Murder story of Kolomyja Jews in the Szeparowce Forest

On “Hoshana Raba” of 1941, the first murder operation took place. The Germans set fire to the synagogue (di hoyche szyl) – a beautiful, ancient prayer house. Jews were seized in the streets and dragged out of their apartments, and were then taken to the prison…. A great number of them were taken away, I do not know exactly how many. They were driven in vehicles to the “Szeparowce” forest, some 6 km from the town. They were ordered to dig graves. The Jews stood over the graves; the Germans shot them, and they fell into the graves. During the roundups, Ukrainians helped [the Germans], pointing out the Jews to them.… In January 1942, using the Judenrat’s census of Jews, the Germans, together with the Ukrainians, went through the [Jewish] apartments and dragged out the members of the intelligentsia and the wealthiest Jews. They took all of them to the “Szeparowce” forest, stripped them naked, and killed them.…

…Suddenly, there was a new bolt out of the blue sky. The Germans were searching for a young Jew who had served as a policeman under Soviet rule. The Ukrainians finally discovered a living criminal, who had been unable – or possibly unwilling – to evacuate with the retreating Soviets after the outbreak of war. The dilapidated shack of the old woman, the grandmother [of the wanted person], was searched thoroughly from top to bottom. The “criminal” was hiding somewhere, and there was no way to find him. However, the Germans were not going to deny themselves this pleasure. They informed the Judenrat that, if the aforementioned person were not delivered to the Gestapo by 2 PM, they would search for him themselves. That was an explicit promise of a new murder operation. The Jews were gripped by panic. A Judenrat delegation came to the hut on Mokra Street. A crowd of people surrounded the residence of the eighty-year-old woman, demanding that one life be sacrificed to save the lives of hundreds of mothers, fathers, and children. The poor old woman was crying and moaning, ready to give her own life. She swore that she had no idea where her grandson was hiding. All the arguments and bickering were cut short by the news that the Germans were coming to Mokra Street with tracking dogs and Ukrainian policemen. In a heartbeat, Mokra Street became empty. The people were running into the old shacks, which were falling apart from decrepitude (It was the poorest section of the city). They were seeking shelter in cellars, attics, and various niches of the… buildings. Children were crying; babies were squealing, and the tracking dogs were barking wildly. SS men and Ukrainians were dragging the wailing women by the hair. The trained dogs were spotting the hidden people. People were being shot on the spot for the least sign of resistance. In an hour, the whole street was littered with dead bodies, and two hours later all the survivors were taken away to the prison by the SS men, under a hail of blows and shouts. Mokra ['wet' in Polish] Street was now wet with human blood. Mokra Street was no more. No one knew whether the former Soviet policeman had been found…. The Germans found another pretext for the slaughter. Szeparowce Forest "gained" another mass grave, filled with the former residents of Mokra Street…. On the very night after the murder operation on Mokra Street, a half-crazed eighteen-year-old boy, from whom initially no word could be extracted, showed up at the small Jewish hospital (set up by the Judenrat in the former house of an elderly person on Copernicus Street). Two days later, when I visited my brother-in-law, who was being treated there, the manager of the hospital, Dr. Zeyger, a good acquaintance of mine, invited me to his office. He looked at me for a long time with compassion, as if hesitating whether he could trust me. In the end, he began to tell me what was happening in Szeparowce. The boy, who had dragged himself to the hospital in the dead of the night, told the following: “Half-dead from the cold, we were dragged into the forest in the night. We were ordered to dig graves by lantern light. Later, we had our clothes ripped off our bodies, and were then ordered to dance naked to the tunes of a harmonica played by the Ukrainians. Afterward, we were subjected to a drill: “Stand up, lie down, run, gallop!” When the murderers had feasted their eyes on the sight of bleeding, naked flesh, they ordered us to stand, facing the open graves, and the shooting began. The bodies, some of them still half-alive, started falling into the graves. I fell into the grave intact, feeling a mass of warm dead bodies on top of me. From far off, I heard the Germans order the Ukrainians to bury the graves. I was petrified at the thought of being buried alive, so I began to twist slowly, trying to free myself of the mass of bodies thrown over me. I wanted to get out at any cost. I had no thought of escape; I did not believe in it. I only wanted the Germans to shoot me and not to be buried alive. After a long time, when I managed to crawl out, I noticed that there were no Germans there anymore; the dead drunk Ukrainians were preoccupied with digging through the Jews' clothes, tearing the linings in search of Jewish gold. They did not look back at the graves. Silently, almost soundlessly, I crawled into the nearby bushes. I waited there until the Ukrainians buried the graves and left for the city in their trucks that had brought us there. Under cover of darkness, I began to run like crazy…, and now I am here.”

