Murder Story of Frampol Jews on the Frampol Residence Balcony

…The Germans… ordered all the residents to assemble in the market square and demanded that, by the next day, all [the residents'] valuables, amounting to a sum that the [poor] residents of Frampol could not even imagine, be handed over…. In order to force compliance with this order…, [the Germans] took the most prominent senior Jewish men [of the town] hostage, threatening that, if the order wasn't fully carried out on time, the hostages would be killed before the eyes of the entire [Jewish] community.… [The Jews] brought out a tablecloth, on which they placed the wedding ring of [the local] doctor, several silver wineglasses…, a handful of coins, and a dozen, two dozen watches…. The next day, all the residents were driven [out into the street]…. The [local] commandant, dissatisfied with the paltry contribution, ordered that the hostages be publicly hanged. There were ten hostages…, whose names were: Nukhum Burshtein (the rabbi), Shlema Eidelman, Alter Freydler, Nakhman Puker, Aizik Gendelman, Moshka Millionshchik, Peretz Shilman, Moishe Oirik, Gershon Gilis, and Srul Veksler. [The Germans] hanged them in a businesslike, unhurried manner, from the iron railing of the balcony of a two-storey house, the only [such] house in the town. Rabbi Burshtein was the first to be hanged; a rope was looped around his neck. A German shouted at Burshtein, sounding like a dog barking: "Who is a Communist here? If you tell us – we will let you go!". The Rabbi – who, given his religious post, was obviously not a [Communist] Party member – shouted so loudly that his voice carried out across the square: "I am the only Communist here!"… After he had been strangled by the rope, it was cut, and he fell to the ground. Moishe Oirik ran to him… and began to kiss the still warm body of the Rabbi.… The commandant shot him with an automatic weapon, thereby doubling the number of bodies. At this moment, the schoolteacher Khaya Zilberman appeared on the balcony… and began to curse the murderers in German. Her words were cut short by a German bullet. Mikhail Pakhter, the local physician, who was standing under the balcony, tried to carry on the interrupted speech [of Khaya Zilberman]. His family was standing near him. And at that moment, they all passed from this world into the bitterest thing – death. The screams of horror were silenced by the voices of the murderers, who ordered to hang the other hostages.…