinegasse. The last members of the Bojan rabbinical dynasty
came out of their houses to face death in their best clothing
carrying the Torah scrolls in their arms. The onlookers, both
Jewish and Christian watch this drama. There is sobbing and
sighing. Shaken, we are observers of a tragedy that will be ours
tomorrow. Rough soldiers drive the onlookers away and already the
long rows of wagons have swallowed everything.
October 16, 1941: evening
Approximately 6000 people have already been
sent to their deaths. Then the good, friendly mayor Traian
Popovici brings the news in the Jewish hospital that he was
successful in obtaining a temporary delay in the deportations in
order to separate out the Jews necessary for commerce of the city.
This news spreads like wild fire and brings a
measure of release to the tense masses of people. A tremendous
crowd is gathered before the hospital. Wild rumors circulate
uncontrollably.
October 17, 1941
Various lists are made up for presentation to
the authorities, classifying the Jews by their professions.
Representatives of the various professions like bureaucrats,
retirees, reserve officers, industrialists, hand workers,
engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc. came to the school on
Landhausgasse to request authorization to remain in the city.
Middle men emerged who promised authorizations
for the payment of large sums of money. The authorizations issued
were not given to the applicant, but held back in order to extort
more money. Here also, Camillo Harth played a leading roll. For
example, two doctors received their authorizations only after
paying 200,000 lei. The authorizations for the patients of the
insane asylum were badly misused. They were issued under different
names to the highest bidders (in dollars or gold coins).
Many months later a commission came from
Bucharest to look into this extortion. General Ionescu and Major
Jacobescu were investigated and naturally not found guilty of any
transgressions.
Terrible news came back from the first
transports. Already at the Dniester River the documents of the
unfortunate ones were torn up so they went into exile as nameless
people. There many died from hunger and the cold as well as from
diseases like typhus. Their luggage which had already been
examined at the Czernowitz railroad station where a good part was
confiscated, was controlled a second time with further losses at
the banks of the Dniester.
In the meanwhile, 15,000 authorizations were
given out in Czernowitz. A part of the authorizations given out by
General Calotescu were torn up by General Ionescu, since as he
explained, “too many Jews would remain in the city.”
The deportations started up again, street by
street driven by blows of the club and lashes of the whip. Panic,
confusion, misery and fear of death accompanied the next
transport.
The first snow fell.
November 1 and 2, 1941: The review
An ordinance appeared according to which, the
entire Jewish population of the city had to undergo a review to
determine if they could remain in Czernowitz or if they had to
leave the city (that is, be deported).
The reviews took place in a large meeting room
in city hall. There were many tables and the Jews had to go to the
table for the first letter of their name. The reviews were
conducted by non-commissioned officers who often couldn't even
read the names so that disastrous mix-ups took place which led to
the deportation of innocent people. In many cases, the Jews were
sent to the notorious Inspector Cojocariu the adjacent room who
simply tore up their exemption and had them deported. His helpers,
Nedelcu and Luczin let no one pass without paying tribute.
Often, a person wouldn't finish the review in
one day and had to come a second time, suffering the fear of death
in the interval. In the room itself, Jews were beaten with clubs.
So an elderly Czernowitz doctor, a captain in the reserve
collapsed streaming with blood.
As on the final day, I was carrying the last
three rugs I owned through the Russische Gasse to my office,
Commandant Jacobescu standing by his window called me and my wife
into his office, took the rugs and called me a thief. Since I
dared to contradict him, he coarsely reviled us. We only got out
because of intervention by a colleague. Jacobescu later called us
in, threw me 5000 lei for the rugs and hit me in the ribs. We were
happy that we were not deported to Transnistrien because of the
rugs.
The ghost city
They stand dark and lonesome, the deserted
houses of Czernowitz. Entire streets are devoid of humanity. That
is especially true for Franzos and Drefaltikeit Gasse whose
inhabitants had almost entirely been driven into mass graves.
Thieves scavenge through the dwellings, plunderers enter through
broken windows and doors even though all the entrances had been
sealed and stamped with the notice “Averea Statului” (Property of
the State) by city officials during the ghetto period. A robber
band from Kaliczankagasse, led by a certain Laschkowski is
especially bad. In the empty dwellings, cats and dogs cry for
their masters. The dried out leaves of thirsty plants,
philodendrons, cactuses and azaleas, hang mournfully.
