Murder Story of Skvira Jews at the Skivra Jewish Cemetery

…In September 1941 (approximately, I cannot tell you the exact date since, during the first days of the war, I was evacuated - I left on foot with my parents and little brother and learned about the whole tragedy [only] from letters of Ukrainian acquaintances that we received in the evacuation, after the liberation of the town by the Soviet forces and from the accounts of eyewitnesses) it was announced that all the Jews had to assemble with their belongings at the building of the town council. There they were lined up. Apparently people sensed the danger. A group of young girls in white dresses went ahead together, singing "The Internationale"… An attempt was made to silence them but they continued. My relative, a 17-year-old dark-complexioned girl, Sonya Aynbinder, was among them. Then all of them [Jews], both old and young, a total of about 1,000 people, were taken to the cemetery and ordered to dig a grave for themselves, after having to put aside their belongings and clothes. It is difficult to imagine all this horror! The weeping of the children, the cries of the mothers…. The town's rabbi…put on his "tallis" prayer shawl and recited the mourning prayer. Tears streamed from his eyes…. Apparently, during his last terrible minutes he realized that the end had come for all of these Jews. Then policemen placed a plank over the pit and forced people onto this plank by hitting them with rifle buts. Then they shot them in the back of the head. The dead mothers and, often, still living children fell into the pit…. The blood continued to seep still through the earth that covered them for 3 days and the earth heaved….