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We lived in Belica by near the Neman, on the marketplace. There were six members of our family: Our parents, and four children. When the German murderers entered the shtetl, I was twenty years old. Together with my sister Sarah, I attempted to flee to Russia, to get as far as possible from the Germans. To our misfortune, we had to return home after several days. Belica had been burned down from one end to the other. My parents were located with my great-aunt Dvor'keh, my aunt's sister. We immediately began to feel what the Germans were. In a small residence, apart from my great-aunt and her family (from whom there are no survivors), there lived also Zerakh son of Abraham and his mother Malka, as well as another family – a sum total of twelve people.

On one of the first days, the Germans assembled us near Reuven Baranchik's house, and they let us know that we have no rights at all, and no worth, and that we must turn over all radio sets and arms to them. Along with this, there was also the order that from Sunday on, we would be required to wear the yellow badges (a yellow Star of David) on a white background. Then they took out the Rabbi and Chaim-Itzik – my uncle (my aunt's brother), the pharmacist Wismonsky, and Shmuel-Herzl Novogrudsky (the baker) and other Jews. They harnessed the Rabbi ז”ל to a wagon, on which there were piled broken pieces from various armaments, left behind by the Russian soldiers. A German got on the wagon and sat there, and order that he be taken to Paracany. On the way there, they fired their guns over the heads of the Jews. Their fear was great. This took place on the second Friday after the Germans arrived in the shtetl. That Saturday was a sorrowful one for us. On Sunday, they returned beaten and broken.

The Three Meckel sisters

After this, they tore boards out of the fence of the school, and stood themselves in two rows, one facing the other, and ordered us, one at a time to run between them. They beat us with mortal blows, in the presence of our neighbors. One of the, a young man from Lida named Zalman, who had lived with Moshe the Carpenter (Father of Luzer-Meir) died from the beating he received. This is what the first days were like under the Germans, and these – were the first of our troubles. Balabanski, may his name be erased, became the burgomaster of the entire town, and young mieszczany became policemen. At night, they would come and conduct inspections in the homes of those that they had a grudge against since the time that the Soviets ruled

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Belica. They confiscated all of the horses, wagons and also the cows. We were left literally with nothing. They drove us to a variety of work: Knocking down the walls of houses, taking the bricks and – [paving] the roads. At night we would sleep under the open sky, or in the burned out locations, because we were afraid to sleep in the houses.

One day, after noon, a group of soldier-murderers arrived, and they demanded that Chaim-Yitzhak Kremen and Fyv'keh Menashe Stotsky come with them to gather up a specific number of eggs. After they had procured the required number of eggs, the Germans took them along with them, and shot them at Mshilicy on the other side of the Neman.

The Angel of Death became a house guest at every turn. On one day, about a month after the start of the war, and expedition arrived in the shtetl, a type of punitive command unit, which had the mission to kill out the majority of the Jewish men. However, while the fear was very great, many were able to flee to wherever they could.

At that time, I was among those who had fled. The Germans rounded up – thirty six Jews, with the Rabbi at their head. The murderers subjected them to a variety of tortures. After that, they practically buried them alive in the small culvert by the Russian Orthodox Church.

After this, we gathered at Dvora'keh's house, and we began to assess our difficult situation. We selected a delegation, which consisted of: Israel Zlocowsky, Eliyahu Sokolowsky (the teacher), and my father, Israel-Meiram. We decided that the delegation should go off to Balabanski and talk to him: – to persuade him to offer them help, insofar as assuring that it should become a bit calmer in the shtetl, and that it should become possible to procure bread, to earn something, or to barter whatever valuables remained.

Balabanski received them and heard out their plea, and he promised that from his side, he would not permit anything bad to happen. He ordered that baking be done at the bakery of Shlomo (my father's brother), and those working there, receive a quarter kilogram of bread as payment. He also issued permits to permit work to be done in the villages. In this way, he permitted the transport of potatoes, that everyone then stored up.

Around the Holidays, we found out that we will be driven out of Belica, because Belica being a Selsky-Soviet, Jews are not permitted to live there. We also heard they want to transfer us, while locked up, to Lida, which itself had been burned down, like Belica. In order to avoid this, a large part of the Belica Jews fled,

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some to Zhetl, and some to Scucyn, and a small part – to Lida.

This angered the Germans, and they took twenty-four men as hostages, in order to deter those who still remained from fleeing. Thanks to the delegation, which was active, and also to the Jews of Zhetl, a large sum of money was procured, and they went off to Balabanski to get the men released. The twenty-four men were released, and on one was hurt.