…During Sukkot, the day of Hoshana Raba, October 12, 1941, was a Sunday. I went to visit our Christian acquaintances. My father was already there. I think they bought foodstuffs for themselves and for us, and my father wanted to help them put the food in storage. I left, and, as I was passing through the center of town, I saw a group of Jewish women walking, apparently from the synagogue. And I saw that the Ukrainians were rounding them up and beating them. Only women and children were there. I understood that something was wrong. I went to my father, [who was] at the residence of the Christian acquaintances, and told him not to go home with the Jewish badge. Something was wrong once again, and the Jews were being beaten. Then, this acquaintance went outside to see what was going on. He told us: Not only are they beating the Jews, but there is also a large fire in the quarter that is home to many Jews and to the Great Synagogue, a very old prayer house. They told all the people to get out, and those who did not go out remained inside, believing that they had avoided the danger. They [the murderers] locked the doors and windows, and burned the synagogue down with the people inside. This was done by the Germans and the Ukrainians. The Ukrainians collaborated with everybody. They were rushing from house to house, taking the people out, and gathering them in the square in the center of town. It was a very rainy and cold day. The people stood there, tightly packed. We would later learn that all of them were taken to the small village of Szeparowce outside the city, ordered to dig pits, and shot.

…After the establishment of the Gestapo offices, the searches, arrests, and hostage-takings under various pretexts began. In exceptional cases, a few managed to bribe themselves out of prison in a timely fashion. The rest of the prisoners was taken to the Szeparowce Forest, 8 km away, and shot there. Most of the residents of Kolomyja, one by one, perished in this forest…. The first large-scale “murder operation” took place already in early October 1941. The Gestapo locked down the neighborhood of Mokra Street, where the poorest of the Jews lived, and herded them into the prison, with no regard for sex or age. A few days later, they were all taken to the Szeparowce Forest and shot there…. The “murder operation” known as the “murder operation against the foreigners.” Upon the orders of the Gestapo, all foreigners, irrespective of age or sex, had to assemble at a certain hour in the square in front of the Judenrat [offices]. The people still deluded themselves with the hope that they would be sent to labor camps. In the meantime, their fate was similar to that of the other inmates. They were shot dead in the Sheparovtsy Forest…. In general, “the hunt for the Jews” would be launched suddenly, and significant forces would pour into the city center and the neighborhoods that were overcrowded with Jews. They beat the people, broke down doors, and dragged out the victims, who were scared to death…. All the hunted people were taken to the prison, and marched from there to the Szeparowce Forest several days later…. In late January 1942…, many of the members of the Jewish intelligentsia were arrested. One of them, Magister Juris Genia Ehrlich, was a close friend of mine. On February 2, after spending two weeks under arrest, two columns of men and women were marched separately, in four rows ordered in military fashion, toward the Szeparowce Forest, and they never came back.

…On October 12, 1941, the day of our Hoshana Raba holiday, the first German “murder operation” took place. On that day, 3,400 Jews were arrested. Several days later, they were shot in the Szeparowce Forest, 5 km from Kolomyja. On November 6 of the same year (that is, less than a month later), another group of 500 Jews – mostly women and children, residents of the neighborhood of Mokra – were carried off to the Szeparowce Forest and murdered there, on the pretext that they had hidden a Russian police officer.… Another anticipated “murder operation” took place on November 5 of that year [1942]. On that day, 1,600 Jews were taken to the Szeparowce Forest for execution….

…My… father, along with my father-in law, Golda, and Hercia, were taken from home on Hoshana Raba 1941…. All the Jews that had been taken were held [in the prison] for four days, without bread or water, and they were then asked who felt strong enough to march 6 km, ostensibly to work. They were taken to a forest in Shyparov [Szeparowce] and shot there…. 270 Jews were selected, including Abraham Samuel Heller, Juda Ber Glidman with [his] eldest son, Mendel Lazar, and others, [such as] Bercio the shoemaker and also Golda, the blessed father, Rabbi Jeruzelimski, and others. [They] were led away and shot in a forest in Szeparowce, on the 4th day of [the Jewish month of] Cheshvan…. Four weeks later, a “murder operation” on Mokra Street was arranged. 800 people, both elderly and children, were rounded up and taken directly to Szeparowce to be shot…. On November 5, 1942, we had the so-called Hallerbach murder operation, in which I lost my second and unforgettable son Majer…. 1,500 Jews were rounded up and taken to the prison, where they had to spend the whole day and night in the yard. In the morning, they were taken to Sheperov [Szeparowce] and shot….

…Every few days or weeks, the Germans organized mass murder operations, in which Jews were caught and taken to the forest in Sheperovichy [Szeparowce], where they were shot….

…The first pogrom took place approximately in 1941, exactly on the Hoshana Raba holiday. On that day, some 2,500 Jews were rounded up and held in prison for several days. None of them knew what awaited them, and some thought that they were going to be taken to work. But, ultimately, all of them were taken to a forest in Szeparowce, where all of them were shot dead.…

