Murder Story of Klewań Jews at the Klewań Synagogue

…In the first days of July 1941, the German-Fascist monsters occupied the Klewań region and the town of Klewań. From the first day, they began the mass annihilation of the civilians, and the Jews in particular. On the first day, they shot some 150 people near the prayer house (synagogue). On that day, I was sitting near the residence of Andrei Serdtsov, from where one had a good view of the prayer house (synagogue). On the first day of their occupation of the town, before nightfall, the Germans rounded up as many as 200 Jewish civilians and herded them at gunpoint toward the prayer house (synagogue). Thus, some of them [the Jews] entered the synagogue building, while others [stood] near it. The German soldiers opened fire on those standing near the synagogue, with rifles and machine guns; there was terrible gunfire, volley after volley, and the residents who were being shot began to scream horribly. Unable to bear this dreadful sight, I walked into the house…. On the second day, I learned that the Germans had shot as many as 150 people near the synagogue, and up to 50-60 [Jews] inside the synagogue. The bodies of the victims lay unburied for 7-8 days, and only when the stench became so unbearable that one couldn’t walk [nearby] did the Germans allow them to be buried. The bodies of those who had been shot inside the synagogue were burned several days later, and the synagogue building itself was burned down, as well. The bodies of those killed near the synagogue were buried by the site where the shooting had taken place….

The German-Fascists occupied the Klewań region on July 5 [sic for July 3], 1941, and on that very day they began to annihilate the civilian population. Thus, they rounded up some 200 people – men, women, elderly people, and children – from Klewań N. 1, herded them into the Jewish prayer house [i.e., the synagogue], shut the gates tightly, poured gasoline on the building, and burned it down with the people inside. On the second day, I watched the fire from the village of Smortyova. On the third day, I approached the site and saw the burned bodies of some 200 people, left after the conflagration. The bodies lay there unburied for another three days. They began to stink, so the German military unit forced the [Jewish] civilian population to cover the burned bodies. They were covered with earth on the spot….

…In early July 1941, German-Fascist troops occupied the town of Klewań…, and from that day they began the annihilation of the civilians. I personally didn’t see the Germans shoot the civilians. On the second day of the German occupation of the town of Klewań, I walked toward the synagogue building… in order to bring glass for the windows. When I entered the synagogue, I saw a great number of shot civilians, some 50-60 bodies. I immediately turned back, and did not enter [the synagogue] again. On the second or third day, the Germans doused the synagogue with gasoline and set it on fire together with the bodies….

…On the second day of the German occupation [of Klewań], I was standing near the little church in the town of Klewań, from where I had a perfect view of the Jewish prayer house, the “synagogue”. On that day, the Germans had rounded up some 200 Jews, taken them to the prayer house, and herded some of them, about 50 people, into the synagogue. They locked the door firmly, poured gasoline on the building, and set it on fire together with those Jews. The remaining 150 people, who were standing near the synagogue, were gunned down by the Germans, who used machine guns. Dimitrii Kovalchuk, who stood by my side and watched this, can confirm my words. When the shooting was over, the Germans walked away from the bodies of the Jews, while Dimitrii Kovalchuk and I approached this dreadful place. The bodies were lying in a heap, and there were elderly people, women, and children – and even nursing infants – among them. It was impossible to get near these dead Jews, since the Germans would shoot anyone [who approached the bodies]….

…The Germans [also] carried out a mass shooting near the [Jewish] prayer house, [called] the “synagogue”. Passing by this building, I saw the civilians who had been shot by the Germans lying near it; there were nursing infants among them. Some 150 bodies, or maybe even more, lay near the synagogue. The Germans did not allow the dead civilians – i.e., their bodies – to be removed for a long time. Finally, when the stench [from the bodies] became so strong that it was impossible to pass near them, [the Germans] forced [the Jews] to cover them. I watched the Germans round up the remaining Jews and force them… to bury the bodies of the shot civilians….

…Furthermore, I know that, on July 2, 1941, the German army of SS men [sic] rounded up 50 male [Jewish] residents [of Klewań], locked them in the synagogue, and torched the building with the living civilians [inside it]. This [fact] can be confirmed by Iosif Teitelman….