New troubles started with us in the Zhetl ghetto. It was not easy, because in the end, we were the ones who had arrived from another shtetl. Despite this, the Zhetl Jews deserve an immense Yasher-Koach. They did have means with which to take us in.

We were sent to do a variety of labor. I worked in the headquarters of the gendarmes, as a gardener, up to the First Great Slaughter, which took place in Zhetl on Iyyar 13 (April 30, 1942). During this slaughter, my entire family and I survived alive. Using my work permit, I was even able to rescue Bash'keh and her son, Zerakh.

After the slaughter, I was sent to work in Dvarec. From Dvarec, I came back to Zhetl. I found myself work as a harness maker, in a cooperative. The pressure was very great, because there were already partisans in the area. A little at a time, the young people began to organize themselves. My sister Sarah and I wanted to go off to the forest. She consistently argued, that if one has to die – then one should die free. Indeed, she died before my dear parents and other sisters.

It happened like this: On one night, the partisans fell upon the Zhetl gendarmerie (this was ten days before the Second Great Slaughter, which took place on the 23^rd day of Menachem-Av). The report of gunfire woke us up. Sarah began to run to her other girlfriends, and boyfriends with the objective of leaving with the partisans, and going into the forest. Running this way, she was wounded in the kidneys. A few days later, she died, with these words on her lips: ‘I am better off, at this point, than you!’ Sarah was buried according to Jewish custom at the Zhetl cemetery.

The Second Great Slaughter arrived. We were anticipating that it would happen on any day. We went to the assembly point, because I have a permit, and so did my father. Thanks to this, we thought, they will once again prolong our right to live. We were laid out on the ground face down. Autos were brought, and people were

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taken to the large pits, which the murderers had prepared in advance, not far from the Zhetl cemetery.

The favored craftsmen were taken to the cinema. There I encountered Yankl and Ber'l. So, from our entire substantial family, there in the cinema, we remained only three. We were held for three days, not being permitted to attend to our bodily functions, or giving us anything to eat or drink.

From Zhetl, we were led off to Novogrudok. There, I was separated from Yankl and Ber'l. I was in the ‘Sï_d Okrï_gowy’^[1] of Novogrudok. They were staged for exile, and they worked as locksmiths.

I remained alone in the Sond, like a solitary rock, dispirited. We were given 120 grams of bread a day, with a small pot of soup.

Having nothing to lose, I took an additional five men, and we went to the Lida ghetto, because it was said that it is better in the Lida ghetto. On being in the Lida ghetto, I made contact with my uncle Israel and aunt Taib'eh in Scucyn. I wanted to come to them. However, they did not counsel me. Through Scucyn people that worked in Lida, they sent me food and clothing. In the Lida ghetto, I did not have a stable dwelling place. For most of the time, I was with Yud'l Zlocowsky. It was very difficult to survive in the Lida ghetto, because after the liquidation of the Vilna ghetto, many people from Vilna came to the Lida ghetto. The Germans looked for those who had come in from other places, and those who did not have passports, were shot right on the spot.

It was very hard for me to get settled in the Lida ghetto. On one clear day, I left with Gershon Yankelewsky of Breslau. Had we not left, we would have been turned over to the German gendarmerie.

We went off to Dvarec, because Benjamin Galinsky – aunt Dvora'keh's son was there, my cousin. It was far from easy getting there. We could not use the direct roads out of fear of being discovered. We were able to cross the Neman River fortuitously because of the following circumstance: a Christian came from the village of Bondary, and left his boat ast the shore of the river. I took the log to which the boat was tethered into the boat, and we rode over to the other side. After three days and three nights, we came to Dvarec.

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In Dvarec, with Benjamin, I encountered Chay'keh Chaim-Yitzhak's as well as Tanhum-Aharon, the son of R' Itcheh the Shammes. It was very crowded for us, and there also was nothing to eat. Benjamin would take something out of the house, and for it, he would buy something to eat. His family consisted of five people, and to that: three of us arrived and were added.

I must underscore that Benjamin showed us friendship and brotherliness. He shared his last bite with us.

When I was in Dvarec, a daughter of Lejzor Mosh'keh's came from the forest (her name was Mash'keh) to procure medicaments. She told that the people in the forest have fallen ill with scabies. She asked for a bit of bandages, pitch and fat.

