Murder story of Szarkowszczyzna Nowa Jews in the Szarkowszczyzna Dairy Area

On July 17 (according to other sources in May or June) 1942 an SS officer from Glebokie arrived in Szarkowszczyzna and ordered the head of the Judenrat Hirst Barkan to collect and to hand over to him a large amount of gold and silver. On that occassion he told Barkan that Wehrmacht solders were going to carry out firearms excercises at a firing range near the town. He encouraged the head of the Judenrat to calm the Jews by explaining to them that the source of the firing was the exercise. However, Hirsh Barkan did not believe what the officer told him and his suspicions were confirmed by a young Jewess who worked at the Gendarmerie office. That young woman overheard the Gendarmerie commander speaking with his assistant, saying that on the 18th of July the Germans intended to liquidate the two ghettos in Szarkowszczyzna. The head of the Judenrat warned the Jews, urging them to flee, and put watchmen at lookout points. When the Germans and their collaborators approached the gates of the ghetto, a sign was given. The young ones [Jews] set houses on fire and in the confusion about 700 people broke through the fence and fled. The Germans and their collaborators subjected them to heavy gunfire and hit many of them but hundreds succeeded in escaping. The approximately 1,200 Jews who remained in the ghetto were murdered on July 18 (or, according to other sources, in May or on June 12) not far from the local dairy.