Murder story of Boguslav Jews in the Boguslav Forest

I remember, one day, when the leaves of the trees started to turn yellow and the web of Indian summer was floating through the air, at dawn the Germans with submachine-guns on their chests and policemen with short Czech rifles herded together all the residents of Boguslav - even mothers with nursing babies in their arms and very old people - to two central squares: the Jews with their belongings to a large market place and the Ukrainians without their belongings - to a smaller place at the former House of Culture, which then housed some “for Germans only” entertainment facility. Nobody knew why all of them had been collected. Everybody understood, however, that something important was going to happen… Trucks full of shovels drove past us. -"Where are they going?" people whispered, following the trucks with their eyes. "What is going to be dug? Why do they need so many shovels?" Everyone was overcome by mortal terror. Even the children stopped crying. Some time after the trucks drove by, a man who was not in unifrom but had belts crossed over his chest appeared… on the steps and spoke through a cone-shaped loud speaker made of cardboard: "Attention! Everybody line up in an organized manner four abreast, facing that way- he pointed in the direction where the trucks had driven. If there is any crushing together, the soldiers will shoot without warning. Everybody was sure we were going to be shot. Otherwise why had so many shovels been taken there? Surely they were already digging our graves or, probably, we would be forced to dig our own graves. Being afraid that the submachine-guns would start firing at any time, all of us walked “in an organized manner” to the road and lined up four abreast. There were many people who certainly had never “lined up” before, but everyone did so as if this were a usual thing for him to do…Only one woman with a child in her arms felt at a loss. not knowing whether, with her child, she should be counted as two persons or not. After a while, however, she was standing as a fourth member in a row. We came to about 500 meters, I believe now, from a hollow. We were made to turn left, to a field, and were stopped there. We were ordered to turn with our faces to the right, in the direction of a forest which could be seen in the distance. We became four extended rows. In this way we were taken further and then stopped not far from the hollow. We were divided in two half circles. We saw what was happening inside the hollow. I was petrified: near us there stood a large crowd of Jews pressed together. A bit further the rest of them were digging a long trench. They were already up to their waists in the pit they were digging and were continuing to dig deeper, throwing out earth on both sides… They continued digging there at the bottom of the hollow. Only the tops of their heads were sticking out of the pit. The earth flew out of there onto high piles. One thought would not leave my mind: we would not leave there alive… A line of Germans armed with submachine-guns appeared on the opposite side. They lined up close to the pit. With difficulty and slowly, they climbed the embankment from the other side. One of them shouted something to the diggers. I did not hear exactly what, but saw shovels seem to be flying out of the pit. Then the rattling of submachine-guns started. The Germans fired into the pit…Then those [Jews] standing nearest to us were led in groups, forced to mount the embankment, placed facing the forest, and then shot in the shoulder. They fell dead into the pit as if diving into water. The mothers did not let go of the small children in their arms but shielded them from the bullets with their bodies. The children fell into the pit while still alive. I searched with my eyes for Yossele and his mother. I did not find them. The pit was very long-I could not see everyone. The shooting lasted for a long time. The pit was filled to the brim with dead bodies. There were no survivors…