Murder story of Złoczów Jews in the Jelechowice Forest

…This Siegmund took part in many murder operations in Złoczów and the county, culminating in the liquidation of the ghetto on April 2, 1943. Back then, the murderers rounded up the ghetto inmates [and transported them] by truck to Jelechowice, 3 km from Złoczów. The murderers shot these Jews on Siegmund’s orders, and the people fell into the grave at once (having been positioned there). The grave had been dug by the Jews themselves, and many living people were buried in it. Afterward, it was buried and planted over with small trees. In two days, the blood of the innocent people bubbled up from the mass grave, so that the freshly planted trees were floating in blood….

…During the night of April 1-2, 1943, all those in charge of the ghetto – i.e., the Judenrat [members], the Jewish police[men], etc. – were arrested. On April 2, 1943, the liquidation of the ghetto began.… The first ones – that is, those rounded up on the first day of April – were taken to Jelechowice [Yelykhovychi], a village near Złoczów, where pits had been dug in advance by Ukrainians. There, the Jews were shot dead….

April 2, [1943]: At about 10, Helena and Hritz returned from Kopyczyńce. The moment they opened the door, I knew something had happened. Helena turned to Hritz, saying: "Haven't I told you that they know nothing?" The mother asked what had happened, and Helena replied: "Nothing, just a liquidation operation against the Jews in the ghetto."… April 3, 1943: In the morning, after a sleepless night full of crying, Helena rushed to the city, to learn what had happened to the aunt. My mother was very nervous, and could not do anything, not even eat. At midday, Helena returned with the news that Linka and her family were hiding, but her neighbor Anda Kopistinska [?] did not want to disclose the location. The mother calmed down a little, but kept repeating all the time that they would surely be discovered, if they had not been already. Helena told terrible things. Jews were loaded onto trucks and taken to a fir forest clearing in our vicinity. Near the summer camp, by the shooting range, at the place where, only several days ago, the French [French POWs] were digging "defenses". Those were the German defenses…. And we were thinking that shots were coming from the shooting range…. Anda told Helena that, early in the morning, the ghetto had been surrounded, and first they went for those who were permitted to live outside the [ghetto] walls. Only afterward did the murder operation inside the ghetto begin. First, they took the [members of] the Judenrat, which was located in Rosenzweig's [?] house, across from the main entrance to the ghetto. Zagurski [?], a former postman who knew the people in Złoczów, said that he had seen Dr. Glanz, Rózka Henis [?], the dentist Braun [?], [and] the mill owner Brand [?] being taken away to be liquidated. This is horrible! This is horrible indeed! All the Jews, all our friends, are being murdered – and this is going on so close to us, while nothing happens to us; we keep on living….

…And then, of course, the liquidation of the ghetto arrived. That was the final act. They gathered the people not far from the place where we were hiding. It was the same town. It was called Jelechowice. Q. Did they take all the people there? A. They surrounded the ghetto with large trucks, transferred them [the victims] there, and shot them. Yes, my uncle, who was hiding with us, was caught. My grandfather and father saw them going, and they waved to him…. Q. Did you know that they were going to their deaths? A. Oh yes, we knew it. We could hear the shots….

...Siegmund was the chief of the criminal police in Złoczów, near Lemberg [Lwów], during the German occupation…. Siegmund also took part in all the murder operations that were carried out in Złoczów. He was particularly involved in the so-called “anti-Jewish operation” of April 2, 1943 (Friday). On that day alone, from morning until 6 PM, 5,000 Jews – old and young, women and men – were executed. The mass grave of these unfortunates lies in a forest in Jerychowice [sic for Jelechowice], 3 km from Złoczów, in the direction of Brody….

