Murder Story of Jeremicze Jews on the Bank of the Neman River in Jeremicze

I was born here. The village was home to many Jews. 97 persons were shot on November 4, 1941. They massacred all the remaining Jews. …On November 4, the Russians celebrated the day of the icon of the Holy Lady of Kazan. Two covered vehicles drove up to the church. In those days, there was no park there. All the Jews were ordered to come out of the ghetto. They were allowed to take only the necessities, and had to throw them into the car. This done, they were ordered to line up for an inspection. During this inspection, they had to face the Neman, rather than Turzec. They were divided into groups of four and counted. Immediately afterward, they were surrounded by collaborationist policemen and Germans with dogs. We came out to bid them farewell. They were told that they would be taken to Świerżeń to work. They Jews looked so happy. We were standing by the house. Our neighbor Raisa came running up. They were looking forward to being sent off to work. But this was not to be. Instantly, they were surrounded and herded toward the Neman on foot. A large pit had been dug beyond the village. We became crestfallen, realizing where they had been taken. Imagine it: women, children, elderly people – each of the three groups being killed separately. Try to visualize this atrocity, this horrific picture, the children being forced to watch the deaths of their loved ones. They would line up 10 people and shoot them with a machine gun. The people would drop down. They murdered everyone, and then covered the grave. It went on breathing for another three days. The sand above the pit would rise and fall regularly. On the next day, an auction was held. All of the property of the Jewish inmates of both ghettos was rolled up into bundles. The German auctioneers asked who would pay more marks for each bundle, while we, the children, were running underfoot. And there were lots and lots of photographs of this ghetto!.. We collected those photographs. They were plentiful, but our family lived through four house fires, and our stock of photographs went up in flames. Only locals showed up to buy the bundles. But the most valuable items had been confiscated prior to that. They [the Germans] had done away with the Jews and finished their atrocities by lunchtime. That very evening, the collaborationist policemen and all of the Germans' henchmen were busy looting the pillows, and all other valuables, from the ghetto. The remaining property was bundled up. The Germans also took part in the looting....