Murder story of Tavezhnya Jews in the Collective Farm Stables in Tavezhnya

…The German death squad that arrived in the area of the Tavezhnya rural council on February 18, 1942, with the assistance of local auxiliary policemen…, arrested the 75-year-old Mark Moiseevich Ushats, his wife, [his] daughter's 15-year-old [son] Azzya [Izya], [and] the 13-year-old Anya.… [They] were shot in the village of Tavezhnya, in the Sakhnovshchina County, on February 18 and 19, 1942.… After examining the area, the Committee determined that the shooting had been carried out in a pit dug in advance. Prior to the shooting, all the people were taken to a stable, from which they were led out…, half-naked and barefoot, and shot with pistols by the German death squad, with the direct involvement of… local auxiliary policemen….

I lived in the village of Tavezhnya and worked… as a blacksmith during the temporary occupation of… Tavezhnya and the entire Sakhnovshchina County. I remember well how, in February 1942, the German authorities arrested the family of Ivan Dmitrievich Zakharov - his wife, father, and a small child whom I saw carried by her [the wife] - in… the village of Sudykha of the Tavezhnya rural council. The family of Aron Markovich Ushats - his elderly father and mother, his wife, son, daughter, and small child - were arrested in… Tavezhnya. Moreover, while Zakharov’s family was held under arrest, 8-10 Red Army POWs, whose names I do not know, were brought there from the village of Sudykha. All of them - i.e., the Zakharov and Ushats families and the POWs - were shot on the same day, in the… village of Tavezhnya, in a pit dug near the stables….

One day in February 1942, I cannot recall the exact date, I was at home, being ill at the time. I personally saw the Germans transport the following arrestees past my house in a cart: Lina Vasilyevna Zakharova, her mother, father, [and] brother; I did not see her children. There were other citizens whom I did not recognize. Apart from them, the cart was followed by 14 RKKA [Workers' and Peasants' Red Army] prisoners. They were accompanied by two Germans whose names I do not know, having never seen them previously. Apart from these, the escort also included our policemen (i.e., men from our village): the chief of the Tavezhnya rural administration, Evolt [sic] Karlovich Gize [sic]; the policeman Emel Genyk [sic], and the senior policeman Eykl [sic] Gesel [sic]. There were other policemen whose names I no longer recall. In addition to Zakharov’s family and the POWs mentioned above, they were also escorting the family of Aron Markovich Ushats: his father Mark, his mother (whose name I do not know), his wife Vera, his daughter Anya, and his son Izya. All the arrestees were initially taken to a barn at the collective farm and forced to remove their outer garments and shoes - those that were of good quality. Afterward, they were all shot at a pit dug in advance near this barn. I personally watched the shooting of these citizens and POWs from the window of my apartment. The shooting was carried out by two Germans armed with pistols, with a sheep dog standing nearby. The victims were shot both over the pit and inside it. Some of them fell [into the pit] on their own. I saw some of the civilians and POWs being shot while kneeling before the Germans. Most of the civilians and POWs taken out of the barn to be shot were stripped to their underwear. The shooting took place in the daytime, from about 10-11 AM until about 3-4 PM. When all the victims had been shot, their bodies were covered with a thin layer of snow and manure and left in the pit.