From her, I became aware that my uncle David Hirsch'l Meckel was to be found in the forest, and she took me into the forest – into the Lipiczany Forest.

My uncle received me with satisfaction, and we were together. During this time, there was a massive assault. The Germans drew off sixty thousand troops from the front, and they came into the area and began to burn all of the surrounding villages. After this, they took up residence around the forest. However, they could not support themselves here for very long, and this was our good fortune. They thought that as soon as they will burn down all of the villages, the partisans will all die out from hunger and cold. But, actually, this simply served to enlarge the partisan movement, because many of the peasants, who now had nothing left to lose, joined the ranks of the partisans, in order to avenge themselves on the Germans.

That entire winter, was passed in a constant state of trouble. It had gone so far, that David Hirsch'l wanted to return to the Scucyn ghetto. I, personally, was against this. I told him that the opposite was true: It is necessary to bring aunt Taib'eh with Israel and the children out of Scucyn.

We drew nearer to our own shtetl of Belica, in order to find out what was going on in Lida and the vicinity.

We learned that Israel, and his son Yaakov, were to be found in the Lida jail, and work in the ‘Todt’ [labor camp]. I wrote them a letter [delivered] through Bobrownik the Droï_nik, who was a great friend to the Jews. It was not only once that he put his life in danger on behalf of the Jews. Thanks to him, we had contact with other people from Belica, who were to be found in Lida.

Thanks are also due to Rachel Itzkowitz, Luzer-Meir and Mikhl Gruznik, who brought a group of Jews out of the Lida ghetto and among them was my uncle Israel and his son, Yaakov Zlocowsky. The joy was very great. Our family became larger, and we began to be concerned with the rest of our family. As Taib'eh and her remaining children were to be found in Scucyn, we went off to the village of Zbljany, to a certain Christian (I have since forgotten his name) and he rode to the Scucyn ghetto and brought out my aunt ans her two children from there.

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With the Partisans

Being young, and while we had a thirst for vengeance against our murderers, Yaakov and I decided to joint a diversionary action group, which had come from the other side of the front. This was the Oktyabr Otryad, of the Pervomayska Brigade. The Otryad was under the command of a Captain (Kovalov). The second in command (‘Штабной’) was named Alexander Garelick.

We were not any less committed than the other non-Jewish partisans, but quite the opposite, we even more fired up. We fulfilled all missions that the others assigned to us. To my account, I have four derailed trains. Also, my cousin, Yankl Zlocowsky also carried out all of his missions, and maybe more. We were in the partisan movement for more than two years.

The Red Army liberated us in the month of July 1944. Our entire brigade was assembled in Minsk. there we received recognition and we celebrated the victory of liberated Byelorussia from the Nazi bandits.

We didn't gad about idly for very long. Voluntarily, we presented ourselves for service in the Red Army. There, we took further revenge for our beloved martyrs.

I and my cousin, Yaakov Zlocowsky, were together for the entire time. We arrived in a school for non-commissioned officers, where we trained together for several months. We were given military ranks. We did not disgrace our roots. Quite the opposite, we were always the role model for other nationalities.

After the non-commissioned officers school, we went to the front. We were together in one division, but each of us in a different battery.

We fought, starting in the north of Warsaw. I, personally, got to Grudziï_dz' Rumenica – the one-time Polish-German border. There, I was wounded in the right hand, something I suffer from to this day. When I was wounded. I requested that they call my cousin Yaakov. My good comrades fulfilled my wish, and it was then I parted from him forever.

I was taken off to the hospital, and Yaakov proceeded ahead. He fell on May 2, 1945, at the gates of Berlin. My heart weeps for him more than for anyone else. He was all of 24 years old.

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From the Hospital Back to Belica

I lay in the hospital for eight months. This hospital was located about 600 km from Moscow in Saransk. After leaving the hospital, I came back to Belica, where my uncle Israel and aunt Taib'eh waited for me.

We began thinking about leaving Belica forever. It did not take very long, and we went away to Poland.

We didn't tarry long in Poland, and by illegal means, we arrived in Austria. We spent three years in Austria in the camps. In Linz (Austria) I got married, and my wife and I waited for the ability to travel to the Land of Israel.

Today we are in the Land of Israel, where we, the surviving remnants, raise our families once again, with the single wish, that future generations should learn from our tribulations and, God forbid, not have to withstand such severe testing.

