Murder Story of Lida Jews at the Former Ammunition Depot in Lida

These are the depots of the KECH (Storage and Maintenance Department). The following incident took place here: Before the war, ammunition (mines, shells, cartridges) for pilots was stored here.… Following the outbreak of war, on June 22 and 23, the area was bombed, and, by the 25th, it was time to flee.… Local sappers were ordered to dynamite the KECH.… On June 25, the whole place blew sky-high… The former depot was turned into a huge crater. Although its depth was frequently exaggerated, it must have been at least 10 meters deep. Imagine the situation: there is a war going on; the village has burned down; its residents have scattered to the winds. On July 3, nine days later, the Germans brought 150 Jews to the lip of this crater and shot them. These were all adult men, the "cream" of Lida society: well-dressed, wealthy individuals who had been seized in the town and taken here. Back then, this area was not part of the town, and it was home only to a military base and a few houses. An old woman told me about the first massacre, of how the victims had been brought here. She was almost 100 years old. I asked her: "Have you been there?" – "I have", she said. I convinced her to take me there. She agreed, and took me to the site, pointing out the exact location with her finger. She tells me that they were all handsome, sharply dressed. I ask how many there were. She says that there was a great lot of them. "More than a thousand?" – "No, fewer" – "More than a hundred?" – "More". According to archival sources, they numbered 151 or 152. I asked her: "And what happened next?" – "Next, I heard nothing; the kerosene stove was lit. It was said that they had been screaming loudly."