Murder Story of Dobrush Jews at the Dobrush Machine Tractor Station

In the last days of October [1941]… all the Jewish civilians were relocated to two barracks at the MTS [Machine Tractor Station]…. I cannot say how many there were – but, according to rumors, they numbered at least 125, including women and elderly individuals. The children outnumbered the adults. The policemen assured the Jews that they would all be taken to Palestine. They were held in the barracks until November 21, 1941. During the last days, the barracks were guarded by the policemen, and nobody was allowed in or out. In the morning of November 21, 1941, all the Jewish civilians were taken from the barracks to one of the MTS barns. On November 17, 1941… 19 Communists were arrested in Dobrush. In the morning of November 21, 1941, near the prison [where the Communists were held], there were rumors that those 19 detainees would be shot together with the Jewish residents who had already been forced into the MTS barn. The MTS village lies about 3 kilometers from the prison. I ran there, but the MTS neighborhood had been cordoned off by policemen, who were keeping all outsiders at a distance of 50 meters from the execution site. While approaching the village, I saw that the arrestees [the Communists] had been unloaded from the trucks and arranged in rows of three each. Across from the arrestees, at a distance of 40 meters, the Jewish women stood with the children. I did not see any Jewish men there, because it was hard to get closer. Besides, the Jewish women were screaming and shouting so loudly that it was difficult to concentrate and watch the scene.… After that [the shooting of the Communists], the German executioner emerged from the grave and, standing on its lip, began to shoot the women, who were then thrown into the grave by the policemen. The German executioner stabbed the children with bowie knives and threw them into the pit half-dead. One detail of this horrible scene has stuck with me: The first family was the Aronchiks – a husband, a wife, and their four children. Basya Aronchick was a young woman aged 30-32. She was holding an infant of about two years; another child, a boy, was following her, crying and holding on tightly to her skirt. The two elder boys, of school age, were walking next to her. One of them addressed the judge […], who was present there, and began to beg: "Sir [Uncle], kind sir, you know me. Sir [Uncle], dear sir, have mercy on me, I want to live; you know me, I used to share a desk with your son at school; I've done no harm to anyone. Spare me!" At that moment, a policeman, I do not remember who exactly, grabbed him and threw him into the grave, and shots rang out afterward. I could not bear to stand there anymore, and stepped backward, but then I returned and resumed watching. The German executioner was massacring the innocent children and women in cold blood, as though he were slaughtering animals. Two German officers were standing nearby, with a German interpreter and local collaborators…. They seemed indifferent, as though they were watching a soccer match, and they kept up a conversation throughout the massacre. They ordered the policemen to shoo the locals [apparently, away from the pit]. They forced the women to strip naked and searched them for valuables….