…November 6, 1941 arrived. I was staying with my friend, Dr. Fishman, where I learned that something wrong was going on in the area of Mokra, Stolarska and Tkacka Streets. Apparently, they were looking for a former Soviet policeman who was supposedly hiding there. The community [Judenrat] received an ultimatum from the Gestapo: If this policeman (“X”) was not handed over, in the afternoon they would take matters into their own hands…. Apparently, the murder operation was already underway; the whole neighborhood was surrounded, and they took all the people, without exception. Several people were shot on the spot. Barely half an hour later, I beheld a funeral procession through the window. Urban policemen with rifles at the ready were marching at the head, and a crowd of people came up behind them, pushing ahead with rifle butts; guards brought up the rear.… Some 400 people were taken away then. They spent the whole night sitting on the tiles around the Jesuit church. On the next day, some of them went to prison, while others were sent directly to Szeparowce. Two days later, 300 people from among the prison inmates joined them, and they were all shot in the Szeparowce Forest… …At the turn of the year, in late December (December 23), a murder operation against the foreigners [foreign Jews] took place. All the foreigners [foreign Jews], including the expellees from Hungary, were ordered to report at the Gestapo with their documents at 8 AM. Some of them instinctively sensed the danger, and did not report. All those who did were taken to the prison. Only a few who worked for the Germans were released. [For the rest,] there was only one road – to Szeparowce. For two days, muted rifle shots were heard from that direction. Covered vehicles took the people from the prison. The prison was emptied once again. Some 1,200 people were murdered in that operation.

Hoshana Raba 1941. Early on Sunday, the Gestapo men appeared in the streets of the town with their “posse” of Poles and Ukrainians (most of whom were 14-16 years old). This was the beginning of the wild hunt for all those wearing white armbands, both women and men. They invaded the prayers houses and herded the Jews in their prayer shawls, with blows and curses, to the assembly square. The prayer house is burned. No one understands what the matter is, since it is Sunday, and thus not a work day. They are also invading the apartments and dragging the people out – standing up or lying down, dressed or naked. God forbid they find anyone hiding. They are beating these people mercilessly. In some of the streets (Walowa, Mickiewicz), women with nursing infants are allowed to stay in the apartments; in others, whole families are left alone, provided they live in cleanliness and look healthy and aesthetically pleasing (Mokra Street). The evening before, only men in the streets adjoining the Pruth [River] were rounded up. Those herded together (there were 4,500-5,000 of them) were taken to the prison. The next day, the people were asked to report for work. Many young and able-bodied people did report, hoping to get away from these terrible conditions. They were taken in the direction of Szeparowce, to a forest near Kolomyja, where they began to dig mass graves for themselves and for their fellows back in the prison. Their work lasted only a single day. They were shot when the day's work was done, since they could not be allowed back into the prison or the town, so as not to reveal the nature and purpose of their work. It was said in the town that they had been evacuated to factories in Germany. Thus, nine days straight, fresh victims would be constantly taken to the forest, until the mass graves were ready. In the meantime, those back in the prison endured terrible conditions. The cells were crammed full of arrestees. There was no place to sit or lie down. Neither food nor water was given. They were mercilessly gnawed by insects. The people begged for death. This continued until the ninth day of their arrest. They were taken by truck into the forest, and their execution lasted the whole day…. Mokra Street Murder Operation A Jew living on 9 Szkarpowa Street had been employed by the Russians as a policeman. He was wanted by the Germans (the Gestapo). He could not be found at home, having gone into hiding. The Judenrat was faced with an ultimatum. If the wanted man did not give himself up in an hour, all the Jews living on that street and in its vicinity would be annihilated. A family that knew the whereabouts of the hidden man brought him the news of the ultimatum. He immediately left his hiding place, surrendered to the Gestapo, and was shot on the spot. The search for the policeman was, however, merely a pretext for a murder on a grand scale. Even though he was already dead, the murderers standing by burst into all the Jewish houses and apartments, mercilessly dragging out men, women, and children, and bringing 500 (five hundred) people to the prison. On the next day, they were taken from there on foot, completely officially, to the Szeparowce Forest and shot…. Murder Operation against the Intelligentsia On January 24, 1942, early in the morning, small groups of members of the Jewish intelligentsia escorted by Gestapo officers could be seen in the streets. Already at 10 AM, it was known that doctors, teachers, and lawyers were being rounded up according to a list. Hiding was not an option, since the people's exact names and addresses were listed. If the person in question could not be found, another member of his family or resident of the same house would be taken instead. However, not only members of the intelligentsia were rounded up. The victims also included all those who had earlier been taken hostage in the fur delivery [operation], but then released, as well as other wealthy and influential Jews of the town. There was no maltreatment. This time, this Gestapo behaved very “elegantly”, even permitting the people to get dressed and waiting for them to take their overcoats and breakfast. The families of the arrested were also allowed to bring warm blankets and meals to the prison. This murder operation lasted the entire week, and the whole city lived in fear of their lives, since no one knew whether they, too, would be deemed "rich" or "intelligent". Despite this mortal dread, no one really believed that this category of people would be massacred. They were still members of the professional intelligentsia, who ought to be treated differently from those slated for execution. A week later, the people were taken away. They were not led to the forest along the usual path; therefore, people began to believe that they had been transported to a concentration camp in Germany. Later, it became clear that they had been taken to Szeparowce via a different route, and executed there…. Hallerbach’s murder operation On Wednesday, November 4, 1942, all the Jewish workers were ordered to line up at the ghetto gates at 7 AM on the next day (November 5), to depart for work under Hallerbach’s personal control…. The leaders of the Judenrat were urgently advising the people to go out, since the ghetto was in danger. Thus, it was not only the workers who went to the assembly point, but also some individuals who had never worked before. Hallerbach was personally present on that day. Together with him came a foreign Gestapo man from Lemberg, while a vehicle with a machine gun stood behind the ghetto gate. This time, everything looked totally different than usual. There were very few guards, so that it was possible to slip away from the line – but no one did so.… After taking only a few steps, the column of workers was surrounded by Gestapo and SS officers, Ukrainian policemen, etc., who had been standing by. They took [the Jews] to the assembly square on Copernicus Street, which had already become infamous by that point.… This time, the people were not held in the square for long. Already at 10 AM, they were taken to the prison, where, in the courtyard, they were forced to strip naked and robbed of all their valuables in the usual manner.… In the meantime, the same infernal scenes played out in the ghetto. The apartments were searched, and the people were dragged outside…. The night in the prison courtyard was eerie. The bitter cold, the pouring rain, and the wind played their role. The children were whining, and their mothers could not help them…. The execution took place on the very next day – i.e., November 6. Halfway to Sheparovtsy, the people were forced to strip naked, and then taken to be executed in this state. During the night, everyone awaited their turn, and the execution lasted the whole day…. On December 15, 1942, the Judenrat was dissolved, and the Jewish Order Service [ghetto police] were assembled for a roll call and taken by the Gestapo to the prison, to be shot together with the elderly and the children in Szeparowce on the very same day…. Already at dawn on February 1, the first shots rang out in the “new ghetto.” The people about to go out to work were caught right at the gate; others were taken out of their apartments. The murderers' job was very easy this time, since no one assumed that the liquidation would be so swift, and the inmates had had no time to prepare hideouts; hence, very few were able to hide. The doctors with their families, who had lived outside the ghetto until then, were taken along in this murder operation. All the people were taken to the prison and subjected to a selection. 30 (thirty) persons – doctors, two pharmacists, and twenty other skilled workers – were released from the prison and allocated two houses in which they were allowed to live (without their families). All the rest were taken away to Szeparowce to be slaughtered at 11 AM on September 1.