…On April 1, 1943, Moshe Royzen, an inmate of the camp [Jewish labor camp in Złoczów], warned us that the Judenrat member Moshe Zuckerkandel had come running from the ghetto, with the news that the Gestapo had surrounded the ghetto, that something was surely going to happen there, and that we should be ready to try to save ourselves in whatever way we could. We "made ourselves ready" to wait for death. In a couple of hours, we learned that the liquidation of the ghetto had begun – but that, for the time being, our camp would be spared. The escapees from the ghetto who had found sanctuary in the camp told us about the course of the murder operation. All the Jews, without exception, were herded to the market square. Special squads searched for hidden inmates, and those they found were either taken to the market square or shot dead on the spot. Baskets were placed in the square, and the rounded-up Jews had to deposit their valuables in them. At the same time, they had to endure sadistic-comical [sic] torture – e.g., dogs were sicced on them, and tore them to pieces. In one instance, a woman failed to take off her earring quickly enough, so an SS man cut the earring off together with the ear. The smallest children were murdered by having their heads dashed against the wall. When a sufficient number of martyred babies had been gathered, they were thrown into vehicles and taken away. The Jews were taken in trucks from the market to the small forest of Zezuli, 2 km from the town, near the Sasów-Brody road, where large graves had been dug by Russian POWs on the previous day. There, the last act of the terrible drama played out. All the men, women, and children had to approach the graves and strip naked. Those unwilling or unable to do so had their clothes torn off of them, and this task fell to the Judenrat members. It was said that… Dr. Glanz had carried out this order with great diligence. And when all of them stood naked at the graves, the machine gun began its work. Those who were shot fell into the graves, dead or wounded…. A couple of days later, the Jews from the camp were taken to bury the graves, and many recognized the dead bodies of their parents or children in the grave. The annihilation lasted until the last Jew disappeared from the town and the ghetto, and the order to make the town free of Jews had been carried out....

…During the liquidation of the ghetto, he [Siegmund] took an active part in the deportation of the Jewish population to the “Zozuli” [Zezuli] grove near Złoczów, where those people were murdered en masse….

…Siegmund participated in the so-called “anti-Jewish operations” in Złoczów. I personally witnessed his involvement in the “Judenfrei murder operation” in Złoczów, when he showed up in the square to which the Jews had been herded out of their homes. He was accompanied by SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer Warzok and Gestapo chief Ludwig.… It was in the morning of April 2, 1943. All the trucks in Złoczów and its vicinity had been commandeered, and they were now used to transport the Jewish victims, under guard by the SS and the Ukrainian police, to the forest of Jerychowice [sic for Jelechowice]. There, the Jews, irrespective of age and sex, had to strip naked, and were then shot dead at mass graves that had been dug in advance…. At about 6 PM, this “heroic operation” came to an end. Some 4,000 Jews had lost their lives. After the accomplishment of this [“]heroic deed[“], the town of Złoczów was declared “free of Jews.” However, for weeks afterward Siegmund, Ludwig, and Warzok still carried out a "mop-up" operation: With the assistance of their “armies” – i.e., the criminal police, the Gestapo, and the rural and Ukrainian police – they dragged the Jewish survivors out of their hideouts, using specially trained dogs; they prowled through the ghetto in the night with lanterns, and subsequently took the unfortunate ones to Jerychowice [Jelechowice] on a daily basis. Fresh graves had been dug there, and the victims, stripped of their clothes, were shot dead over them.…

