Murder story of Hoszcza Jews in the Hoszcza Area

… We worked [on the construction of bridges over the Horyn River] until 10 AM, when, suddenly, the [German] authorities appeared, and with them soldiers whose faces and expressions were like a living grave, like the angel of death. They were dressed in grey uniforms like snakes, with iron helmets on their heads, bullets in their belts and guns in their hands. Soon they began to shout for all Jews to assemble. When we had gathered, in deadly terror, they chose ten men from among us and commanded them to get into an automobile, and away they went. Panic broke out among us. All kinds of opinions were expressed. Some said that they had been taken to better work in town. Others suggested that they had been taken to another town for work. In any case, we all agreed that they were better off than we – for, plain and simple, they had been taken out of hell! There was no distinction between our work and hell. But what was the result? A day later, we discovered that it was true, they HAD been taken from our hell and were dispatched right into Paradise! How could we then continue our work? Each minute, each of us expected a similar fate to befall us. Not only did they kill another ten men, but they might kill all of us, send all of us to the "other world"….

…[One day in July 1941], ten of the most prominent residents of Hosht [Hoszcza] were taken, and there were [initial] rumors that they were alive and working somewhere. However, shortly thereafter we learned that they had been killed on the outskirts of Hosht. I don't think we knew the location of the graves, but we had an idea of where they had died. It was not just the Nazis, the SS [unit], that did it, but the Ukrainian [auxiliary police], as well – because [the policemen knew that], if the prominent Jews were to survive, they would punish them [the Ukrainian policemen] after the war, and so they made sure that none of them [the 10 Jews] remained alive….