…The first pogrom took place in October 1941, on the seventh day of the Sukkoth holiday. On that day, East European Jews would gather at prayer houses – because, according to an ancient belief, the fate of every single Jew for the next year would be decided [sic] on that day. That year, too, many Jews gathered in the synagogues. Their prayers had not yet died down when SS men appeared at every prayer house, cutting the prayer short with a wild cry. “What atrocity propaganda is being disseminated here, and who sanctioned this gathering?” – they asked. At first, the Jews were unaware of the gravity of these accusations, and they assumed that this was a mere misunderstanding, and that the behavior of the SS men stemmed from their ignorance of Jewish customs. However, very quickly they were disabused of these notions; the SS [men] knew all too well why they had chosen this particular holiday as a pretext for their murder operation. On that day, they could find almost the entire Jewish population of the town gathered in a few places. All the worshipers at the prayer houses – men, women, and children – were formed into marching columns and taken to a large prison in Kolomyja. They were held there for two days, while the charges leveled against them by the authorities were being investigated. All the efforts of the Jewish Council and of the prisoners’ relatives were in vain. On the third day, the arrestees were taken to a forest in the vicinity of the town. The men and women were forced to dig a pit. When it was ready, they had to stand in small groups on its edge, whereupon SS men shot them with machine guns, so that those who were hit dropped into the pit that they themselves had dug. I, too, was arrested at the prayer house, but I managed to escape already during the march to the prison…. The first such murder operation took place in September [1941] on Wałowa Street, near the Judenrat offices. There was a sort of “Black Stock Exchange” on this street. The Gestapo cordoned the street off, under the pretext of liquidating Jewish profiteering, and they arrested not only the merchants walking about, but also some completely innocent Jewish families, including women and children, who lived on this street. All of them were taken to the prison and held there for several days without any food or sustenance. Afterward, they were executed outside the city, in the “Szeparowce Forest,” as we would later learn. The second murder operation of this kind took place on Mokra Street. The Ukrainians had informed [the Germans] that a Jew who used to work for the police under Russian rule lived on that street. The Judenrat was ordered to hand this man over to the Gestapo. The Judenrat sent its policemen to fetch him from his house, but he had apparently escaped or hidden away, vanishing without a trace. Then, the Gestapo [officers] showed up and subjected Mokra Street to the same treatment they had meted out to Wałowa Street. The entire street was cordoned off, and all of its Jewish residents, without exception, were driven out of their apartments and dragged to the prison. Apart from this, there were also searches and arrests of individuals and of groups of people. Those arrested in these “individual” operations had to wait in prison, until the normal quota was filled…. [They] were taken straight to the Szeparowce Forest, some 4 km from the town. In November 1941, another mass murder took place in the Szeparowce Forest, and 800 people perished on that day…. Every single murder operation was meticulously planned in advance. Several days prior to it, Hertel [chief of the Urban Police in Kolomyja] would order the Judenrat to supply a group of strong men to dig mass graves. Naturally, everything happened in strict secrecy. The people who were digging the graves never came back…. On the appointed day, some of the urban policemen and Ukrainian policemen, who were occasionally reinforced by regular soldiers, would cordon off the Jewish neighborhood, sealing all the entrances…. The rest of the urban and Ukrainian policemen, together with the criminal police and the SS (and sometimes also with the Jewish policemen, who acted as guides), carried searches in the houses and the streets. They would burst into the apartments, searching cellars, attics, and other potential hiding places. Locked doors were battered down with axes. Detectives used specially trained dogs, which responded to the command: “Fass, Jud!” (grab the Jew), and sometimes they tore their prey alive. The defendant Frank admitted: “I personally saw the Gestapo dogs kill people by biting them in the throat.” The participants in these murder operations were armed not only with firearms, but also with clubs, axes, and whips. They used the axes not only to smash the doors, but also to chop the heads of people, especially those caught hiding. The arrested Jews were taken in groups to the “collection square.” There, a selection was carried out – that is, the people whose names had been reported by the factories as utterly indispensable specialists were taken out of the line, being granted [a stay of execution] for the time being…. Those doomed to die were chased to the prison under a hail of blows with whips and rifle butts. They had to stay there for several days (and sometimes even more) without any food, waiting for the liquidation day. When that day arrived, all of them were once again lined up…. [They] were taken, mostly on foot, to the valley of death in the Sheparovtsy Forest… The defendant Frank described in detail the site and the procedure of the murders. It was a forest clearing surrounded by a barbed wire fence. It was impossible to escape from there, and any escape attempt was tantamount to suicide. A large pit, about 3 meters deep, would be dug at the edge of the area before the murder operation. A “changing room” would be designated at its opposite edge. There, all the doomed individuals, irrespective of sex or age, had to strip naked and pile their clothes – overcoats, underwear, shoes, etc. – separately. Afterward, the people would be taken in groups to the edge of the pit and lined up with their faces to the pit and their backs to the “Schusskommando” (firing squad). The latter would usually aim at the victims' heads or backs. Some shot the same person twice. The guns began to rattle. The row of naked bodies broke down and dropped to the bottom of the pit. The next group was brought forward. Once again, the shots rang out, and a new layer of bodies covered the previous one. The process would be repeated, until the pit was filled to the brim….