…A short time after the typhus epidemic, on April 2, 1943, the last and most dreadful chapter in the history of the Jews of Złoczów played out: the liquidation of the ghetto. Engel, the infamous murderer and liquidator in the Galicia District, who represented Katzman [the Higher SS and Police Leader in Galicia], mobile Gestapo squads from Lemberg [Lwów] and Tarnopol, Ukrainian policemen from the whole area – and, unfortunately, the Jewish ghetto police from Lemberg, too – all came together for the liquidation. During the night of April 1-2, [1943], as the Jews were peacefully asleep, oblivious to the imminent danger, the ghetto was surrounded. The murderers made sure that not even a mouse would slip out of there. All those who happened to be in the ghetto that night were doomed. There were many [forced laborers] from the camps and workshops who were spending the night with their families in the ghetto, and they paid with their lives for this. Early in the morning, the murderers, accompanied by Jewish policemen, went through the houses, throwing the victims out of their beds and taking them all, young and old, to the assembly point at the so-called Green Market. There was a big rush. The victims were not given time to get dressed. In contrast to the panic that had prevailed during the pogrom and the murder operations, on April 2 the mood of most of the people was more akin to apathy. Few trusted in the sweet promises of the Germans any more. The people knew that this was the end, and still they behaved calmly. The experiences of the previous years had sapped the people's strength so much that nothing mattered to them anymore. Very few burst out in tears. Very few gave vent to screams. Very few begged for mercy. If any of them were afraid, this was not the fear of death, but of the manner of dying, since no one could imagine what kind of death the Germans had in store for them. The people stood and waited in the square for a long time. It was a wet April day. It was raining. The children clung to their mothers; the elderly and sick looked for a place to rest their weary bodies, but could not find it. From time to time, new people would be brought in. Those in the square were already resigned to their fate, while those still in their homes were looking for a way to hide and avoid the terrible fate. The German managers began to try to save their Jewish workers, feeling that, without them, their enterprises would be understaffed. However, the managers' requests were denied. The only one who managed to rescue eight people was Schweiger. Those eight were already in the square; however, they did not want to be released without their wives. They decided to refuse this mercy and die with their wives. However, the Germans knew how to deceive them, promising that their wives would be released later. The men believed them and left the square. They never saw their wives again. B. Rosen and Mann, too, were offered the chance to save themselves, on condition that they would leave their wives behind. However, they passed on this offer and went to their deaths together with their wives. The wife of Joel Lifschuetz acted very bravely. She threw herself, with her weak hands, upon an armed German, who took her to her death. A similar story has been told about the teacher Eva Tinter-Rajcher. The murderers gave the chairman of the Judenrat, Dr. Maiblum, a document to sign. It stated that the liquidation was necessary because of the typhus epidemic raging in the ghetto. Dr. Maiblum refused to sign the document. The murderer Engel used all possible means, from sweet talk to threats and violent arguments, [to force him to do it]. However, Dr. Maiblum remained firm in his decision, and did not sign the document. Seeing that Dr. Maiblum would not comply, Engel murdered him with his own hands. (Here, it should be noted that Dr. Maiblum was the only Judenrat member who refused to participate in murder operations). The market square was packed with people. The Germans placed a basket, into which the victims had to deposit their money, watches, rings, and other items they had with them. The Jewish policemen saw to it that the order was carried out to the letter. The policeman Josl Landau behaved with particular brutality. He tore the rings from people's fingers with such force that some of the victims began to bleed. Vehicles drove into the square. The people began to be loaded [onto them], forty people per vehicle. The vehicles then drove toward Jelechowice. The village of Jelechowice lies 4 km from Złoczów, and is surrounded by woods. In former times, local residents had used this area for their summer homes. In April 1943, Jelechowice [became] the graveyard of the Złoczów Jewry. In the course of two weeks, Russian POWs dug three large graves. Local residents saw them every day going to work with spades. However, none of them could imagine that their job was to dig graves for the rest of the Jews. In Jelechowice, the vehicles drove up to the very graves. The victims were unloaded, ordered to strip naked, and forced into the grave. They had to line up, standing tightly packed, and, when the grave was so full that the victims could not move anymore, [the killers] began to shoot them in the head with submachine guns. No one bothered to check whether all of them were truly dead. Hence, it is not surprising that many people were buried alive. Local villagers would tell that, for several days after the execution, the earth over the graves kept heaving, and blood was oozing out of them.…

…I saw Mueller being in charge of the liquidation operation of the Jewish ghetto in Złoczów on April 30, 1943. I was in the camp at that time, and I saw the exact course of the murder operation. During that operation, the Germans shot some 1,500 Jews from Złoczów near the village of Jelechowice [Yelykhovychi].…