Murder story of Murovano Kurilovtsy Jews in the Bucheno Forest

…On August 21 [1942] at 6 a.m. Germans arrived and told everyone to go to the square. [There] a selection took place: the elderly, women, and children [were put] to one side and the young people who were able to work [were put] to other side. The elderly, women, and children were taken to Alaykovtsy [sic, Galaykovtsy] Road, where four large pits had been were prepared, they were ordered to strip and to lie down in the pits…

… A column of women, children, [and] elderly people doomed to death was collected at the market square of Murovannye Kurilovtsy town. The beauty Liza Litvak was walking along the familiar cobblestone road, leading by the hand her old, grey-haired mother, Khava Litvak, and with her proud and beautiful head raised as she gazed penetratingly at the philistines of Murovannye Kurilovtsy who had gathered to observe the doomed [Jews]. With her left hand Liza was holding her four year-old son. Liza's daughter was walking on her right side, beside her grandmother, with the hand of her grandmother, Khava Litvak, resting on her head. All those who saw this scene were impressed by the beautiful conduct of the Litvak family. This vision has remained before my eyes forever. They [the Litvaks] entered eternity. The column, made up of [members of] the Snitkov and Murovannye Kurilovtsy Jewish communities, in which the Litvak family was walking was shot 2 kilometers from Murovannye Kurilovtsy, at the edge of the forest on the road between Murovannye-Kurilovtsy and Galaykovtsy village… On August 20, 1942 the Nazis gathered the two Jewish communities in Murovannye Kurilovtsy town, Vinnitsa District at the market square: 1. Snitkov's one [community], from the town of Snitkov, 12 kilometers from Murovannye Kurilovtsy; 2. Murovannye-Kurilovtsy's one [community], the local one, of the town of Murovannye-Kurilovtsy. Toward the middle of the day a selection was carried out. The women, children, and elderly were formed into a column and taken away along the road between Murovannye-Kurilovtsy and Galaykovtsy village, and 2 kilometers from the location of the selection the [people in the] column were shot….

…On the night between August 20 and 21, 1942 since several vehicles with Gestapo men had been sighted, the appearance of a murder squad was expected. Early in the morning of August 21, at about 6 or 7, the Germans started to drive the Jews from their houses, demanding that they take with them their gold and [other] valuables. Before this, for the entire night, my uncle Peysya Iolovich Nugid tried to persuade my father to hide before the Germans arrived, but Father refused, fearing harsher punishment if he was discovered. (My uncle, his wife, and their two children hid in the attic and saved themselves). When the Germans were driving us out of our house, my father lost his mind and cried repeatedly: "Where am I taking my children?" All the Jews were taken to the market square. There a selection was carried out: the men were separated [from the rest]. In my presence father was then hit with a club and taken away, while I was left with my mother and my little brother Syoma. Afterwards, the young people were separated. I was taken with the youngsters. They demanded that my mother leave her [young] child and go with me, but she managed to stay with my little brother and the other women. The young people were taken to another square. I remember my mother screaming when I, along with other young girls, were taken away by a German. Guarded by Germans and auxiliary policemen, we were on another street and heard machine-gun shots. In the evening we were ordered to go home and we dispersed among our various houses in the ghetto area. I learned from local Ukrainian residents that all the men, women, and children were taken 3 kilometers from Kurilovtsy village to pits that had been dug earlier… The local residents said that the belongings of the Jews had been loaded onto vehicles while the people had been forced to go by foot. The Jews were thrown into the pits alive and then shot: the men - in one pit, the women - in another, and the children - in a third. The policeman Oleynik told me that he wanted to save my father whom he knew well, by hiding him under a cart. But since Father was already not right in his head, he [Oleynik] did not succeed and my father was thrown into the pit last. This version was confirmed by other eyewitnesses of the shooting. According to local residents, on August 21, 1942 3,000 Jews were shot in Kurilovtsy…This number included many Jews taken, on August 19 or 20, from the villages of Snitkov, Verbovtsy [Verbovets], and others…