Murder story of Spichintsy Jews in the Fruzinkovskiy Forest

… I came to the county [seat] of Pliskov and was ordered by the county executive committee to take part in the commission for the identification of the victims of Fascism. We went to the field beyond the forest between Pliskov and Spichintsy, to the place where my parents were murdered on May 22, 1942. There the victims from many towns of the neighboring counties - Pogrebishche, Spichintsy, Pliskov, and others - were buried. The mounds of three large graves and of another, smaller one could be seen. The bodies were flat, flattened because they had been lying closely pressed against each other. Many of them did not have any wounds; the tongues of many of them were sticking out since they had died of suffocation. People had thrown themselves into the pits after submachine-gun volleys were fired and they suffocated to death there. At first I expected to recognize people, but that did not happen: the bodies all looked alike and it was difficult for me to recognize people I knew. When the last, small grave was opened I did recognize Fruma Matusenko and her uncle the blacksmith. She was my school friend. Everyone had been shot, but she was left alive by the village elder who wanted her for himself. She was expecting a child from him and to conceal the disgrace she officially married a shoemaker who had been spared. I recognized Fruma Matusenko by her magnificent braid. Apparently she had gone into labor prematurely; when her body was exhumed it looked horrible. I recognized her uncle, the blacksmith Gidali Matusenko, by the sharp small beard that distinguished him from the other residents of the town. It was difficult to recognize the rest [of the bodies].