Murder story of Genichesk Jews in the Yuzkui Anti-Tank Trench

During the temporary occupation of Genichesk by German troops, I was a neighborhood police inspector responsible for Krasny Oktyabr Street. The police chief, Prikhodko, came to me and said: “We have come to arrest the Jews. Come with us. You will be a witness.” We went to Mrs. Felman's home; took Mrs. Felman herself, a girl, and an eight-year-old boy, and escorted them to the police station. That night, all the Jews were arrested and taken to the police [station]…. The next morning…, Prikhodko came to me and said that I had to organize three workers. I found two, and, with myself as the third worker, I went with them to the Volna Revoluzii kolkhoz. We had shovels and pickaxes. One day in February 1942, at 9 AM, all the Jews who had been taken or caught during the night had their warm clothes taken from them near the barn of the Volna Revoluzii kolkhoz. All the Jews, 250 in number, were taken from the barn and led along Sverdlov Street to an anti-tank trench on the outskirts of town. I and thirty other workers walked at the end of the line of people to bury the Jews. As soon as we came to the anti-tank trench, everybody [i.e., all the Jews] was forced to strip naked, and their clothes were thrown into a ravine. As soon as all the Jews had undressed, they were moved away from their clothes and shot. All of them were shot – old and young, and even the babies. After the shooting, we workers had to bury the murdered Jews; we were busy burying them from lunchtime until late at night.

In late 1941 and 1942, the German-Fascist occupiers shot a total of 275 innocent civilians. Among them, there were 244 Jews, including 100 children aged 2-10.

In early 1942…, the barn of the commune [kolkhoz] had about 300 Jewish people inside. They were taken in groups to be shot. The place selected for the shooting was an anti-tank trench outside of town, in the direction of the village of Yuskui. Four groups were enough to take the Jews to be shot. An hour after the shooting, some thirty of us, residents of Genichesk, were rounded up and sent to the anti-tank trench to bury the bodies of the Jews who had been shot. The bodies were lying in a pile in the anti-tank trench, which was about 15 meters long. All the bodies were naked. We buried some 500 victims of the shooting – men, women, elderly people, and children.

One night in December 1941, during the German occupation of Genichesk, someone knocked on the door of my apartment. I asked who it was, and he said he was a policeman…. There was another policeman… with him. They entered and asked whether my in-laws lived with us. My father-in-law was asleep, as was my mother-in-law, so I said that they were sleeping. “They should get dressed,” they [the policemen] said. I asked why. “Mind your own business,” they said. [He] asked: “Are you the landlady?” I replied: "[No], their daughter-in-law.” After that, my in-laws got dressed and left [with the police]. An hour later, the same [policemen] returned and said: “Get dressed and dress the children, and bring along some grub for two days.” I was taken away and put into the police lockup, where I remained until 6 AM. In the morning, I was frisked, and all the Jews, 280 in number, were taken to the barn of the Volna Revolutsii kolkhoz. My husband is Jewish, but I am Russian. I began to beg the police chief to let me go. The police chief told me: “Wait for the commandant. If you leave, the first bullet will be yours.” At 11 AM, the commandant arrived and let me go home. All the Jews being held in the barn were divided into three groups of 100 people each. The first group of 100 was taken out of the town to an anti- tank trench, forced to undress, and then shot. The same was done to the rest of the people. 280 people were shot on that day.…