Murder Story of Kołki Jews in Tserkvishe

…It was in October [sic for July] 1941. … When I went to [carry out forced] labor [for the German army], my heart told me that something might happen. I had a terrible feeling [that day] more than on any other day. While working near the bridge, we suddenly heard noise and we saw right away [a group of] young and old Jews running and German and Ukrainian [auxiliary] policemen [going after them], urging them with sticks and knives to hurry. The first two [Jews] who reached us told that a barge with two SS men had approached the bank of the river where they were working and the SS men asked them whether they were Jews. I understood [right away] what this was all about and I told my friends [who were working with him] to run away. But they couldn't make up their minds. Meanwhile I grasped [the immediate] danger and decided to run away by myself. It was too late to get far. I hid under boards that… I was working with. While lying [there], I saw and heard what was going on there [i.e. outside]. They [Germans and Ukrainian auxiliary policemen] had caught all my friends and taken them [to the murder site]. … I was lying there scared to death, waiting for them to come for me and thinking that this would be my end. Thus, I was lying there until all became quiet. …in the evening I decided to leave my hiding place. I was wet and very cold. On the other side of the [Styr] River was living an acquaintance of mine, a forest guard. … He welcomed me warmly [into his home] and informed me about what was going on in the area. He also told me about the fate of those ]Jews] who had been taken away. They were altogether 160 men. All of them were shot to death [by the Germans] not far from the river. He suggested that I sleep at his house overnight rather than return to the town at night. [But] I decided to return to the town even though I was very tired and felt pained from [staying for hours] in that wet hiding place and also from fear and, also, from learning [about the killing of] my friends and, as it turned out, also of some of my relatives. The town was as quiet as a cemetery. Everyone whom I met was desperate. I told them what the forest guard had told me. In the town they hadn't yet known about the terrible end [of the Jews who had been taken away]. This made the situation even worsen. I also had to tell [my family] about [the murder] of my two brothers-in-law, who had been working with me and who were taken away [to be killed]. This [the news] led to even greater wailing in my house [than in the town]. …