Murder Story of Szczuczyn Jews at the Szczuczyn Military Airfield

The 1st platoon of the 12th Company of the 727th Infantry Regiment set forth from Szczuczyn in two captured Russian trucks to search the area for Jews who had fled the town for the countryside and, thus, "to restore order." Private Ernst N. took part in this operation. In 1971 he appeared as a witness at the investigation of Dr. Oskar Ritterbusch, his former platoon commander, that was held by the regional court in Tübingen. An excerpt from his deposition: "In both trucks there were a total of about 15 to 20 Polish Jews who had been rounded up in the village by other soldiers and were to be taken away by us. We thought that those Jews were to be brought to the commandant's office. [However,] when we had traveled two kilometers in the direction of Szczuczyn, the trucks suddenly turned right. After 50 meters we stopped in a nice area. Ritterbusch ordered us to get down [from the trucks]. Then he explained that we had to shoot those Jews, that those Jews had to run away from us in this area and that we had to shoot them from behind. A young Jew, a hunchback, grabbed my arm and began to cry. I said that I could not do anything to help him: "orders are orders" [I said]. … The Jews then ran away from us in this area and were shot by us from a distance of 30-40 meters. When all the Jews had fallen to the ground, we returned to the trucks and left. We did not check to see whether all the Jews were dead."