Murder story of Grodzyanka Jews in the Grodzyanka Russian Orthodox Cemetery

Wednesday, March 4, 1942. We were tired to death. We lay down to rest for two hours. During this time Company 2 killed 86 Jews in Grodzyanka ....

… Initially they didn’t bother the Jews. The Germans were quartered in our big school. The police arrived. One time they forced all the Jews into a big house (it doesn’t exist any more). They [the Jews] had badges sewn on [their clothes] over their shoulders and chests. It was announced that if anyone hid a Jewish family he would be shot. They didn’t force the Jews to stay in the house. They [the Jews] would make the rounds of the peasant huts. Someone would give them bread, another –potatoes, and a third – milk. People also came to them for milk and potatoes. I don’t remember [seeing] any men among them. There were many children and old people. Our neighbor Livshits was killed, along with his wife and children, as was the Beilin family. Policemen settled in Jewish houses and looted the Jews’ property. In late 1941, or in 1942, the Jews were forced to dig a large grave at the cemetery and all of them were shot. The Germans and policemen did the shooting. I don’t know who and when someone set up a plaque with two names. They didn’t let us approach the shooting site. People who lived nearby said that the earth was heaving. I believe that there was already snow on the ground. It is hard to remember. No one ran away, no one was saved.