…Before the establishment of the ghetto, the Ukrainians, together with the Gestapo officers, went through the Jewish residences, arrested Jews according to a list, took them to the prison, and then liquidated them. They also showed up at our place, arresting my father. He was a merchant. He was taken to the prison, and I never saw him again.… They had a special field called Szeparowce. There, the Jews were annihilated in the following manner: The Jews had to dig a pit, climb into it, and take off their clothes…. Thus, they were shot.

…The murder operation of October 12, 1941. On that day, the first large-scale murder operation in Kolomyja took place. It was a Jewish holiday. On that day, the Gestapo, the Urban Police, the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, and the Criminal Police took the Jews out of the prayer houses and seized them in the street. Some 3,000 Jews were then herded together. They were concentrated in the prison, and then, on the afternoon of the same day, they were taken to the Szeparowce Forest…. 3,000 Jews were shot in the forest by members of the Gestapo, urban policemen, and others. The sole survivor, a Jew named Hilsenrat, who was aged about thirty, was grazed by a bullet in the head. In the middle of the night, he crawled out of the grave, where he had lain in the topmost layer. He spoke of the brutality with which the Gestapo officers and urban policemen had shot the Jews. On November 6, 1941, the second murder operation in Kolomyja took place. Gestapo officers and urban policemen surrounded Mokra Street under the pretext of searching for a Jew named Nachmann, who had been a policeman under the Russians. However, he had left the area with the Russians. Having failed to find the designated person, the Gestapo and the Urban Police seized all the Jews on Mokra Street – men, women, and children – and shot them on the same day in the Szeparowce Forest. On December 12, 1941, the third murder operation took place. The order was issued for all foreign refugees – Hungarian, Czech, and German Jews – to assemble in the courtyard of the Gestapo [headquarters]. There were about 1,200 persons there. They were surrounded by the Gestapo and shot in the Szeparowce Forest.… On January 22, 1942, the fourth murder operation took place. The Gestapo and the Urban Police went through the Jewish houses with a list, arresting the members of the intelligentsia, the doctors, lawyers, engineers, [and teachers], and taking them to the prison. In that way, some 400 people were herded together…. The next morning, the Gestapo shot them in the Szeparowce Forest.… On August 15, 1942, an order was issued for all the Jews remaining in the ghetto to register. Once again, several thousand Jews gathered at the assembly point across from the city garden. Some 900 elderly men were separated from the rest, and later taken to Szeparowce, where they were shot by the Gestapo, the Urban Police, and the [Ukrainian] Auxiliary Police.… On November 5, 1942, the Hallerbach murder operation took place. Hallerbach was the German official in charge of the abandoned Jewish property. There were as many as 600 Jews working at his office, sorting through clothes, furniture, crockery, linen, etc. Hallerbach told [them]: [“]You have finished your job; you will get your payment.“ At the gates, the Gestapo seized more than 600 people, who were then taken to Szeparowce.

…This situation lasted until October 17, 1941. On that day, the first mass murder operation occurred. All the arrested Jews were taken to the municipal prison and held there for two weeks. They were then taken out to a forest near the neighboring village of Szeparowce, and shot there. 2,500 Jews perished in that murder operation…. On February 2, 1943, the rest of the Jews were shot in the abovementioned forest in Szeparowce, and that was the liquidation of the Kolomyja Ghetto. Kolomyja became “Judenrein”.

