Murder Story of Luboml Jews at the Brick Factory near Luboml

On October 1, 1942, early in the morning, Gendarmerie men(German rural order police), assisted by Luboml County Ukrainian policemen, headed by Sergei Kovalchuk, together with police units from Szack and Kowel, surrounded the ghetto. They drove its inmates (mainly women, children, and old people) onto the street and collected them on the town's market square. Afterwards the Jews were taken, on foot, under the guard of the Gernadarmerie and Ukrainian police, to the abandoned brick factory located several kilometers outside of town. Those who were too slow were killed on the way to the murder site. Upon their arrival at the site, the remaining Jews were made to strip naked and put their clothes into piles. Then they were forced in groups of 20 into pits that had been dug several months before. According to testimonies, the adults were shot to death in the head with machine-guns by Gendarmerie men, while the small children were thrown alive into the pit. Gebietskommissar Uhde, his deputy, and some other senior German officials were present during this murder operation. After the killing, the victims were covered with layers of sand, earth, and lime; some of them were still alive. According to testimonies, the earth was heaving for several days. The clothes of the Jews were taken to Luboml, where they were sold to the local population. This murder operation lasted about a week since a number of Jews initially escaped the murder operation or were in hiding and not found immediately.