Murder Story of Ratno Jews at Prochód Hill

Early in the morning, on August 25 or 26, Ukrainian auxiliary policemen and Gendarmerie (German rural order police) men surrounded Ratno. They drove its Jewish residents, mainly women, children, and elderly people onto the street, and afterward took them to the collection point near the synagogue (or, according to another testimony, near the fire station) in the center of town. According to one testimony while there, the Jews witnessed the burning of the synagogue and the Torah scrolls by the Germans. In the afternoon, after being held there for several hours, the Jewish residents, including members of the Judenrat, were taken in groups by covered truck, under the guard of Ukrainian auxiliary policemen, toward Prochód village, located about three kilometers north of Ratno. The trucks were shuttling back and forth. Upon arriving at the murder site, the Jews were convoyed by the Ukrainian policemen to the top of Prochód Hill (near the village of Prochód) where a large pit had been prepared by young, able-bodied Jewish men from Ratno. A Security Police and an SD squad, with the assistance of Gendarmerie men, made the Jews strip naked and, in groups of 5, forced them into the pit, where they had to lie face down, and then shot them to death with machine-guns. Ukrainian policemen surrounded the shooting site in order to prevent the victims from escaping. According to one testimony, the chief of the Ratno Ukrainian auxiliary police, Boris Logvinskyy, participated in the shooting, that lasted several days. After the shooting, the residents of Prochód village were made to cover the pit with earth.