Murder story of Kamenka Moldavskaya Jews in the Orchard at the Kamenka Moldavskaya Marketplace

…I personally saw… them [the Jews] being buried near the marketplace. There was an orchard [nearby], and a trench had been dug there. It was in that trench that the Jews were shot.… We were not allowed to get near it; we were chased away; a lot of people were [standing] there [near the murder site]; people were crying, [saying] that this was barbaric torture…. [The Romanians soldiers] were shooting them…, but those who were throwing [the victims' bodies into the trench] were not Romanian soldiers; rather…, they [the Romanians] had selected some Jews, who were tasked with throwing [the bodies into the trench]…. Q: So, it was the Romanians who were shooting them? A: The Romanians, sure; the Germans didn't take part [in this shooting]. Q: How many Romanians were there? A: …There were some fifty people… Q: And how many Jews were there? A: I can't give you an exact number…. There were some seventy people.… Q: How did you happen to find yourself there and witness the shooting scene? A: …You see, there were many local people there… This was in June, immediately after the outbreak of war…. In late June, I don't remember the exact date…, a Romanian cavalry unit entered [Kamenka]; they would [later] be quartered at the [former] Moldavian school.… Afterward, they began to round up the Jews; they locked them up… in the town center…. near the inn for travelers ["zayezd" in Russian]. All the [Jews] were held there before being taken away to be shot…. Q: Did you approach the inn, and did you see what was going on inside it? A: Yes, sure…. A guard had been posted near the inn, and he didn't let us [come close]; there were gates. Q: Who was guarding [the inn] – the Germans or the Romanians? A: The Romanians.… They [the Jews] were taken to a site near the marketplace.… Q: Please tell us what you saw when they were taken out of there. A: They were led to a site in close proximity to the marketplace…. Q: Are you referring to the abovementioned orchard where they were shot? A: Yes. Q: What was the distance between the shooting site and this inn? A: ...About 500 meters, maybe more…. Q: How many times did you see them being taken out of [the inn]? A: This took place in a single day. I saw them [being taken out] only twice…. Q: Did you follow them from the inn to the shooting site? A: Yes, yes…. [I stood] some ten meters [from the murder site]…, no more than that. Q: Were there both men and women in the column [of people led away to be shot]? A: There were women, children, and men, all together.… Q: How was the shooting carried out? A: …[The victims] were positioned close together… and one can say that there was a group of about 25-30 people [each time].… [Altogether,] some sixty-seventy people were shot. Q: Were they forced to strip naked? A: No, they were shot dead, having been told nothing [prior to the shooting]…. [The Romanian soldiers] shot [the victims] with rifles.… Q: And had the pits been dug in advance? A: Yes, it was a trench…, one long trench…, about 200 meters in length…. [During the shooting,] some dropped straight into the pit, while others fell on the ground [near the trench]. They would be picked up bodily and thrown [into the trench] by the Jews who had been selected [for this particular task]…. They were the ones digging [apparently, deepening the trench], and they were also the ones who threw [the bodies] into the pit, into the trench…. There were ten of them at most. Q: How long were you there…, watching the shooting scene? A: [I was present there] until the shooting stopped, and we were chased away.… It [the shooting] lasted for about two hours, maybe more…. Q: And did you come back later? A: I came back [about an hour later], but I wasn't alone; many had come back, and there…, one could hear a living voice… apparently, a woman's voice.… Apparently, she hadn't been squeezed tightly [between the bodies, and was thus able to survive]…. I didn't see it myself, but [people] would [later] tell that, at night [on the same day], [some Jewish men] who had heard this voice went to dig [the bodies] out; however, at this point the Romanians apparently opened fire [at them]…, so they ran away….