…On October 12, 1941, Hoshana Raba, the so-called first murder operation came. What did the mass murderers mean by the murder operation? The Jews were herded together from all the streets, led out of the prayer houses, still in their prayer shawls – young and old, men and women – and beaten with rubber whips. First, they were herded into the prison, where they were held for a couple of days without food. This was done to exhaust them and break them down mentally and physically. Afterward, they were taken by truck into the Szeparowce Forest, where each of them received an expanding bullet in the head, while those unharmed by the bullets were buried alive…. Two days later, the order came down for all the Jews living on Ramlerowka, Kraszewskie, and Tarnawska Streets to leave their homes in a couple of hours, because Jews were not allowed to live near the courthouse, the prison, or the Gestapo headquarters. Even before the deadline expired, they had taken the Jews out of their apartments and herded them into the prison. There were 300 people – including the Ramler family, which owned all the houses in the street, Yona Zaynrich with his family, Ben-Tsion Freylich with his family, and Moshe Engler with his family. They, too, were murdered in Szeparowce…. At 9 A.M. on Thursday, September 6, 1941, the Gestapo cordoned off the poorest neighborhood, Mokra, Tkacka Street, and many of the adjoining streets. They herded men, women, and children – 700 people in total – from many nearby streets into the prison. Four days later, they shot them at Szeparowce…. On December 23, 1941, the Gestapo demanded that all the refugees from western Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Austria, who had fled those countries after their occupation by the Germans, report in the courtyard of the Gestapo [offices] for a registration. 200 Jews came forward, and were taken to Szeparowce en masse…. On January 22, 1942, the Gestapo men launched a new murder operation. German and Ukrainian murderers were seen running through the streets with the lists. 400 victims were selected from among the Jewish intelligentsia – lawyers, doctors, engineers, and journalists. They were arrested and marched from the prison to Szeparowce.

…On October 11, 1941, Miss Buchweiz arrived at my workshop together with Hefke, the former Ukrainian mayor, which now was deputy mayor. He ordered a gray hat for himself and for the German mayor, Menel. The next day, when I was about to hand over the hats, I met Horowitz in front of his office. When he heard the reason for my visit, he told me not to ask for payment for the goods. He came along to the mayor and used the opportunity to plead on behalf of someone. When we went outside, I saw many Jews being caught. I went quickly to my workshop, where my fiancée was waiting for me, and both of us hid away. I saw through the crack in the door one of the Jews trying to flee, and a police dog being unleashed upon him…. On that day, 3,000 men were taken to the prison. Several days later, I saw them being loaded onto vehicles and driven to Szyparowice [Szeparowce]. Later, the peasants who came to my workshop told me about the course of the murder…. One of my neighbors, Isaak Hilsenrath, came back home at night, wounded by a bullet that had grazed his head….

…In September 1941, during the Jewish holidays, Rudolf Knackendoerfer [sic for Knackendoeffel], who was with the criminal police, carried out…. the first eradication operation in Kolomyja. He gathered all the Jews who were praying in the Temples [synagogues] [and] locked them in the prison, where they were beaten and held for eight days without food. Afterward, he took them to the nearby forest at Szeparowce, where they were forced to strip naked and shot. Once, Knackendoerfer [Knackendoeffel] caught 300 people, including women and children, in the Mokra neighborhood, and drove them on foot to the forest, where they were forced to strip naked and shot….

…The “Mokra Street murder operation” followed under the pretext of a search for a Jewish police officer, who had served in this capacity after the arrival of Soviet troops in Kolomyja back in 1939. The entire district of Mokra Street was surrounded, and all the Jews – sick, elderly, women, and children – were dragged out of the house. They were then marched across the whole city to the prison courtyard. The next morning, the Jews held in custody were taken in vehicles to a forest near Szeparowce, where they had to dig their own grave, and then ordered to strip naked…. After being ordered to deposit their money at the cash desk, all of them were lined up. Then, Khlipko, a native of Bukovina who served in the Auxiliary Police of the Gestapo, stepped forward and declared that he would like to demonstrate a mass shooting of Jews without the use of any bullets…. He claimed that he wanted to save the Judenrat the costs it would have to pay for the ammunition. The grave that had been dug there had a square shape. Khlipko ordered [the victims] to lie down side by side around the pit, so that their bodies were positioned on the ground, while their heads hung over the pit. Then, he grabbed a huge axe with a 30-cm-wide blade… and began to jump as a madman among the bodies hanging over the pit. With each swing of his axe, a head rolled down into the 3-meter-deep pit. At the same time, he became very tired, and was splattered all over with blood, so that Ebersold, who served as his assistant, told him to take a rest. He then ordered the Gestapo men to place a springboard over the pit. It looked like a wedged board, and it reached the center of the pit. All [the Jews] were ordered to line up on it, packed tightly. To save space, mothers took their children in their arms. Everyone was thrown down from the board with a single shot. Naturally, most of them were still alive when they fell into the grave, and they were finished off by the Gestapo’s auxiliaries. The next [group of] twenty [victims] was already prepared, and they faced the same martyr's death. In this way, some 2,000 Jews perished….

