Murder Story of Hancewicze Jews at the Hay Storage Site in Hancewicze

May 18, 1965 From the Testimony of B. Werner, former artillery officer of the 1st SS Cavalry Regiment Since the late July 1941 all our battery stayed in Hanzewicze. We stayed there for about two weeks. … From my friends I learned that the Jews of Hancewicze were collected in one street with their belongings. The women and the children were separated from the men. They were forced to leave their belongings and were taken away in columns. It was clear to us the Jews were going to be shot. The shooting started in the morning twilight and lasted until the midday. After the shots were not heard for a long time I and my friend [...] went to the direction where the shooting sounds used to be. It was about one kilometer behind the village of Hanzewicze in the area of a large sawmill. It was an open area where there was a pit, it was 15 meters long and 4 meters wide. The pit was full of corpses of women and children. I do not remember men's corpses there. When we approached the pit there was nobody there, I mean I did not see those who guarded the execution. We were so shocked that we immediately returned to Hanzewicze. …They said as if there were 2,500 [sic] Jews shot. In the vicinity of the sawmill only the women and the children were shot. I am not sure whether I saw only one pit with the bodies, probably there were two of them or even more. I was unable to notice it because of the fear and the nervous shock. I spent no more than five minutes at the pit. The bodies were dressed and were piled inside.