Murder Story of Dzisna Jews in Ościewicze

I can vividly recall that miserable day, June 14. I was nineteen years old. It was a lovely summer morning. Besides, it was Sunday. As always, my mother got up early and drove the cow out. We lived on Głębokie Street, which has since been renamed Smirnov Street. There were Jewish families living nearby…. It seems to me that, even today, I shudder at the recollection of my mother's cry on that day: ‘Get up quickly. The fascists are up to some mischief!’ Soon, shots were heard in the street. Looking out the window, I saw many men from a punitive squad, who were driving a crowd of Jews. When someone tried to escape from the crowd, shots rang out. And then there was an execution in Ostsevichi. A deep ditch had been dug there in advance. A plank was placed across it. The site was surrounded by Germans and policemen. The men were separated from the women. They were forced to undress. Five people were ordered to stand on the plank placed across the pit. A machine-gun volley was heard, and the bodies of the people fell into the pit."

On June 15, 1942, the Nazis began the liquidation of the Dzisna Ghetto. The Jews sensed that the "aktion" was imminent. They decided to set up a guard at every house, so as not to be taken by surprise by the murderers, and be able to escape. In every house, some gasoline was prepared to set the structure on fire, to prevent Jewish property from falling into the hands of the Nazis. Early in the morning on Monday, the 1st of Tammuz, at 4 AM, the [Jewish] guards awakened all the [ghetto] inmates. The policemen and the Germans had surrounded the ghetto. I burst out into the courtyard, and could see that the policemen and Germans were encircling the ghetto from two sides. Some of them went down to the bank of the Dzisna River, while others marched along Głębokie Street. A great panic gripped the inmates. People were rushing about in their underwear, having gotten up suddenly from their beds. I broke out of the ghetto under cover of darkness. We ran in the direction of the village of Moniakovo [southeast], trying to break out of the encirclement. I was running and shouting ‘Yidn, antleift!’ – ‘Jews, run away!’ […] Suddenly, a hail of bullets rained down upon us. One of us, Mulie Kats, was wounded in the leg, but kept running.… When we reached a nearby grove, we turned back to look at the ghetto and saw that it was burning – the Jews had set it on fire with their own hands.