Murder Story of Chocieszów Jews at the Chocieszów Brick Factory

… In the fall of 1942 (I don't remember the exact date) the [Ukrainian auxiliary] police took from our village [town] and the surrounding villages many Soviet civilians [i.e. Jews], including men, women, and teenagers, to the storage area where grain had been kept during the time [the area] was under Polish rule; more specifically it was a storehouse belonging to the Mayak kolkhoz. After they [the Jews] were locked up in this storage area for about 24 hours, the Germans came to the village of Chociezów and took all the Soviet civilians to the [former] brick factory, where all of them were shot to death. I personally saw how the [Ukrainian auxiliary] policemen stripped the Soviet civilians naked, took them to the pit, made them lie face down on the ground, and then shot them to death in the back of the head. This all took place at a distance of about 300-350 meters from me. During this time about 40-50 Jewish civilians were shot to death by the [Ukrainian] police.…

… In 1942, I don't remember whether it was in the summer or in the fall, but it was still warm, I was going [to visit] my sister, who was living on a farmstead. When I passed near the barn that belonged to the resident of the Chociezów village named Philip Pitachik, I saw, at a distance of about 300 meters from me, a group of about 5 [Ukrainian auxiliary] policemen taking seven to nine Soviet Jewish civilians toward the former brick factory. When I saw this, I stopped near Pitachik's barn and began to observe what was going on. When the policemen with the group of Jewish civilians came closer to me, I recognized among those policemen the policeman [Andrey] Koshelyuk…. While continuing to stand near the barn, I saw those policemen taking the above-mentioned group of Jews to the pits, (from which clay for bricks used to be extracted). About 50 meters before reaching the pits, the policemen stopped all the civilians whom they were guarding and forced them to strip naked. When they [the Jews] were naked, the policemen took them to the pits and made them lie on the ground. Then the policeman Koshelyuk, who was [standing] there, began to shoot them from his machine-gun, while the other policemen stood to the side. In that way Koshelyuk shot to death all the Soviet Jewish civilians who had been taken [to the shooting site]. I saw this with my own eyes since I was about 250-300 meters from the shooting site….

In the fall of 1942 (I don't remember the exact date), together with a group of up to 20 [Ukrainian auxiliary] policemen, I arrived [from the town of Ratno] in the village of Chociezów … . Our group was headed by the former chief of the Chociezów [Ukrainian auxiliary] police Petr Makovetsky and his deputy Lukyan Deynenko. Approximately in the middle of the day our group arrived at the barn where the detained Soviet Jewish civilians were being held and Petr Makovetsky told us that, on the order of the German regional authorities, those Soviet civilians were to be shot to death. Thereafter, from all the [Ukrainian] policemen Makovetsky selected a group of 6-7, which included … me …and ordered that one of us would shoot to death the detained Soviet civilians. But since none of those singled out [policemen] wanted to shoot the Soviet people, Makovetsky told us that we should rely on chance[to determine] who would shoot to death the above-mentioned Soviet civilians. The seven policemen including me, carried out the procedure of putting our hands around a stick to see whose hand would be at the top of the stick … that person would have to carry out the shooting. As a result of this, my hand turned out to be the one on the top of the stick and [thus] Makovetsky ordered me to shoot the Soviet civilians. The Soviet civilians, who had been held in a barn that was intended to store grain, were forced out of the barn. I don't remember now who ordered them to leave the barn. At that time in the barn there were 10-15 [sic] Soviet civilians in toto, both males and females, but I don't remember of what ages, and they all came out of the barn. Following the orders of Makovetsky, our group of policemen … and also Petr Makovetsky [himself, and] Lukyan Deynenko, and some other policemen whom I don't remember, took the above-mentioned Soviet civilians under guard to the area of the [former] brick factory about 400 meters from the barn where the detained Soviet civilians had been held. Near the barn, Makovetsky gave me a Russian machine-gun, with a circular magazine, with which I would have to shoot the Soviet civilians. We took the Soviet civilians to the pit. I do not remember its size, nor do I remember whether it had been dug especially, or whether it had been made [previously] by extracting clay for bricks. Petr Makovetsky and Lukyan Deynenko ordered all the Soviet civilians to lie facedown near the pit, so all of those 10-15 Soviet civilians were lying facedown with their heads facing the pit. Then Makovetsky and Deynenko ordered me … to quickly shoot the Soviet civilians who were lying near the pit. I began to shoot those recumbent Soviet civilians with single shots from my machine-gun, aiming at the back of their heads. Thus, I shot 4-5 Soviet civilians to death. The Soviet civilians we were shooting were lying quietly on the ground. Pavel Genadyuk and Philip [surname is unknown] were [also] shooting Soviet civilians with pistols that were given to them by Makovetsky and Deynenko. They also shot to death several Soviet civilians. … I personally shot the Soviet civilians from a distance of about one meter, no more than that. Therefore, after each shooting blood appeared immediately in the back of the head or the neck [of the victim], I don't remember exactly, but [in any case] after I shot them, the Soviet civilians were dead. After these Soviet civilians had been shot to death, we went to the village council and the police station of Chociezów village. After the shooting, Makovetsky ordered someone, I don't remember who exactly, to cover [with earth] the bodies of those who had been shot to death.…

In the late fall [sic] of 1942 (I don't remember the exact date) in our village [town] a mass shooting of Soviet Jewish civilians was carried out in the area of the [former] brick factory … . [Before the shooting] the Soviet civilians had been held by the [Ukrainian auxiliary] policemen and Germans and then taken to the kolkhoz storage building. As many as 150 Soviet civilians, including women, elderly people, and children, were taken and forced into the storehouse. … Another group of about 40 Soviet civilians was taken under guard by the [same Ukrainian] policemen and a German [the chief or deputy chief of the Ratno Gendarmerie] to the area of the [former] brick factory after the shooting of the first group [at the animal burial grave]. … Being on the street about 300 meters from the brick factory (it was in the afternoon), I personally saw how those Soviet civilians were forced to strip naked near pits (that had been dug in the area of the brick factory for the extraction of clay) and then taken in groups of several people to the pit, where they were shot to death. I personally saw [Andrey] Koshelyuk, a [Ukrainian] policeman, shooting Soviet civilians to death with a machine-gun. I believe that… the chief or the deputy chief of the Ratno police [i.e. Gendarmerie] also took part [in the shooting]. Other [Ukrainian] policemen were standing guard there but, due to the time that has passed [since then], I don't remember who they were. After the shooting of the Soviet civilians, Koshelyuk and other policemen [stood] at a well… and washed their hands. …