Murder story of Kołki Jews in the Gorbky Forest

…. Approximately in October [sic, for late August] 1942 German officials approached the Judenrat [Jewish council] and demanded a large sum of money in gold, pieces of jewelry, and other valuables, threatening that if those items were not delivered all the Jews [of the town] would be killed. … In the ghetto the people argued about the amount of money that each of ghetto inmate should pay. There were screaming, crying, etc. Finally, the Jews managed to collect all that was required and all of the money and jewelry was handed over to the Germans; then the Judenrat announced that everything had been taken care of and that the Jews were no longer in danger. … [However,] the next day, shortly before sunrise, the Germans returned [to the town] with reinforcements and surrounded the ghetto, ordering everyone to assemble at the market place. According to them, [the Jews] would be sent to [forced] labor camps. They allowed [the Jews] to take with them little bundles with some food. Screaming and turmoil reigned in the ghetto; the people ran around like crazy. My mother turned to us children, saying that whoever could should run away and save himself or herself, acting as he or she believed was best. My friend Avraham Kiper and I … succeeded in escaping from the ghetto and hiding. It wasn't easy to run away from the ghetto since the guards around the ghetto opened fire and continued shooting all the time, but the Jews didn't pay attention to the shooting and each ran in any direction he could. Those who [were shot] fell down dead but, thanks to these victims, many other Jews, including me and my friend, succeeded in escaping from the ghetto [to the nearby forest]. We found shelter in a house in the town [near the forest] … . Through the roof we could see the main street of Kołki … [and] what was going on [there] with the Jews. We saw how Ukrainian [auxiliary policemen] and Germans took the Jews who had been found in hiding and beat them, while taking them all the way to the collection point. We saw how the Jews were put into trucks [to be taken to the murder site]. [Shortly before that] all the Jews were taken [from the market square collection point] to the big grain warehouse in town where all the Jews were assembled. From this warehouse the people were then taken outside the town, where pits had been prepared in advance and all of them were killed there. On that same night the two heads of the Judenrat – [Mordekhay] Kaufman and [Yaakov] Shlayn -- were the first to be taken, from their houses, out of town and shot to death [at the murder site].