Murder Story of Cepelauți Jews at the Cepeleuți State Mill Dam

I don't remember the exact date, but sometime in July 1941, after the retreat of the Soviet army and the takeover of our town by the [Romanian] occupiers, I was in the nearby settlement of Hincǎuți, in the home of my mother-in-law. Since I was suffering from a respiratory ailment, I went from there to the hospital in the town of Cepeleuți, where I met Anna Kharabar, a resident of our village of Rotunda. On that day, the hospital was closed down, because the doctors who worked there were being repressed by the occupying [Romanian] authorities because of their Jewishness. Since I could not get any medical help, I went into the street together with [Anna] Kharabar. There, we learned from residents of Cepeleuți that the Jewish residents [of Cepeleuți] would be shot on that very day on the outskirts of the town, in the [state] mill square. Many people were heading there. Kharabar and I also went [there], wishing to see for ourselves what was going on. As we reached the Cepeleuți mill square, I recognized my fellow townsmen Vasiliy Kordelyan and Kalistrat Miron [the Mayor of Rotunda]… among the group of collaborators and traitors. They were all armed with… rifles. At that time, the group of people from the town of Cepeleuți were standing a little way off, [while] the squad of traitors and collaborators recruited from the local population [of Cepeleuți] and from the surrounding settlements were standing about 5 meters from the crowd of Jewish detainees, who were facing away from the people and from those about to shoot them. I don't know the exact number [of Jews] who were there, I can only say that there were many of them – men and women, children and elderly. Then, the traitors opened fire, and the Jews began to drop. At that time, I personally saw Vasiliy Kordelyan and Kalistrat Miron, together with other traitors and collaborators, aiming their weapons at the Jews and shooting them. After witnessing the mass shooting of the Jews, I became very frightened, while Anna Kharabar, who was present with me [at the murder site], fainted. I helped her back to her feet, and the two of us went home to the village of Rotunda. I cannot tell what happened [at the murder site] after that point, because I did not see it.… Apparently, Vasilyi Kordelyan had noticed us at the killing site of the Jewish residents [of Cepeleuți], [because], three days afterward [i.e. after the shooting], when he met me in the street, he threatened to kill me if I were to tell anyone about the crime he had committed….

… In 1941 - I do not remember the exact date or month - following the occupation of our village of Rotunda [by Romanian forces], I fell ill and went to the town of Cepeleuți… to receive injections … at the Cepeleuți hospital, which I had visited several times previously. Upon arriving at the hospital, I met … Anna Andronik, a [fellow] resident of Rotunda. I learned [from her] that the hospital was closed down and that there were no physicians on duty, since those Jewish doctors who used to work at the hospital were now being persecuted by the occupying authorities. Then, I went out into the street together with [Anna] Andronik. There, we heard from residents of the town of Cepeleuți… that the Jewish residents would be shot on the outskirts of the town, on the grounds of the [state] mill. Since the shooting site lay on the way to Rotunda, [Anna] Andronik and I decided to go there and see for ourselves what was going on. When we reached the site, I recognized our fellow townspeople, [two of whom were] … Vasiliy Kordelyan and Miron Kalistrat, who were armed with … rifles, and stood at a distance of about 5 meters from the Jewish crowd. At that time, the abovementioned residents of Rotunda, together with some others, carried out a shooting of the Jews - who, together with the children, numbered about 50-60 persons.… When Miron, Kordelyan, and the others had opened fire on the Jews, I fainted.… [Anna] Andronik helped me to my feet, and I went home with her. I don't know what went on [at the killing site] afterward….

In the summer of 1941, the defendant Kordelyan… showed up at the municipality building of the village of Rotunda, where he was given a rifle, and some ammunition for it, by the [municipality] chief, [Kalistrat] Razlog. Then, together with K. Miron and other traitors, he traveled by cart to the neighboring town of Cepeleuți, to take part in the reprisal against Soviet civilians [i.e. Jews]. Upon arriving in Cepeleuți on the same day, the defendant Kordelyan showed up in the square of the [state] mill, where the shooting of the Soviet civilians was about to take place. At the time of Kordelyan's arrival, there was a group of 20-30 Jewish Soviet civilians – including men, women, elderly people, and children – in the square. Nearby, there was [also] a squad of killers – about 15 men armed with rifles. This group of executioners, one of whose members was the defendant Kordelyan, carried out a brutal reprisal/massacre against the Soviet civilians – a total of 30 people were shot.

In July 1941, sometime after the Red Army's retreat [from the village], on a Sunday, the municipal chief of Rotunda, Kalistrat Razlog, came to my house… [and] took me to the village municipality building. When we arrived there, [Kalistrat] Razlog ordered an empty bucket to be hung on a pole, and [people] began to shoot at it. I, too, took a shot at the bucket with the rifle that Razlog had given me.… At that time, two persons from the nearby town of Cepeleuți, who were unknown to me, ran into the building. In my presence, they addressed the municipal chief Razlog, asking him for weapons and aid in the reprisals against the Jews of their town. After hearing them out, Razlog took two rifles from the municipality and gave them to the men. Afterward, municipal chief Razlog turned to the assembled people, saying that those wishing to go out and annihilate the Jews should step up.… The first volunteers were Gavril Veremchuk… Vasilyi Kordelyan [and some others].… Apparently, [together with] Razlog…, they went to the town of Cepeleuți.… Late that night, from my yard, I observed the abovementioned persons returning from the town of Cepeleuți on the same cart. It was loaded with a large amount of Jewish property that they had looted.… Vasiliy Kordelyan was a relative of mine, being married to my sister Yelizaveta.… Several days after that incident, my sister Yelizaveta came to me… telling me that her husband, together with some others, had gone to the town of Cepeleuți, where Jewish residents had been shot. From a conversation with her husband, she had learned that, as he was about to shoot one Jewish woman, Vasiliyi Kordelian had wanted to take her child away to be raised by him. However, when the woman refused to hand the child over to him, he shot her together with the child. She also told me that, after the shooting of the Jews, her husband… had brought home a sack of barley and a suit that used to belong to a Jew from the town of Cepeleuți. From that suit, they made a coat for their daughter….

During the first days of the Romanian occupation, when the Romanian Army was about to enter the town, I sat at home and refrained from going out. I [only] heard gunfire coming from the pile of garbage behind the [state] mill, but I did not know who was doing the shooting. Two days later, shortly after the Romanian Army had passed [through the town], I went out into my yard and saw the bodies of the victims behind the mill.… [Together with some others,] I went inside the [area of the] mill, to see what was going on and whether everything was intact. Shortly afterward, I heard a woman crying. I went toward the fence in the courtyard of the mill and saw Dmitriy Gontza, who was armed and leading two women, one man, and a child. One of the women was crying and saying to Gontza: "Today you kill us, but the time will come when you are killed [in turn]". Gontza ignored the cries [of the woman] and led them to the spot where the bodies of the Soviet civilians already lay. The man and the woman were holding the child by its hands. As they approached the shooting site, they began to kiss the child (probably realizing that they were going to be shot) and bid it farewell. Unable to bear the sight, I moved away from the fence, and only heard several shots. Gontza had shot them [all] dead….