Murder story of Minsk Jews in the Minsk City Prison

…At the end of April 1943, Ribbe requested lists of the doctors. A few days later a new order was issued: all the doctors were to appear at the Judenrat. From there they were taken to the Gestapo headquarters. Ribbe pointed out to Epstein [last head of the Judenrat] that there were elderly persons among the doctors, such as Dr. Gekhman and Doctor Kantsevy (she was disabled and limped). He asked Epstein to take special care of them and lead them through the town to make sure that they did not overtire themselves and fall behind. Everyone was amazed by such concern on the part of this monster-amazed and frightened. Ribbe ordered the doctors to appear at the Jewish labor exchange at 4:00 PM. The doctors arrived to find Ribbe and Michelson already waiting for them. The doctors were quickly divided into groups - the elderly (Gekhman and the two women doctors, Shmotkin and Kantsevy); pediatricians (Savchik and Lev); doctors from the orphanage; doctors from the home for the disabled. A large number of specialists in internal diseases, dentists, and ear specialists were led to the site. The selected doctors were taken to the bunker which housed the labor exchange. As soon as it became dark, their families were sent for. Among those brought in were Lev-Mlynsky (a historian and scholar) and his two children, Dr. Shmotkin's son, Dr. Savchik's three children - in all, approximately 100 people. Bunge and Scherner arrived about 5 A.M., before the workers' columns left. They brought with them a group of policemen and took the column to prison. There they stripped them of their clothes, beat them, and killed them. When the doomed doctors and their families were being led to the prison, Dr. Savchik' twelve-year-old daughter shouted: "It's all right, Momma, walk bravely. Our blood will be avenged."

…Ribbe began to occupy himself with the German Jews. He used to say to them: "What kind of work do you do? If it's too hard, we'll send you to a camp to peel potatoes." There were naive people who believed that Ribbe really would give them an easy job. They asked for permission to take members of their families with them to the camp. Ribbe granted permission: I don't believe in separating people who are close to each other." At 2:00 PM, he came to Epstein's, had dinner, drank vodka and wine, and then went out into the yard to order his underlings to get ready for the operation… Ribbe... went with his unit to the ghetto for German Jews. Ten minutes later, a crowd of people with children, bundles, and packages were locked in the bunker. A few minutes after that, a large closed truck drove up, and they began to put people in it and haul them off to prison. There was a deadly silence. In the prison, Richter and Menschel received the German Jews. They stripped the doomed people, hosed them down with water, mocked them, and then shot them. 175 people were murdered on this occasion….