The deportations still haven't come to an end.
The stragglers who had no luck in the review are loaded into the
last wagons.
Snow falls in great flakes. Many who have fled
from one street to the next finally meet their fate. All these
last transports are directed through Marculesti to Transnistrien.
A large number of these unfortunate ones are massacred in
Marculesti.
The house “superintendants” and their wives
sell stolen Jewish goods in the streets adjacent to the Jewish
Hospital looked upon by the police with good natured tolerance.
The purchasers are the thousands of farmers who had come from near
and far to Czernowitz to profit from the city's “bargain week,”
Because of the constant stress the Jews who
remain in Czernowitz are subject to, one can see in them a
condition of hysteria and nervousness.
The mortality among the Jews is very high.
There are also many suicides including Gruenfeld and his wife
(both medical doctors), Professor Drimmer and his wife, Miss
Singer, Dr. Med. Mrs. Seidman, Prof. Amalie Spire among others.
The incapable and unloved leader of the Jewish
community stepped down to make room for another, just as
incompetent. Perhaps this leadership could have done something to
reduce the misery if it were not for the new edicts that appear
each day that steadily placed increasing burdens on the Jews,
which really could be seen as extortion. One especially obnoxious
example was a sort of half-official undertaking called “Patronaj,”
in which the representatives of the community collected bed linen,
underwear, and used articles of all sorts from the Jews. Captain
Anghelescu was in charge of the Partonaj operation for Czernowitz.
The overall operation was directed by a Mrs. Cancel in Bucharest.
She would make a “guest appearance” once a month in Czernowitz to
receive the collected goods. It was an open secret that most of
the collected and extorted goods became her private possessions.
The Jews were forced to work at various jobs,
without pay and they were usually subjected to abuse.
At the dividing up of the booty from the
furnished houses, the robbers often came to blows. Because of
this, the Mayor, Dr. Traian Popovici, who had tried to help the
oppressed had to resign. He was replaced by an abject character,
the State Justice Minister, Dumitru Galisch, a worthy collaborator
with the infamous Major Marinescu and Inspector Cojocariu.
Around this time, a movement started in
Czernowitz which recommended conversion to Christianity as the
only way out and as a last ditch attempt at rescue. Several
hundred Jews, modern Marannos, considered it advisable, until
further notice to turn their backs on the Jewish community.
Baptism, however brought few advantages to the converts – many
didn't wear the gold star. In exchange, there were significant
disadvantages. Those who were baptized were subjected to a
judicial process in which the judges, Monteanu and Allaci outdid
themselves in the prosecution of the converts. Their sadism knew
no bounds.
Transnistrien, the grave of hundreds
of thousands
The reports arriving are incomprehensible. It
appeared that the insanity had exceeded all bounds. The speed at
which the starving deportees were forced to march, while the
guards drove them forwards with blows of their rifle stocks caused
60% of them to collapse and freeze to death.
In the ghetto, the dead lay for 6-8 days after
death near the living. Typhus and other epidemics – caused by
hunger, crowding, and primitive sanitary conditions decimates the
survivors. Of the 150,000 Bukovina Jews, 80,000 have already died.
Only 50,000 Bessarabian Jews still survive. Around Mogilev, where
Chmilnitzki's band murdered Jews 400 years ago, history is
repeating itself. One stands shuddering in the piercing feeling of
one's own helplessness.
Beginning of January, 1942
The Jewish institutions, the nursing home, the
orphanage and the insane asylum are reorganized. In the nursing
home, the old people lay around in heaps and as soon as enough bed
linen and underwear for them has been gathered, the order comes to
deliver it to the “Patronaj.”
The orphans, driven out of the orphanage are
put in the former maternity home whose facilities are inadequate.
In one narrow room, 8 times as many children are placed as the
room can hold. The orphans are poorly clothed, since besides our
children, there are the children brought from Poland by
sympathetic people.
Most horrible is the insane asylum where the
sick, wrapped in rags wander freely. They can simply walk into the
city, since there are few attendants. The sight of the insane
begging in the city is terrible.
