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[Page 315]

The Holocaust in the Surrounding Villages

 

Murder in the Villages around Turka

Meir Seeman of Tel Aviv

Translated by Jerrold Landau

a) "Eicha Yashva Badad" Oh How Does it Sit in Desolation 1

Oh, how does the city of Turka and its environs sit in desolation over its Jews. All of their friends, the Ukrainians, have dealt treacherously with them – behaving like enemies to them. The children went to the crematoria or were murdered locally. They went about without strength before their enemies, the Ukrainians and the Germans, may their names be blotted out. Their enemies have seen them, and mocked at their desolation.

The Jews gave up all of their valuables for food, to refresh the children of Turka and the area. The elders perished for want of food to restore their souls.

Outside, the sword ruled, and inside the house – death. All of their enemies, of Turka and environs, opened their mouths to them, they whistled and gnashed their teeth: "We have swallowed up, this was they day that we waited for – we have found and seen". Indeed, they slaughtered and had no mercy.

My eyes shed streams of tears over the destruction of the Jews of Turka and environs: Those who used to eat fine food gasped outsideÉ and cleaved to the garbage heaps. Those who were victims of the sword were better off than the victims of hunger.

b) The Destruction of Husna Vyzna 2

On a summer Sunday in 1941, we heard in Husna that Hitler, may his name be blotted out, went out to war against the Russians. On the Friday of that week, five days after the beginning of the war, the Russian soldiers left the village. Three hours after the departure of the Russian militia, the Ukrainians were already breaking the windowpanes of Jewish homes. On Saturday morning, one could already see Ukrainians with rifles, as they rounded up Jews from Husna and Kryvka to hew rocks on the streets of Husna...

And further: Already on Sunday, placards were posted indicating that Jews must wear a patch with a Star of David; Any Jew who disobeys the edict was to be sentenced to death. Furthermore: the Ukrainian population must not come into contact with Jews. No Germans were seen yet; however a few Hungarian soldiers from the border guard found their way into Husna in order to fulfill their commandment 3 of robbing Jewish houses...

The following Friday, the resident Tzvi Sternbach, who worked in Barinya for a baker, came running into Husna, black with fear. He told the following: In Barinya, the Germans and their Ukrainian assistants rounded up twenty Jews, who had to take spades and dig pit on a hill in Barinya... The Germans shot ten Jews. The rest of them were forced to cover the grave and dance on top of it, after those that were shot were tossed into the grave... However, the Jews of Husna did not believe him. They cursed him for causing trouble...

Jews were forced to work. Two weeks later, again on a Friday, we heard a taxi coming. In Husna, a taxi had never before been seen... We realized that this time, Germans were coming. I quickly remembered the story of Barinya, and I jumped out the window and hid by the edge of the river. The Gestapo entered our house, and found my parents and a young sister. They sternly commanded my sister to run to all of the Jews in the village and tell them that they must come with spades in their hands – to work... If she does not do this promptly, my parents would promptly be shot. My sister ran and fulfilled the order – however all of the Jews fled to the nearby forest... The Germans and Ukrainians realized that they were left with only three Jews, so they abandoned the entire enterprise. That Sabbath, all of the Jews of Husna and Kryvka remained in the forest.

A few days later, 24 Germans arrived in Husna. They set themselves up as border guards in a special, large guardhouse that the Russians had recently built, also for the purposes of border guards. A few days after their arrival, the mayor 4 Husna called all of the Jews together and announced that, in accordance with an order of the Germans, the Jews of Husna and Kryvka must appear each day at the German command. Their task would be to provide wood, and to draw water from the well at the border house. At that time, the well was operated by hand (earlier, it was operated by horses).

Things went on and on, each day coming with new edicts... All cattle and fowl had to be given away...All heirlooms and gold were given away... People gave their belongings away, believing that this would be the end: that they would be allowed to keep their lives...

Hunger, want and terror grew stronger day by day. Jews of Husna and Kryvka went around with wooden shoes, torn and in shackles – and starving. They went to their work with the Germans day by day. Each day, they had to fill up the tankers with 3,000 liters of water. The Ukrainians did not even let the Jews grind a small amount of oats in the Husner water mill, which had previously belonged to the Jews Tzvi Goldreich and Yitzchak Hanes of blessed memory.

Terrible news came from all sides... This was the situation until the final liquidation in the summer of 1942.

Translator's Footnotes:
  1. The three-word title of this section are the three words of the first verse of the biblical book of Lamentations (Eicha). The entire first section has words interspersed from the book of Eicha in a semi-poetic fashion. Return
  2. I was unable to definitively identify this village using the Shtetl Seeker of http://www.jewishgen.org, or my atlas. I assume that Husna Vyzna and Husna Nyzna are tiny villages near Turka. Other towns in the article, Turka, Kryvka (actually Kryvka in the text, but spelled with the v), and Borinya (or Borynya) were identifiable. Return
  3. An obviously sarcastic commandment. The Yiddish / Hebrew word used here is 'mitzvah', signifying a Jewish religious commandment. Return
  4. The word here is not clear 'saltim'. I translated by context. Return

 

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