Murder Story of Rodnya Jews at the Rodnya Jewish cemetery

Our neighbors were the Ruman family. Old man Ruman, Zalman - his son-in-law, his daughter Malka, and their two children - one an infant and the other 5 or 6. When they came to take them away early, at 4 in the morning, my dog started to bark.... Then we heard noise, a real racket. We wiped the frosted-over window and saw how they were being taken away. A short while later shooting began to be heard from the direction of the cemetery.... Then they came to us and ordered us to dig [to bury the dead].... So when we were ordered to, we went - my older brother and I. The order was for every home to provide someone to dig. When we arrived at the Jewish cemetery, we saw the Jews who were shot lying one on top of the other. They were all dressed, not one was naked. They lay in trenches that were left after the anti-aircraft guns were taken away. Our [Red Army] battery had previously been located right in the cemetery, in 5 or 6 trenches. There was one German who walked around, inspecting how we worked when we were digging. It was hard to dig - the earth was already frozen. The sun had risen, it was morning, an icy morning. While we were digging, we heard a scream. It was the young Jew Ruman, who worked in a cobbler's shop, he had tried to crawl away. A bullet had hit his cheek but he was still alive. He shouted: "Vitka, help!" This Vitka had worked with him in the cobbler's shop. He was the son of Mishka Bobrov and his street nickname was Duda. Ruman was crying: "Vitka, Duda, help me get out of here!" He had already managed to free himself up to the waist but his legs were trapped by people's bodies. Vitka bent over and extended a hand to help but, at that moment, a German came over and kicked him in the behind with a metal-reinforced boot so hard that he ended up in the pit. Nevertheless, he managed to pull himself out of the pit. The German took his rifle off his shoulder. We were standing there thinking that he would shoot Vitka. But, instead, he shot the Jew for the second time in the head and killed him. The name of the Jew, apparently, was Ruman and he was about 60 years old. Later, at 10 a.m., they brought Velka's wife, the wife of Velka Dodyanok. Whether the latter was a nickname or a family name I don't know. Perhaps her family name was Dodin. She had previously run away to the village of Prudok. She came to Rodnya to find out about her husband but all of them had already been shot. She was taken to the cemetery to be shot. The shooting had been done by a German or, perhaps, not a German but someone wearing a German uniform who spoke in broken Russian. He told her to take off her overcoat. Her coat was green like the grass, her scarf was a kind of fluffy blue, she had black felt boots and galoshes. All this has remained imprinted in my mind because murder is murder and you remember it. He [the murderer] said to her: "Take off your overcoat." Calmly, without shouting or crying, she replied "I won't take off the coat!" She took off her galoshes and said: "Take this if it suits you" and she crawled into the pit where people were already lying. As soon as she lay down and rested on her hands, he fired three bullets from his automatic rifle into her head. You could see how they went through her scarf. She lay there just as if she had fallen asleep, without moving at all. Then they brought Tsilya Yankeleva. She had run away with Rivka, whose last name I don't recall, when people were being taken to be shot. They ran to the public bathhouse.... I was told this. They [Germans or policemen] sent Kiselev after them but he didn't bother them. He saw them lying in a pigstye. I don't know whether he was a policeman. He threw some straw on top of them and said: "Just lie there!" Then Rivka went to the Matyankin's hut while Tsilya ran until she came to the small bridge in the direction of Khaldeevka, but then turned back in fright. They caught her and shot her in the cemetery. In regard to her, I know that she asked them not to kill her and said that she would show them where her father had buried some goods. They killed the wife of a dumb Jew on the porch of the medical orderly Kuzmichev. Although her legs hurt, she ran. Then she asked them not to kill her and said she would work for them. Previously here, in Rodnya, no one had been shot.... Motel Shlemkin left for the woods as soon as the Germans entered Rodnya. Later this was not possible, they would have shot all the rest of the family. He had a brother age 6. When we came to do the digging, he was sitting under the torn up roots of a birch tree. A spotted kerchief covered his head, the back of which was smashed in. He was probably just left there rather than taken to the common grave. Chana, the daughter of Zalman Vishner, got away and survived; she lived for the whole war with some Russian old people. Her whole family was killed.... When we went to dig, we saw pillows and pieces of bread that had been thrown away. Aparently when the Jews were being taken to the cemetery they threw these things away.