Murder story of Lwow Jews in the Lwów City Invasion Pogrom

On July 1, 1941 I saw, from my apartment on Jagiellonska Street, No. 20/22, Ukrainians clubbing and whipping Jews. From the blue-yellow bands on their left arms and from the Ukrainian curses they hurled at the Jews I concluded that they [the perpetrators] were Ukrainians. They hit the Jews on the head and the back and kicked them in the stomach and, when a Jew fell to the ground, they kicked him with their boots. Many of them [the Jews] were covered with blood and when one of those who had fallen stood up, they continued to hit him and chase him along Kollatai Street, which led to the Brygidki criminal prison. Men, women and old and young people were beaten.... I saw from the window of my apartment an old Jew who fell to the ground near Kosciuszko Street, apparently either dead or unconscious.... The hooligans not only beat Jews on the street but also drove them from their apartments. One could see how they forced the Jews out of the homes. The murderers closed the entrance gates of houses where the Jews might have found refuge. The pogrom lasted for several hours; at 3 in the afternoon things quieted down....

…In early July [1941] a pogrom broke out and innocent Jews fell victim to the mob unleashed against the Jews, "the accursed traitors." It was claimed that, before leaving the city, the Soviets murdered inmates of the city's prisons. The malicious rumor was spread that it was Jewish communists who were the murderers. This was enough for the Ukrainian mob, which came from villages surrounding Lwów to beat and to murder the Jews. They caught the Jews on the street or entered houses in mainly Jewish neighborhoods, abusing everyone they caught. The inflamed mob took some of those they caught to prisons -- to take out and bury the bodies of those murdered by the Soviets before leaving. After they [the Jews] finished this humiliating task, they were murdered by the criminals. The chief Reform rabbi in the city, Yehezkiel Lewin, went to the local religious figure, the Metropolitan Sheptytsky, to plead for his help to stop the pogrom. The Rabbi asked my grandfather, aware of his friendship with Sheptytsky, to accompany him. Of course my grandfather agreed. Sheptytsky's response was positive and, furthermore, Sheptytsky offered them the opportunity to stay with him until the terror passed and the pogrom ended. However, the rabbi replied: "I came [here] in the name of [my] community and I should return to them despite the fact that I am well aware of the danger facing any Jews out on the streets of the city." On his way home the rabbi was caught by an angry mob and taken to the Brygidki prison, where he was murdered. My grandfather, who was with him, also did not return home....