Murder Story of Ershtmaysk Jews at the Ershtmaysk Well

… Soon after the German forces arrived in our area, the German gendarmerie ordered the head of the agricultural community, Efim Mikhailovich Kutko, and the head of the rural administration, Andrei Knizhnik, to bring to the agricultural community 40 Jews who were working in the fields. When they were brought, the gendarmes took their identity papers, loaded them onto carts, took them to a well 400 kilometers from the village, and shot all 40 of them there. Afterwards, all their property was looted by the [German] occupiers. On August 23, 1941 740 Jews were collected at the rural administration, supposedly to be registered. Soon afterwards some German gendarmes arrived, surrounded them, and took their pocket- and wrist-watches. After that, all the collected Jews, including old men, old women, and children, were taken to a well 400 meters from the village and made to lie face down at the well in groups of 10 at a time. All of them were shot from submachine-guns after they were forced to strip to their underwear. All the better clothes were taken by the German gendarmes….

… On August 18, 1941 the chief of the rural administration, V. P. Knizhnik, and the chief of the agricultural community, Kutko, were ordered to bring 40 Jews who were working in the fields to the building of the rural community and village administration [offices]. After all of them were brought there, German gendarmes took them to a well located on the territory of Ershtmaysk village [sic] and shot them there. On August 23, 1941 [German] gendarmes ordered the elders V. P. Knizhnik and E. M. Kutko and the policemen V. V. Darienko. and P. Z. Belkin to take all the Jews working on the 8th, 12th, and 13th plots, together with their families, to the building of the rural administration. After all of them were collected, German gendarmes who arrived in cars searched them and took their wrist watches and pocket watches. Then they lined them up in rows of four and took them under guard to the well 400 meters north of Ershtmaysk. Then, after selecting groups of 10 people each time, the German gendarmes made them lie face down at the well and shot them from submachine-guns. The German gendarmes shot a total of 780 Jews, including old men, old women, and children, during the period of the Fascist occupiers' temporary occupation of the territory of the Ershtmaysk rural council....