Murder Story of Yaryshev Jews at the Yaryshev Cemetery

… On August 21, 1942 a murder squad arrived…. On the morning of August 21, 1942 they announced that all the people should take their valuables since no one would return: they were going to [be sent to] work. All the people were taken to the Zhukov road. This road does in fact lead to work places, to the train, etc. However, there is a fork in the road; the road to the left leads to a cemetery…. Thus, when they approached this familiar fork, the Germans made them take a sharp turn to the left…. Everyone then understood what was going to happen. One heard heartbreaking cries, weeping, and farewells…. There the mathematics teacher Gitya Yakovlevna Taleysin [or Teleysin] made a speech. She spoke in German and Russian. She spoke about everyone having husbands [and] brothers at the front who would avenge [their deaths]. [She said that] Soviet rule was eternal; that it would be restored and take revenge on the German monsters. Her last words were: “Long live Stalin and Soviet rule!” She was shot, together with her six-year old son Lyova. The people were divided in 2 groups: 1) The main, larger group, and 2) A group of young people capable of working The first group was shot by the Germans immediately, while the second one was sent off to work….

… In the spring of 1944 I was already a major and commanded a tank company. On March 19, 1944 my tanks liberated Mogilev-Podolsk. There I saw living Jews for the first time [during the war]. They said: “Hardly anyone is left in Yaryshev”. I could not believe it. I took 10 members of an assault group, placed them on the tank, and we proceeded to drive to Yaryshev. I met a schoolmate [there]. He said the following to me: “All of your family -- your [father] the tailor Gershko, your mother Brukha, your sisters, your grandfather Chaim the tailor, your grandmother Khana, your uncles, and your aunts -- lie now in a single grave.” The last Jews of Yaryshev, about 500 people, were shot on August 21, 1942. A total of 70 people from our family alone were murdered by the Fascist monsters. I was shown where they were murdered. [This was] a deep pit, near the cemetery, into which the murder victims' bodies were thrown….