…One day, they [the Gestapo men] came to the Jewish community [Judenrat] and took all the men who were there. At first, we did not know what had happened to them. It turned out that they had been taken outside the city, to a grove called Szeparowce, and shot there. I think that they also had to dig [their own] grave…. One day, the Gestapo arrested all the Jews who lived on this street. We, too, were arrested – but, fortunately, my brother-in-law and sister were left alone. We were arrested and taken to a prison that was located on the same street. It later turned out that they did not want to leave any eyewitnesses to what they had done, so no Jews were to be left on that street. We were arrested. We knew one thing – that, once the cells were full, they would take the people by truck to Szeparowce, as I have already indicated…. They were shooting them….

…At Hoshana Raba, the Germans descended upon the synagogue and the Jewish houses, dragged out 3,000 Jews, and took them to the prison, where they were held for several days. [The Germans] set fire to the large synagogue. Several days later, they took the Jews from the prison to the forest at Szeparowce, and shot all of them there. No one knew what had happened to those people. It was said that they had been transported to Germany. In the end, [however,] we learned the truth from the two people who had escaped from the mass grave. They were merely wounded [by the bullets], and were then treated in secret by Jewish doctors…. One Thursday afternoon in mid-November, they once again descended upon the Jewish district, the so-called Mokra Street, and took 1,500 Jews to the prison and to the Szeparowce Forest, where they once again shot all of them. Each time, they took people irrespective of sex or age – elderly, young, children, and infants…. During the winter, people were periodically taken away to the prison, according to lists drawn up in advance. The crying and groaning people, barefoot in the terrible cold, were dragged to the Szeparowce Forest…. On December 14, the Jewish police was put on alert. They thought that another murder operation was coming, and reported for work, while we hid in the bunker once again. Meanwhile, they themselves were taken away, together with a whole bunch of workers. In the prison, they met the elderly people whom they had betrayed, and then all of them were shot together at Szeparowce….

…Immediately after the arrival of the Germans, some 150 Jews were ordered (through the [Jewish] Council) to report for work. We knew that these Jews were digging trenches in the Szeparowce Forest, near the city. These Jews were not allowed to return to the ghetto; rather, in the morning they were taken out of the prison, and returned there in the evening. No one was allowed to communicate with them. The people rounded up for the first murder operation remained in the prison for about two-three days, and were then loaded onto tarpaulin-covered trucks (a Ukrainian armed with a long baton stood on each of these trucks, hitting anyone who tried to raise their head), together with the people who had done the digging. They were all taken to the Szeparowce Forest and shot there. I learned about this from two-three Jews who had managed to escape during the massacre in the forest, and from Christians who came to tell us…. Again, I recall an incident that happened even before our relocation to the ghetto. Immediately after the arrival of the Germans, a Gestapo man began to go through the Jewish houses, according to a list he had at his disposal. He ordered all the Jews of high social status – such as doctors, lawyers, and various intellectuals – to report to the Gestapo. These Jews were taken naked to the Szeparowce Forest near the town, and shot there…. I can tell you that, every Jewish holiday, there was a murder operation in the ghetto. They even knew of those holidays that many Jews did not observe, such as Tisha B’Av [the fast day commemorating the destruction of both Jerusalem Temples] and other fast days. Almost every Saturday, it was “merry” in the ghetto, as we awaited the murder operation. Usually, it began at 3-4 AM. All the Gestapo officers, urban policemen, and Ukrainian policemen would enter the ghetto, surround a certain area, and order all the Jews to get out and lie down on the ground. Afterward, they would enter the houses and shoot on sight anyone they found inside, and the same was done to anyone who was hiding somewhere. Once they thought that a sufficient number of Jews had been rounded up, they would order [the Jews] to stand up and check a few of them, to determine whether they worked in essential jobs. These [essential workers] would be sent back. The rest [of the Jews] would be taken to the prison under a hail of brutal blows. Whoever fell and was unable to walk on – whether because of weakness, illness, or wounds – would be shot in the street. The murder operation would last until the afternoon. In the prison, the Jews were assembled in a large courtyard and forced to spend the whole night sitting on the ground. My explanation is that they [the killers] wanted to sap their strength, to prevent them from organizing. The next morning, the Jews were once again taken on foot to the Szeparowce Forest, and shot there.…