A committee of woman cares for the orphanage.
Through the initiative of Mrs. Selma Singer, they are successful
in having numerous orphans adopted by Jewish families. Jews can't
travel on the trolley anymore because their fellow travelers
attack them when they see the Jewish star. The Christian
population's hatred of the Jews influences even their children.
One day, a 12 year old boy pounced on a baby carriage that a
Jewish mother was pushing and started to strangle the baby. The
horrified mother, paralyzed with fear, screamed for help. A few
bold men forcefully tore the boy away from his victim.
End of January, 1942
Officially, help for the Transnistrien victims
were strictly forbidden. Violating this regulation was punishable
by long imprisonment or death. That, however didn't prevent the
Czernowitz Jews from helping their family and friends by using
bribed officers or couriers to send money, clothing and underwear
to Transnistrien. These deliveries, however seldom reached the
intended destination. Even honest couriers were caught by the
border units. Since they usually named their Jewish client, trials
and severe sentences followed. Many helpful Jews had to go to
Transnistrien.
February, 1942
The police are again hunting Jews, especially
those who have dared to go on the street without the gold star.
Also, they continue to arbitrarily arrest many Jews.
Middle of May, 1942
Approximately 25 “suspicious” Jews are arrested
and deported. No one knows where they have been sent. Among these
suspects are the physicians: Dr. Kessler, Dr. Weiner and Dr.
Moritz. Among the new “heroes” of the day the following are
particularly “outstanding:” the leader of the Housing and
Requisition Office, Badalutza, a nephew of the infamous General
Governor Calotescu – know to the people as Calautescu (hangman) as
well as Petre Penteleiciuc.
End of May, 1942
Daily, new rumors concerning the deportation of
Jews from Czernowitz to Transnistrien appear. The fear is
understandable, since we now know that deportation to
Transnistrien means death. This time, the fear of the Jews is all
the greater since we believe that the new transports are supposed
to go over the Bug to the German extermination camps.
Hundreds of homeless, angry dogs roam in the
ghost streets of the city.
June, 1942
The fate of the Jews deported from Czernowitz
during, June, 1942 who were mostly delivered to the German
murderers on the far side of the Bug belongs to the saddest
chapter of the history of the Jews of Bukovina.
In the night from the 7th to the 8th
of June, 1942, all the authorities of the city were mobilized.
Earlier, various offices like the City Administration, the Tax
Office, the Police, the Gendarmerie, and the Governor's Office had
prepared lists of the Jewish families designated to be deported.
Now came the order to carry through these measures.
The Jews already sensed that a transport was
imminent but they didn't know which categories would be deported
and on which criteria the process would take place. Already on the
4th and 5th of June, the curfew for Jews was
especially strictly enforced. On the evening of the 7th
of June, the arc lamps were turned up to full brightness so that
the unholy work could be more easily carried out at night. Since
the Jews were trapped in their houses, there could be no hiding or
escaping.
One had waited for this night of terror with
fear and trembling. From behind the window curtains, people looked
into the streets where soldiers patrolled. The directors of this
terrible action were Major Marinescu of the General Government and
his helpers, the infamous mayor D. Galisch, the president of the
chamber of commerce Dr. Octavian Voronca, the Chief District
Attorney Christian Allacci and the editor of the Romanian
newspaper “Bucovina” under direction of Munteanu.
This horrible spectacle was repeated two more
times in the month of June, 1942, on the 14th and
finally on June 28. Also, on these two occasions, the deportations
were carried out at night on the German and Russian pattern. The
victims were indiscriminately taken from the houses and loaded in
waiting trucks.
The process was carried out in a gruesome way.
Neither old people nor the sick or children were spared. An
elderly lady dressed in only a nightgown and slippers was thrown
into the truck in that clothing. She died on the way to the train
station. An other sick woman who suffered from dementia was loaded
along with her husband and her nurse and brought to the train
station – she was already dead when she was loaded into the cattle
car.
Since in the last deportation on June 28, 1942,
there were too few Jews collected to fill the cars waiting for
them, the order was given to comb through Piteygasse and to simply
grab all the Jews that were found and bring them to the train
station. Since in earlier deportations several Jews on Piteygasse
who had possessed authorizations to remain in Czernowitz, had been
left in their homes, these poor people, in spite of that, were
seized and sent to a certain death in Transnistrien. With this
last deportation of June 28, 1942 the sad story of Jewish
deportations had reached its tragic end.
