Murder story of Zelwa Jews in the Bereżki Forest

On November 2, 1942, the German SS men cordoned Zelva off. Through the “Judendar” [sic for Judenrat], the Jews were told to collect all the necessary things, stock up on food, and go to the railway station. The Germans said that they would be relocated to another place. Believing in this, they [the Jews] rushed to their hideouts and vegetable gardens. They dug up their hidden goods; carried bundles and sacks, and pushed carts.... Several infirm and sick Jews, who could not get to the station on their own, were shot by the SS. At the railway station, everything was taken away from the Jews, and they were herded into boxcars. The train headed west. On this train, there was a Jewish boy named Henach, who used to graze the cows with us. During the pogrom, he wanted to hide and asked his employer for shelter, but the latter chickened out.

In July 1941, some twenty Nazi SS officers arrived, and they ordered all the adult Jewish men to gather in the center of town, and to line up. In front of them, they raped a young woman, and then gave her twenty-four lashes. This scene was terrifying, and it left a very deep impression. The SS chief declared that, if the Jews followed all the orders of the head of the community, they would not be beaten, and he immediately requested that all the teachers, accountants, rabbis, and anyone with an education, step out of the line. In response to the question 'Why?', he answered: 'To do intellectual work.' They were taken to the Bereżki Forest and shot.