…On December 12, 1942, when I left the ghetto to buy medicine at the pharmacy for my sick wife, I encountered a [German] urban policeman and a Ukrainian policeman. They greeted me with a pistol blow on the head, and with the words: “Accursed Jew, do you not know where you should be walking?”. My crime was walking on the pavement, and not in the gutter – because of the wetness, and my shredded boots. I was taken to the Ukrainian police station. They did a body search on me, and found a wedding ring that I had thought lost. Now, it fell out of the ripped lining of my clothes. They beat me to a pulp with a club, and took me to the Gestapo. After receiving additional blows, I arrived at the prison. At dawn on that day, I was taken to Szeparowce, together with a group of 300 Jews. The pit had been dug in advance. Under a hail of blows, we were forced to strip naked and run in groups of ten to the pit, from which cries and shots were heard. I found myself in the penultimate group of ten. When my turn came, I ran to the pit and noticed that it was dug at an angle. This detail has remained etched in my memory. Knackendoffel [Knackendoeffel] was standing in the pit wearing rubber boots, and his two assistants, armed with whips, forced everyone to lie down. When I saw a Gestapo man whom I knew well, I cried out, or wanted to cry out: “Murderer!” but I froze in place, unable to move my tongue. Knackdoffel [Knackendoeffel] shot everyone in the head. When I woke up, it seemed to me that I was comfortably asleep in my bed. I quickly regained consciousness and realized where I was – and, more importantly, that I was still alive. Two bodies lay on top of me. We were covered in lime powder. I left the pit completely naked. It was a starry, very cold night. I decided to run toward the city, but on the way, I realized that I was naked. I turned around. I decided to circle around the city and enter the old ghetto, which was already empty of Jews. I crossed the frozen Pruth [River], and then walked along its bank, in the vegetation, until I found myself in front of the old ghetto. I had to cross the river once again. The ice was breaking under me. I was struggling for my life, and I reached my destination injured and scratched….

…In 1941, on Hoshana Raba, the first large-scale murder operation [took place]. People were taken out of the synagogues, [still] in their prayer shawls; from the apartments, and from the street. They were taken to prisons, and [then] transported in vehicles to an unknown destination. They thought that they were going to work. They were murdered in Szeparowce. On January 26, 1942, [there was] a murder operation against the intelligentsia. In the course of two weeks, the most influential Jews were arrested and taken to Szeparowce, where they had to dig their own graves. Thus, they were shot or buried alive….

…Hoshana Raba 5702 (1941) was a sad day. In the morning, when everyone was still praying in the synagogues, unsettling news suddenly began to spread from the synagogues through the streets, which had a compact Jewish population. The news spoke of people being seized and beaten. A boy who tried to escape was shot. There was a riot in those streets, and the fate of those people was in the hands of the thugs who carried out this “holy” work – the Germans, Ukrainians, and Hungarians. The murder operation was spreading ever wider. There was already rioting in the streets of the “New World.” The Jews were hiding wherever they could – in cellars and bunkers. With my two dear little brothers, Izek and Shmeyke, I escaped, and was sheltered by Christians. We received the news of what was happening in the Jewish streets. The murder operation lasted until late in the evening…. On that day, 2,500 souls were rounded up and taken to prison. The Germans said nothing about their fate. Still, the people already knew that [the arrestees'] last journey had taken them to Szeparowce, into the forest. There, they were all shot and buried…. A former Soviet policeman, a Jew, lived on Mokra Street, and he failed to escape. The Gestapo learned of this and demanded that the Judenrat hand him over. Since the fellow went into hiding and did not go out to them, they descended upon all the Jews on Mokra Street and rounded up (on November 5, 1941) 500 Jewish men, women, and children…. 500 Jewish souls were taken to the prison, and thence to the Szeparowce Forest, where they were shot…. In late December 1941, the Gestapo also rounded up 2,000 Hungarian Jews and murdered them at the same site in Szeparowce. This was the tragic end of the Hungarian Jews in our town…. In January 1942, men and women suddenly began to be summoned according to a specific list. They were declared to be hostages. It was said that, in the end, they would be allowed to go home. They were members of the intelligentsia – doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. They numbered 600. They were held in prison for several weeks, and then taken to the Szeparowce Forest and murdered there…. In early June 1942, the Gestapo once again descended upon the ghetto and rounded up another 300 Jews (they promised to take only the infirm and the elderly). They took them to the Szeparowce Forest and shot them there…. This went on until Thursday, November 5, 1942.… This time, all the Jews were taken from the prison to the Szeparowce Forest and… murdered there…. In the murder operation of early February 1943, the rest of the Jews of Kolomyja and the vicinity (who may have numbered 1,500 souls) were taken away to the Szeparowce Forest….

…We heard that there was some unrest in the ghetto, and I had a premonition. I do not know what it was, but that was my premonition. I was crying, and they were going after us. Before they could walk fifty meters, the Gestapo [men] entered. There were many people who prepared to poison themselves, since they did not want to fall into the Germans' hands. There was someone who had a lot of money, so he prepared poison for himself, [and,] when the Gestapo [men] came to take him, he poisoned himself, and they stabbed him in the eyes, because he had poisoned himself. No Jews remained there, except for one Jew who had hidden in a chimney and managed to stay [alive]. Afterward, he told us: [“]You passed only 50 meters, and they came and took everyone. No one remained.[“] They were taken to the Szeparowce Forest, six kilometers from the city, and were all shot dead.… That was in December 1942….

The locality of Szeparowce lay far from Sobieski Street, in the direction of Diatkowce. There is a small forest in Szeparowce, which had served as a munitions depot before the war, and which was off-limits to all civilians. That was the destination of the Jews of Kolomyja, none of whom came back. Thousands of Jewish bodies were buried in the soil of Szeparowce.… At the same time [February 1942], the Gestapo demanded that the Judenrat supply a list of all the Jewish refugees from Germany, Hungary, and other countries who were registered with the Judenrat. All the refugees, about 600 people, were summoned to the Gestapo headquarters according to a list. From there, they were taken to Szeparowce and shot.…