Author's notes
What Hitler sowed in Romania grew bountifully.
So, Judge Traian Ioonescu-Barbuteanu stated in a tax appeal
negotiation: The Jews in Czernowitz had acquired, in spite of the
fact that there are no mines here, tremendous riches in gold
silver and crystal and built blockhouses. They have robbed the
city of millions by cheating on their taxes and when we discovered
their machinations they sent their tax specialist, Dr. Pinkas
Laufer to Bucharest to end the carriers of the controllers who
prescribed high taxes for them. These times are over; the time for
revenge has come.
The Romanians were blinded by Hitler's
successes and stood under his influence, since his camouflaged
helpers were represented in all the key positions of Romania and
directed the sad fate of the Jews. The Romanians quickly forgot
that it was the Jews whose trade and industry caused their economy
to prosper. The lumber trade blossomed thanks to Jewish
initiative. The progressive industrialization was a Jewish
accomplishment. Here are some examples chosen at random: the
textile factory “Hercules” (Harry Schaerf), the Deligdisch
brothers, “Trinaco” (Trichter, Naftalison, Weinblum), “Postavaria”
(Liebermann), Trinotania” (Sigal), “Pluschul” (Hafner), the rubber
factory “Caurom” (Jortner and Roschkes), the soap factory “Noa
Lehr” etc. Jewish manufacturers, had by producing high quality
wares, had made the Romanian market independent of Germany and
Czechoslovakia.
But now we return to:
The terrible night from June 6 to June 7,
1942
About one o'clock in the evening we heard
hobnailed boots in front of our house. The Loewensteins, an old
married couple living in our house, who were previously not
deported because of their age, were taken away by the soldiers.
Boxes and beds were searched and the cellar and attic were
ransacked. A so called “inventory” was taken, during which almost
all the valuable objects disappeared.
Since 6 o'clock in the morning, families were
taken from their houses under military escort to the market place
where they – after a thorough search for gold and valuables – were
sent helpless and defenseless to their deaths. The unfortunate
ones were next collected in Springbrunnenplatz, Heiligenkreuzplatz
and Petersplatz and then brought to Makkabiplatz where further
processing was carried out.
In this deportation, as well as the following
two in the night from the 13th to the 14th
of June and in the night from the 27th to the 28th
of June, 1942 a total of 5000 Jews were taken away. On these three
days by the orders of the already named infamous mayor Dumitru
Galisch, the city was decorated with flags.
The loading of the unhappy Jews in cattle cars
was carried out by dehumanized soldiers and police in the most
brutal way. Fifty people were loaded in a car and then the car was
locked and sealed.
Eyewitnesses reported that in Atachi the train
had to be emptied in less than 5 minutes. The old and the sick
were driven out with blows from clubs and whip lashes. A rich
booty of luggage was left behind for the hyenas.
The unhappy ones were then driven to the
Dniester where they spent the night under the open sky. Here, most
of what they had left to them was stolen.
On the next day, they were brought over the
Dniester with ferries and boats. During the passage, many of the
Jews drowned when they were thrown in the water by the soldiers.
The soldiers also cut open the backpacks of the unhappy ones and
stole any valuable objects that they found.
On the far side of the river, there was another
search with the anticipated results. Also the second night had to
be spent under the open sky.
Only on the third day did they reach “Cariera
de Piatra” (Stone Quarry). There they lay for hours in the
vicinity of windowless and door less barracks which they were not
allowed to enter. Only after much pleading and crying and giving
of Baksheesh, were they given access to the barracks. The hundreds
of people, soaked by the rain, whipped by wind and hail rushed
into the lousy, barn like rooms where the whining starving
children and the powerlessness of the parents made terrifying
pictures. No food, no warmth, no medicine.
Finally, after five days, each person received
100 grams of bread, mixed with sand and bran which was supposed to
be nourishment for three days.
After eight days the unhappy ones were sent to
Czetwertinowka where they had to sleep in stalls from which they
first had to clean out the pig and cow manure. In one stall lay 3
to 400 people. The people were desperate. Some succeeded in
fleeing to Odobowka, Berschad and other camps.
