Murder story of Pohost Zagorodski Jews in the Wiaz Farm Area

On Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Elul [August 14] 1942, the Belarusian policemen entered the ghetto, claiming that there were partisans in Pohost and they were hiding in the ghetto. We understood something was wrong. Soon after that, we saw the Germans surrounding the ghetto. Before we knew it, the Germans had burst into the ghetto and ordered all of us to get out of our houses, lined us up, and kept us on the square for the whole day. They were looking for men who were supposed to be hiding [in the ghetto] because two days before that all the men broke out of the Hancewicze [labor] camp and escaped to the forests; many of them were from Pohost…. The Germans searched the ghetto all day long but did not find any men apart from old men that were with us on the square. We were kept on the square for the whole day without food or water. I was holding my daughter Marka's hand. She was beside with me all the time. In the evening trucks with Germans arrived. They ordered us to get onto the trucks. My daughter said to me: "Mommy, why did you put my Shabbat dress on me? They are taking us to be shot. Let's run away." But there was no place to run to. In addition, it was hard to believe that it was possible to simply murder people - women, children, and old people. The trucks were filled with people and started moving. Those who could not get onto the trucks because there was no place for them were forced to run after the trucks. That is why mothers holding children in their arms were shot. We were taken [to a place] three kilometers from Pohost. The Germans forced us to stand in rows, four people in each, and then they ordered us to strip naked. Then we understood that those were the last moments of our lives. We were scared stiff. I held my daughter Marka in my arms and my only wish was to die together with her. There were four Germans who were wearing steel helmets, rubber coats, and rubber boots. They [also] had rubber gloves, apparently so that it would be easier for them to wash off our blood from them. Each of them looked like the angel of death. We could not imagine how they could murder women and children in cold blood. The Germans approached us and shouted: "Take off all your clothes!"It was very cold and the wind was so strong that we could hardly stand. I saw people starting to undress and my eyes filled with tears. All that time I was looking at my father, my mother, and my sister. And then I saw my father standing only in his underclothes. He did not want to die completely naked. My mother stood next to him, looking pale. The Germans approached everyone standing in the front row, grabbed them by the hair, and shot them in the head. They kicked the wounded and the people who had been shot dead into the pit that we were standing next to. And then one of the Germans came up to my mother, caught her by the hair, and shot her in the head. When she fell, the German kicked her into the pit…. And then I saw my father fighting with the Germans who ordered him to take off the rest of his clothers. He refused and the Germans tore his clothing off, hit him, and finally shot him and threw him into the pit. My heart was broken into pieces. Even today I cannot understand why I didn't run to help him. I can not understand what was happening to me then. Then the Germans approached my sister Feyga; she and a friend were standing together embracing. They shot them and they [the girls] fell into the pit together. My other sister Chaya had already been murdered and was lying in the pit as well. I was standing in the last row and saw everything. I held my daughter in my arms. She kept crying, and with every shot she covered her face with her hands. She was burning with fever. Her lips whispered: "Mummy, I am so afraid." I pressed her close to my heart to protect her in the face of approaching death. Then it was my turn. One of the Germans, my 'angel of death,' approached. He grabbed me by the hair and asked: "Who do you want me to murder first, you or your daughter?" He ordered me to put the girl down on the ground. I refused and he shot her in the head. I felt I was losing consciousness. I felt awful; my legs were trembling under me. I do not remember how my girl fell out of my arms; I only saw the German throwing her into the pit. The German grabbed me by the hair, holding a gun in his other hand. I heard the sound of a shot. I was sure it was a gun shot but I did not feel any pain. Then I heard another shot and felt a severe pain in my head, I was covered in blood. I fell unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I realized that I was in the pit. I was left lying among the dead bodies and the bodies of those who were still alive and bleeding. I felt I was being strangled and the bodies that were above me were pushing me down. I lacked air to breathe and was literally drowning in blood. I gathered my last strength to free myself from the pressure on me…. The only slightly wounded people were moaning. Others were dying, their voices choked with blood. One woman said: "Save me. Get me out of here." The children in the pit were crying. I tried again to move the weight of the bodies that were pressing on me in order to breathe some air. It was already dark outside. Before the Germans left, they fired some more machine-gun shots into the pit. Those who had still been making sounds were silenced. I continued my attempts to get out of the pit but my strength gave out and I remained lying there until sunrise. At sunrise I managed to get out of the pit with the last of my strength. I was completely naked and covered with my own blood and the blood of the others. I saw three women sitting on the hill. I approached them and began speaking with them. …. We returned to the pit. A truck full of our clothes was parked nearby. About thirty children who had also gotten out of the pit were wandering around it. The children were just wandering around and shouting "Mommy, save us!" The screams of wounded people could still be heard from the pit [since] not all the people in the pit were dead yet. I heard one woman, who was stretching her hand out of the pit, begging for help to free her from there…. She was wounded in the stomach. We decided to pull her put of the pit but we felt some hands from the pit draggingr her back into it. After a tremendous effort we managed to get her out. It was already daylight. Suddenly we caught sight of a mounted group of Germans in the distance but coming towards us. I and […] hid in a nearby field. […] was severely wounded and remained where she was. I saw them [the Germans] approach. Despite her condition, she pleaded with them to leave her alive, but a German immediately pulled out his gun, shot her several times, and kicked her into the pit. At the same time, with the help of some Belarusians, the Germans collected all the children who were wandering around the pit, lined them up, shot them one after another, and immediately threw them into the pit. After the Germans left, the Belarusians remained to cover the pit with earth.