Sand Quarry near the Jewish Cemetery in Dokszyce Related Communities
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Murder story of Dokszyce Jews in the Sand Quarry near the Jewish Cemetery in Dokszyce
Murder Site
Dokszyce
Poland
At 10 PM, sometime in mid-March (or early April, according to another source) 1942, the local auxiliary police arrested 65 Jews for alleged "contacts with partisans" and escorted them to a former sand quarry near the Jewish cemetery, 2-3 kilometers southeast of the town center. A group of Jewish youths were sent to the quarry and ordered to widen one of the pits; after that, the young people were returned to the ghetto. In the morning, the German Gendarmerie, assisted by the local police, shot the arrested Jews. The town residents (both Jews and non-Jews) had the impression that this massacre had been perpetrated by the auxiliary police on its own initiative. In reality, the policemen had acted at the behest of the German Gebietskommissar of Glębokie.
Sometime in early May 1942 – according to a few survivors, on May 4 – the Germans and their collaborators surrounded the Dokszyce Ghetto, forcing the Jews (except for the numerous inmates who had managed to hide) into a club building. Many Jews were killed by the police and Gendarmerie on the spot, immediately upon arrest; some sick and elderly inmates were killed in their beds. At the club building, the collaborationist policemen carried out a selection. 350-400 Jews, rejected as unfit for work, were murdered at the same sand quarry. After the operation, the Germans reduced the ghetto area. Following this second massacre, the survivors began to build underground shelters, hoping to hide during the next mass murder, which they felt to be imminent.
On May 29, 1942, the Dokszyce Ghetto was liquidated, and the extermination of its population began. As before, the Germans (the security police and Gendarmerie) and local policemen surrounded the ghetto in the morning. This time, most of the ghetto Jews had gone into hiding, and some of their shelters and bunkers were rather sophisticated. For this reason, the murder operation dragged on for 17 days (instead of the expected single day), as the Nazis combed through the ghetto in search of the victims. According to survivors' accounts, when the Germans entered the ghetto, they were met only by the members of the Jewish council (Judenrat), while the rest of the inmates had hidden themselves. All those found in the ghetto throughout the lengthy search would be escorted to the sand quarry, forced to undress, and shot. The auxiliary police played an active role in the massacre. According to German reports, 2,653 Jews were killed in the course of this operation.
Related Resources
Written Testimonies
ChGK Soviet Reports
Beynish (Boris) Kazhynits, who lived in Dokszyce during the war years, testified:
The second "Aktion" took place in May 1942. At daybreak, the Polish police and Germans surrounded the ghetto; later, they were joined by the Gestapo and the Gendarmerie. The Jews, forewarned, took to the bunkers. The warning had been given by the Judenrat – who, after the first pogrom, posted guards around the clock to watch the police and the German stations.…
Our whole family, too, hid in the ghetto. A few neighbors went into hiding along with them (about twenty persons altogether). My father vehemently refused to hide in the bunker, and chose to remain in his house. From our hideout, we clearly heard the policemen's footsteps and the screaming of our father as he was beaten. The German for whom he sewed clothes recognized him and ordered him to be left alone. In the afternoon, my father knocked on the bunker entrance, telling us that the pogrom was over.
Deeply shocked, we watched the toll taken by the pogrom: The bodies of the murdered lay in the streets, and the roads and sidewalks were flooded with blood. The bodies of some of the victims lay in beds inside the houses – those were the sick people who couldn't get out of bed. In our neighbor's house lay the elderly Mordekhai Ze'ev Shults, his eye flowing out of its socket. This was my first glimpse of a victim of the Nazis.
On the bridge, Yehuda Pesach Kaplan was picking up the brain of his little child, Hanan, whose skull had been crushed by the Germans. The child's body was gone. All the Jews who had been caught in the bunkers or in their homes were assembled in the square near the club, about 200 meters from the large pit. There, the Germans checked which of them were in possession of a shein. The ones employed by the Germans were released, while the rest were taken to the common grave and shot there. This pogrom claimed the lives of 350 Jews, including Rabbi Sheinin. He had made no attempt to hide. The murderers found him in his house praying, wrapped in a tallit and tfilin. As the killers were taking him to the murder site, the rabbi became happy with his lot, saying that he was giving up his life for the sanctification of the Holy Name. Was he insane?
David Shtokfish, ed., Sefer yizkor Dokshits-Parafyanov, Tel-Aviv, 1970, pp. 223-224 (Hebrew)
Beynish (Boris) Kazhynits, who lived in Dokszyce during the war years, testified:
When the Germans entered the ghetto, they found no one except for the Judenrat members, their families, and Warfman – the chief of the Jewish police. This time they did not hide, unlike the second Aktion.… The Germans now took their anger out on these Jews, beating them savagely. They were later taken to a side alley near our hiding place.
At 8 AM, the Germans picked our trail and began to take apart the oven under which our bunker was built. As the first rays penetrated the gloom, the shouting began: "Juden, heraus"! No one answered their calls, and they threatened to throw in a hand grenade if we didn't come out. There was no longer any reason to stay in the bunker. Being the first to come out, I was hit on the neck with a cudgel. I scurried out, and my legs were beaten savagely. I was surrounded by Gestapo men armed with submachine guns and clubs. I hurried across the corridor leading to the door and skipped over the balcony, not sparing a look back. I was already on the other side of the street, far away from the Gestapo murderers. The ones left behind were beaten mercilessly. My father was hit on the head, and bled profusely.
All of a sudden, I found myself near a group of Judenrat men: Warfman, his wife, and their daughters. In an hour, 70 Jews were brought to this place. We were all taken to the ghetto gates and forced to sit down under heavy guard.…
Near the pit, we saw that we were surrounded by many politsais and Germans. People trying to escape would be shot on the spot, and the body of the first victim lay next to me. The Jewish headman [Judenälteste Botwinnik] jumped into the pit, but a German pulled him back, saying: “you, as the Judenältester, have to watch your entire community die, and we will kill you last.” At that moment, Lipkind charged at Komolka [chief of the local police], hit him in the face, and jumped into the pit. The German asked the Pole if he should take him out, and Komolka replied: “No, there's no need, he'll be shot soon anyway.”
In any case, I saw two prisoners who had bolted and were already far away from us. A submachine gun fired at them, and they fell down. When the shooting stopped, one of the two got up and resumed running, while the other lay motionless. The police shot him a few times, and he died.
David Shtokfish, ed., Sefer yizkor Dokshits-Parafyanov, Tel-Aviv, 1970, pp. 224-225 (Hebrew)
Dokszyce
Jewish cemetery
Murder Site
Poland
54.894;27.761