Murder Story of Ostrov Jews in a Garden in Ostrov

... Soon after the German entry into the town of Ostro, two weeks afterwards, I do not remember the exact date, but I think it was on July 16, 1941 a German military figure appeared in my apartment. This German came together with Isaak Zakharevich, a resident of our town. They came for my husband Lazar Solomonovich Ovselevich. Although the policeman (a German one), with the support of Zakharevich, claimed that my husband was going to be taken for work, I immediately understood that my husband was being arrested since I was not even allowed to approach him. 4 – 5 days later I learned from town residents that my husband, the Ovselovich brothers [sic], and Davidson were shot in a garden on Spartak [Spartacus] Street (renamed Ilyinskaya Street by Germans). A whole spectrum of the town residents saw how the Germans tortured my husband before shooting him. My husband was forced to run around the garden and Germans beat him with whips. There was no reason to shoot my husband: he was shot because he was Jewish....

... I personally saw how how the Germans tortured and then shot four people – residents of Ostrov town, near a warehouse onn Gornyaya Street. [This happened] 1 – 2 months after the Germans entered Ostrov town. I was at home. At 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon I saw through the window Germans taking a group of 4 - 6 arrested people. They stopped at the garden of the warehouse. I recognized residents of Ostrov town: Ovselovich and three brothers from the Zakharevich family. the Germans took all these people to the garden and surrounded the place. Then I saw the Germans strip Veselovich naked, force him to run around the ring [of the guards] and then begin beating him with sticks. When Veselovich fell down and was beaten all over, he was given a shovel and forced to dig a pit. Then he was shot to death. I could not bear watching this and turned away from the window. I do not know how other people from the group were tortured. It was in 1941, either in July or in August....