The remainder stayed two months in
Czetwertinowka. One day, the SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Mass came and
gave orders that all the Jews had to be sent to work on the other
side of the Bug. Forced onto trucks by club blows, the inhabitants
of the camp were driven in the direction of Ladejin. As toward
evening they arrived on the bank of the Bug, a large part of their
luggage had disappeared.
At night, the Jews were taken over the Bug. On
the next morning their possessions were searched again. The whole
day passed in the search for gold, watches and valuables. They
spent half the night in the open. After midnight, and SS-man,
named Feuerstein arrived and said that all the people would go to
a central camp where they would be divided up according to their
professions. In addition, they would get three meals daily and get
a good bed. Everyone took hope. Later, as individual trucks came,
they were stormed by the people hoping to get a good place. During
this process, family members were separated from one another,
since the father would get in one truck, the mother in a second,
the child in a third and the luggage eventually in the fourth.
They all believed with certainty that they would go to the
“central camp.” On the next morning they found that they had been
torn apart. After this night, they never saw each other again.
One day later, the order came to give up all
valuables. Immediately afterwards, the SS searched their
belongings. The SS people said that a pistol had been found, which
most likely belonged to a Jew, and for that reason, they had to
thoroughly search all the Jews' luggage.
During this search, almost clothing, linen and
other objects in half way decent condition were confiscated.
Afterwards began the forced labor at road building, in stone
quarries and in construction of defense walls and as the winter
arrived – in snow shoveling.
They were fed only one meal per day: moldy
millet, insufficiently cooked. The daily march to work and back
totaled 20 km.
Approximately two months passed this way until
Yom Kippur, 1942. Then the SS began the “clean-up” action in the
Krasnapolska camp. On the morning of this day, all men and women
over 50 years old and children under 14 years old as well as the
sick and the weak were taken to one side while the others were
ordered to march to the work location. When they came back in the
evening, there were mass graves dug behind the camp in which they
found their relatives. Screaming and moaning began, but the SS
threatened to shoot everyone in the camp if quiet wasn't restored.
So, the unhappy ones spent the most terrible of all nights in
unbearable pain.
Similar actions followed at the same time in
the camps: Iwangerod, Mihailowka, Teplik, Gaisin and Uman. In Uman
where previously 60,000 Jews had lived, hardly 7 Jews who had
disguised themselves in farmers' clothing and hidden, remained
alive. When asked what had happened to the Jews, the camp
commander replied that the rest were Christmas presents.
Actually, these “clean-up” actions were carried
out every two months. In these actions, those incapable of working
were selected and after the others had marched off to work, were
killed. The scenes were heart wrenching when family members were
separated and had to say good-by. As those going to work marched
away, they got one last glimpse of their relatives. The marchers
didn't dare to turn their heads because of the threat of death.
The slave work continued daily in the same way.
In Teplik, the bloodhound, SS man Fischer
knocked on the doors of the barracks, which were unheated in
winter, daily at 5 am. In two minutes, everyone had to be prepared
to march with tools, picks and shovels.
The forced work was carried out under military
guard, whereby the guards were not stingy with club blows on the
back and other parts of the body. The work extended until late in
the night. Therefore, it is not surprising that up to December 10,
1943, in all camps together, barely 40 to 50 Jews who succeeded in
escaping were still alive. Many who tried to escape over the Bug
paid for this gamble with their lives. So were, among others, the
families Preschel, Weiner, Dr. Schulmann, Schuller and Mrs.
Professor Beral shot during the attempt.
Eleven escapees were sent by the ghetto
commander of Berschad to Voitowka and from there further back over
the Bug where they were immediately shot.
The camp inhabitants who remained behind were
shot, one after the other in short intervals. The mass graves were
covered with a thin layer of earth, which, because of the escaping
gas, lifted in a few days, so that pestilent odors spread.
It should be mentioned that the militia that
stood under the German commander were much worse than the German
SS soldiers.
The deportations to Transnistrien, planed and
carried out by the Germans are the most tragic chapter in the
history of the Bukovina Jews and a stigma on the Germans which can
never be washed away.