Murder Story of Minsk Jews in Jubilee Square in Minsk

…A terrible noise arose in the ghetto in the morning of March 2, 1942. The house in which we were living, and in which the Judenrat had its offices, began to fill up with people nervously pacing back and forth. There was deep fear in their eyes […] 9 AM. The fear is increasing with every minute. The rumor about the impending arrival of SS men and Ukrainians at 10 AM is spreading like wildfire through the ghetto. Only the men are at risk from the raid. The entire ghetto was sealed. Thousands of Jews were lined up at the Arbeitsamt [Labor Exchange], waiting for the German order to go to work at 7 AM. Armed German soldiers were positioned behind the barbed wire surrounding the ghetto. Exactly at 10 AM, SS men and Ukrainians entered the ghetto. Wearing helmets and armed with submachine guns, they quickly reached the square where the Judenrat was located. The order was given, and they fanned out through the ghetto. The machine gunners were stationed in Jubilee Square. The Jews standing at the Arbeitsamt were taken to this square, too. Then, a selection took place. Those not having a work pass were put aside. The rest were lined up again and ordered to go to work. When the selection was over, the murder operation itself began. The ghetto streets were emptied. The Germans broke down doors and smashed windows, dragging the Jews out and taking them to Jubilee Square. Those who tried to resist were shot on the spot…. The Germans intended to gather ten thousand Jews by noon, but this proved impossible, since all the men had hidden in bunkers, and were hard to find. Then, the Germans went ahead with the mass annihilation. The employees of the ghetto workshops; the hospital patients, together with the medical staff; the children from the orphanage – all those caught by the Nazis were shot. Within an hour, the streets, houses, and yards were piled up with the bodies of women, children, and elderly. The severely wounded were lying among them in pools of blood. The ghetto air was filled with horrible cries, pleas for help, and the moans of the dying. But there was no mercy for the unfortunate wretches. The Germans, accompanied by dogs and policemen, searched the houses, peeking into every cellar and storeroom, climbing up to the roofs, and breaking the floorboards in their search for hidden Jews. Those who were discovered were killed on the spot…. The bodies were piled up in Jubilee Square. Bursts of submachine gun fire greeted the wounded who tried to raise their heads and call for help. After the massacre, Jubilee Square was surrounded by a ring of flames: The Germans had set fire to the buildings around it. At 6 PM, the murderers left the bleeding ghetto….

…At the former Oktyabr Factory, the Jewish workers were separated from the Gentiles. The Jews worked on one half of the shop floor, walled off from the other half of the shop. Even the toilets were divided – for Jews and for non-Jews. The following event occurred at the factory: twelve Jewish women were working to clean up the yard. The Germans did not like the way they were working. They took away their work papers and told them not to show up anymore. The women, however, decided to ask to be allowed to stay on the job. Then a report was sent to the Gestapo claiming that the women were being careless about their work. The next day, Gestapo agents showed up and took them off to jail. They kept the women there for two weeks. Then they put them in a truck and took them to the ghetto in Yubileynaya [Jubilee] Square. The women were overjoyed. They thought that they were being allowed to go home. But this is what happened: the Germans chased everyone out of their homes and into the square. When the square had filled with people, a man from the Gestapo got on the truck and said: "Before you are twelve women. For malingering and refusal to work, they will be shot immediately before your eyes." One of the Jews was forced to blindfold them. They shot them, firing explosive rounds into their heads….

Some time passed, I do not remembered the exact date. There was panic and noise [arose] – everybody was being driven to Jubilee Square. There was a Jubilee Market there. They brought out about 15 persons, including my aunt and a cousin. They had to stand up before the crowd. An order was read out, and they were shot for having ties with the partisans. Somebody must have betrayed them….