Murder Story of Kurzeniec Jews in the Forest on Kasucka Street in Kurzeniec

Yente's first husband, Velvel Rudnitskii, was drafted by the Germans to dig graves for the Jews of Kurzeniec, and was later shot himself. Yente, together with the other Jews, was escorted to the killing site. She later recalled: "We reached the Mikulan Forest. At the edge of the forest, we were ordered to stop and stand inside a trench. All of a sudden, we noticed a clearing in the forest, and we could see our husbands there, with shovels in their hands. We saw that they were barefoot and stripped to their underwear. Their clothes were piled at the edge of the clearing, and their shoes and boots were arranged neatly in pairs. At that moment, I realized that our loved ones were digging two graves, one for themselves and one for us, their wives and children! We stood at the edge of the forest until the digging was done. Then the soldiers ordered us to approach the trenches and stand about fifty meters from our beloved husbands. We were ordered to look straight at them. The soldiers arranged our husbands in a line with their backs to us. The killers kept running back and forth, straightening the line. Behind each person stood a policeman with a rifle, and in front of the policemen stood a German with a machine gun, which was pointed at the line of men. Suddenly, we heard a whistle blown, and the sound of rifle and machine gun fire filled the forest. At that moment, a wind blew through the trees. Everything began to shake, and our dear husbands, the fathers of our tender children, fell like broken trees. The horrified cries of women and children tore the forest to shreds…. A few minutes passed, and the gentiles that stood in the surrounding area covered our loved ones with soil. The soldiers made us stand in line to take us to the killing site. At the edge of the woods stood a gentile with a horse and a cart, ready to take our clothes. I approached him and said, "Take the baby, so that he will live." The gentile started laughing, and scoffed, "Ha, ha, ha, a Jewish baby! That garbage has to be burned, so that no memory is left of you…" The whistle shivered through the woods a second time. The policemen put us – the women and children, and me too – in one line. The officer ordered us to take off our clothes and pile them in one place. …I held my baby tightly. I took off my coat and tossed it onto the heap that was growing by the moment. Once more the order came: "Stand straight in a line!" The cries of women shook the forest. My heart was like a stone, and I was unable to cry. I pressed my baby to my bosom, digging into his chest with my fingers. I hoped that, as we died, we would fall pressed to one another, so that, when the Jews of our town found us, they would recognize us and bury us together in a Jewish grave, since I was the only mother with a small baby. The killers were busy straightening the line. I looked at the sky and asked God for a miracle. I looked back and saw the killers with their rifles pointed at us. I closed my eyes and acknowledged to myself that all hope was lost. …They were ready to shoot and the officer was just about to give the sign, when a policeman came running towards him.… The policeman pleaded with the officer, explaining that he knew me well, that I was a good woman and that I wasn't a communist. The officer gave up and let me leave the line.... The policeman approached me with another man, a Russian POW who had stayed in town. They patted me on the shoulder, congratulating me, "Yente, you are released. Get out of line…" Minka [a non-Jewish neighbor] said, "Go home quickly. I'll tell you how you were saved later." I couldn't move.... The officer came over to "comfort" me. "Don't cry," said the bloody killer. "I release you for now, but don't you ever marry a communist again!"