Murder Story of Mariupol Jews at the Agrobaza in Mariupol

Fascist Cruelty in Mariupol … On October 17 [1941], after nothing was left to rob, the German command issued a new decree: at 1 p.m. all the Jews were to be evacuated from the city; therefore, every Jew had to lock his apartment and give its key, tied to a note with his name and address, to the Secret Police No. 10. Then, they were to gather in Sennaya Square, where the barracks were located. While in the Square everything was taken from them, all their possessions and, thus, poor and deptived, they were forced into the barracks, where they were held for two days, until October 19, at 3 p.m. At 3 p.m. precisely, while it was raining heavily, dead drunk German soldiers started taking the Jews from the barracks in groups of 500. The poor elderly Jews, women, and children were taken out to the Agrobaza, eight kilometers from the barracks. While they were walking, they were rushed along and beaten with whips and clubs. In the village large pits had been already dug. The Jews were ordered to get undressed (the fascists threw the clothes into a truck prepared in advance). All 500 Jews were then forced into the grave and 30 fascists began shooting them with automatic weapons. It is difficult to describe the screaming and weeping of the desperate people. The dead and wounded fell on top of each other into the grave. The fascist hangmen cut open the bellies of pregnant women. The elderly and children were buried alive. ... I was in the third group. I really don’t know how I managed to survive although I do remember that, with my remaining strength, I struggled out of the pile of the dead and began running to where my eyes carried me ...

October 18: Today Mama, Papa, Basya and I went to the point and turned in three silver spoons and a ring. After that they did not let us leave the yard. When the entire population of the region had turned in their valuables, it was announced that we had to leave the city within two hours. We will have to walk to the nearest collective farm, where we will be resettled. We have to take enough food and warm clothing for four days. We are to present ourselves together with our things in two hours. There will be trucks for the elderly and women with babies …October 20: It rained all night, and the morning was overcast and damp, but not cold. The whole committee left at 7 A.M., then the trucks with the elderly and the women and babies. We had to go 9-10 kilometers, and the road was terrible. Judging by how the Germans treated those who came to say goodbye to us and bring us packages, the future holds nothing good. The Germans beat all the passers-by with clubs and chased them a block away from the building. The time came for mama, papa, Fanya and Vladya to get in the truck....Our turn arrived, and the horrible images of a senseless, a wildly senseless and meek death was before our eyes as we set off behind the barns. The bodies of Father and Mother were already there somewhere. By sending them by truck, I had shortened their lives by a few hours […T] hese trenches served no other function than as receptacles for the death of nine thousand Jews. We were ordered to undress to our underwear, and they searched for money and documents. Then we were herded along the edge of the ditch, but there was no longer any real edge, since the trench was filled with people for a half kilometer. Many were still alive and begging for another bullet to finish them off […] These [the wounded] people were buried alive, since and no one could help them even though they screamed and called for help. Somewhere above the corpses babies were crying. Most of them had been carried by their mothers and, since we were shot in the backs, they had fallen, protected by their mothers’ bodies. Not wounded by the bullets, they were covered up and buried alive under the corpses.

On October 18 all the Jews were taken out of the town and, on the 20-21. they were shot. Then they took all the Gypsies. It was said that the Greeks were next. In the winter of 1942-43 they took the Jewish children who remained with their Russian mothers or fathers and killed them also.... Those trenches that we had dug near the Agrobaza served as the execution site. The mass grave extends for 2.5 kilometers and the bodies were piled up in it.