Murder Story of Kolomyja Jews at the Kolomyja Jewish Cemetery

…On February 2, 1943, we were awakened by the new murder operation. We knew that, this time, it was already the end, as everyone was taken away and shot at the cemetery, in our graves….

…In early March 1943, all the skilled workers (except the doctors) were taken out of their apartments, led to the Jewish cemetery, and shot there. The doctors were rounded up a little later, in the evening of the same day. They were locked in a special room and told that they were going to be executed the next day. All seven doctors had poison with them, and they took their own lives during that night. In the morning, when the butchers arrived to take them away to the cemetery, they found seven dead bodies.…

-Kleinbauer, but I remember the second murder operation against the arrested Jews at the cemetery. In this murder operation, too, you commanded the marksmen. With a hopeless gaze, he slowly raised his head and stared at me indifferently, as if not understanding what I had said. -Yes, this was an event that took place shortly afterward. Some forty Jews, mostly women and elderly men, were standing over the pit. The operation did not change in the slightest. Only, instead of forcing the Jews to lie down in the pit, [we] ordered them to stand near it….

…On October 5, 1942, when we returned to the ghetto from work, our papers were checked. 150 Jews were then taken out of the group and shot by the urban policemen at the Jewish cemetery.

…There was another group of workers, commanded by the Gestapo officer Hallerbach. He employed 1,000 men and women to sort through the belongings left after the Jews who had been taken out of the ghetto…. On December 5, 1942, the Gestapo murderer Hallerbach delivered the entire group to the prison, and thence to the Jewish cemetery, where they were shot.… On December 14, 1942, the murderers disbanded the [group of] raw material workers, and, together with the Jewish policemen, they delivered them to the prison. From there, [the workers] were taken to the cemetery and shot. There were 400 of them. On February 2, 1943, the ghetto was liquidated…. The Jews were still hiding in various places, in attics, in cellars, in specially dug pits. All of them were discovered and dragged out. There were 2,200 people. All of them, too, were shot at the Jewish cemetery….

…When they caught small groups of Jews doing small things – like selling various articles beyond the fence, etc. – they would round them up, transfer them to the Jewish cemetery, and murder them there. I have heard that, once, they caught Liberman the pharmacist, took him to the cemetery, and ordered him to dig a grave for himself. When he was done, they asked him whether he wanted to smoke, and he replied in the affirmative. They then gave him a cigarette – but, instead of lighting it, they shot him through the mouth…. One Saturday, at dawn, Germans suddenly entered our house and ordered all the people working at the Gestapo [offices], including myself, to immediately get down. At the time, I was asleep in bed, and I jumped up, wanting to dress. At that moment, a dog they had with them jumped on me and bit me. I asked one of the Germans – whom I knew well, having sewn many suits for him – to let me dress.… Immediately, we had to go down. Ten people, out of the thirty who were in the house, had to go down…. When we emerged into the street, we were lined up and taken to the cemetery. There, we were beaten and ordered to lie face down on the ground. As we lay there, we suddenly heard the calling of names, including my name. We stood up, and five of us were taken several meters from the place where we lay, near the pit. At that moment, I darted away, ran a little, and hid in the grass near the pit where they were taking us, between two tombstones, as though I had vanished underground. I heard the cries of my pursuers calling me to get back, and also the sounds of gunfire. In the meantime, the dog was guarding the five people who still lay on the ground. Afterward, I heard the rest of the people being shot, and the beginning of the search for me. I think I was lucky to have hidden near the place where the people were shot: Thanks to this, they went to search further off, and failed to find me. Later, I head another group being brought to the site and murdered, and I thought that these were the rest of my friends. I left the cemetery in the evening.…

…It was dangerous to go then. Jews were still being caught. It was shortly after the liquidation [of the Kolomyja Ghetto]. All those caught were shot at the cemetery in Kolomyja….