Murder story of Kostopol Jews in the Chotenka Forest

…Two days later, there was unrest in the Kostopol Ghetto, which was adjacent to… the [labor] camp. And we were told that there were some pits [mass graves] that remained open, and [people] began to think that they were meant for the [Jewish] people of Kostopol, for the ghetto [inmates]…; that there were some additional pits left for the remaining people of Kostopol. And the German commandant of Kostopol [i.e., District Commissar Heinz Löhnert] promised that nothing would be done to his Jews, to the Jews of Kostopol, and he permitted the Judenrat to send people to cover the empty pits on Sunday, the day when [the people] were taken to work [i.e., forced labor]. And I, too, went [to the pits], along with another 10 people from our [labor] camp…. And we arrived there. And when we did, as soon as we reached the pits, we saw that the path from the railway station to the pits [was strewn with] … clothes, shredded paper money, and even passports with photos [of the victims]. We saw two and a half empty pits. The remaining pits – there were another 3.5 pits – were full [of human bodies]. They were covered with soil and with some white substance, probably lime, and the… blood could be seen from above [the pits], gushing out of those pits. A Rabbi from Kostopol was among us, and he placed a [piece of] wood in the middle of the pit….saying that this would be a sign, marking the place from which we should retrieve the bones [of the victims].… The pits [had been dug] in such a way that there was an entrance [into the pit] from one side – the victims entered [the pit]… alone. We saw the traces of the people, of the children who had entered the pits. Near each pit, there was a long pole. [Rudolf] Guenther [Deputy District Commissar] himself was standing near the pits… and directing [the victims], telling the people where they should enter [the pit] and where they should sit [i.e., lie down]….