Murder story of Frasin Jews in the Frasin Area

In 1941, during the German-Romanian occupation of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Jews who were being convoyed by Romanian soldiers through the village of Frasin stopped to rest on the outskirts of the village. Although I didn't see the massacre myself, I heard that Jews had been shot beyond Frasin, having been severely abused prior to the shooting. [The following] residents of the village of Frasin took part in the shooting of the Jewish prisoners: Alexei Coval, Vladimir Ciornîi, and Ivan Shtemlyuk, who also stripped the dead Jews of their clothes and shoes.… On the second day after the shooting, [Alexei] Coval threw a party, during which he bragged that he had paid his debt to the Romanians – i.e., he had annihilated the Jews. In 1941, probably in November, I happened to be in… a drinking establishment,… where Alexei Coval was also present. Having drunk a little, he was telling how, together with Vladimir Ciornîi and Ivan Shtemlyuk, he had shot the Jews and stripped their bodies. He took great pleasure in his story, and made fun of Ciornîi and Shtemlyuk, who had received the used clothes [of the victims], while he had taken the best articles for himself. I heard about it personally from Alexei Coval….

In 1941, during the [Romanian] occupation of Bessarabia, a group of Jews being escorted by Romanian soldiers from North Bukovina southward [i.e., into Bessarabia] stopped for the night on the outskirts of the village of Frasin. There, they [some of them] were shot dead. Vladimir Ciornîi also took part in this shooting.… In the morning, as I was walking… from Frasin to my field,… I saw the… Jews, but kept walking toward my workplace [i.e. the field]. However, when I had moved several meters away [from the village], I heard a shot, and then another one. Alexei Coval, Ivan Shtemilyuk, [and] Vladimir Ciornîi stood about 150-200 meters from me, together with two [Romanian] gendarmes. I approached them and asked: "What are you doing?" Alexei Coval told me: "Volodya [Vladimir] Ciornîi and Ivan Shtemilyuk have [each] killed a kike." There were two dead Jews lying near them, A man and a woman. I looked at them and went away, while Alexei Coval, Vladimir Ciornîi, Ivan Shtemilyuk, and the [Romanian] gendarmes remained there….

… In 1941, probably in September or October (I don't remember exactly), Romanian Gendarmerie [men] convoyed Jews through the village of Frasin. On the outskirts of the village, they [the Jews] halted for a rest.… I know that Vladimir Ciornîi [personally] shot the Jews.… [It happened as follows]: In October 1941 (I don't remember the exact date), a column of Jewish prisoners stopped for an overnight stay on the outskirts of the village of Frasin. Early in the morning, I went to work in the field.… As I was passing by the campsite where the Jews had spent the night, I saw that all the Jews were lined up in a column.… However, when I was returning home from the [corn] field about two hours later, there were no Jews there, as they had departed for the village of Scǎieni [?]. When I passed by [the place] where the Jews had stayed overnight, I saw Vladimir Ciornîi shoot a Jewish woman dead. He was in the company of two or three [Romanian] gendarmes. I looked at them and ran home, while Vladimir Ciornîi remained at the shooting site together with those gendarmes. I don't know what they did later.… Vladimir Ciornii shot the woman with a rifle.… I stopped about 150-200 meters from the place where Ciornîi killed this Jewish woman, and I was able to see it clearly: how Ciornîi shot this woman, and how she fell into the pit….

… in August [sic for October] 1941, Vladimir Ciornîi took part in the shooting of Jews who were being transported through the village of Frasin. He personally shot approximately 10 Jews….