Translator's footnote:

1. Polish for a District Court. Return

[Page 310]

Beside the New House of Chaim-Reuven Baranchik

Chaim-Reuven Baranchik & the family

Seeing that, since the First World War, when he was impressed into forced labor, the fingers of my father's hands were frozen off, my mother Vikhn'eh ע”ה, carried the entire burden for our support: she did agricultural labor, carried on the commerce with the peasants of the area, and would serve the guests who would travel by into our eatery.

We were six children, the youngest brother being Henokh.

When the German order was issued that the Jews of Belica must leave the shtetl, and travel over to a larger city, like, for example, Lida, our family, the Baranchik family, decided to travel to Zhetl: we had many friends there and Christian acquaintances in the shtetl and surrounding villages. We retained the services of a Christian with a wagon, taking along only the needed possessions, and the remaining possessions, we gave to other Christians for safekeeping in their possession. (We took in Christian neighbors in the two houses that we owned).

When we arrived in Zhetl, there was not yet a ghetto. We went to live in the house of our friends – the Bussel family. When the ghetto was erected, we were given a dwelling together with several other families, with up to eight people in a room.

When the first order was issued, that all the Jews must assemble at a designated assembly point, we wanted for our parents not to go, but rather to conceal themselves in a bunker that we had previously prepared. However, our mother said: If the children are going – we will also go. And so, all of us went out to the assembly point. My father went out with Frad'keh and Gershon, and my mother – with Henokh and Hasia; Nachman went with my sister Sarah (Nachman had a work permit). During the selektion, my father was separated out and put with the group designated for extermination. A policeman also wanted to take Sarah to that group, but a second policeman ordered her to stay, and so she remained alive.

My father, feeling that he was going to his death, said: ‘I am going to my death, but I hope that my young children will yet avenge our blood.’

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The group designated to die was shot in woods near Zhetl.

After the slaughter, the ghetto was downsized, and we received a room in a bakery. Nachman dismantled part of the baking oven, and prepared it to be used as a bunker for hiding out during a time of need. [At the time of] the Second Great Slaughter , when the order went out to assemble at the designated place, we hid ourselves in the bunker with about forty people from Zhetl and Belica. Henokh was not in the bunker, and in order to reach us, he had to run through the ranks of the murderers, and was wounded in the feet, but despite this, managed to reach us in the bunker.

The bunker was small for that many people. There was a lack of air and water. Night came, and Hasia wanted to go outside, but Chay-Sarah Meir's did not let her go out, being afraid, lest the location of the bunker be disclosed. After a lengthy conversation, the two did exit the bunker. They brought water, and went back with the idea of going to the partisans, with whom they had clandestine contact. Silently, they passed through the region from the ghetto and left with the idea of going to a Christian that they knew in Zachepichi. After their departure, the remaining people came out of the bunker, all with the same idea.

Henokh was considerably weakened, and starved. Accordingly, he said to Nachman that he could not go any further, and he remained lying in a small wooded area. Nachman pleaded with him to continue going further. In the meantime, a Christian arrived, who threatened to turn them over to the Germans. Nachman took off his watch, and gave it to the Christian. He took the watch, and went away. On that day, they hid themselves among the bushes, and at night went off further.

My mother and Sarah also blundered until they encountered a Christian, who beat them, and wanted to turn them over to the Germans. Afterwards, the Christian recognized my mother and told her to get away from that location as quickly as possible. We both hid among the corn stalks for the entire day, and at night, we proceeded further towards our destination. At the end of the night, we arrived at the Zachepichi Forest. There, Nachman came towards us, but we did not recognize him because of his appearance and dress. We ran away from him, and he ran after us, shouting: ‘Mama, it's me!’ Then, we turned around and together went into the forest. There, we constructed a cot, and we lay Henokh on it. Nachman tied the ends of the cot together, held on to Henokh's head, and my mother and I carried the lighter part of his body – the feet. On our way, we encountered Zalman Yosselewicz, wearing a sack, badly beaten, and we were with him, until he located his children.

During the first time, we suffered a great deal from hunger and thirst, because we were afraid to show ourselves in the village, so that the Christians not turn us over to the Germans. One time, we encountered a Christian, who was a pauper and a drunk. Later in, he helped us a great deal: he brought us bread and spirits, and a variety of roots to heal Henokh's foot. After that, we gave one of Gershon's outfits to a Christian, and he would give us flour a bit at a time, and bread, but because of a scarcity of water, we could not cook.

Through the forest, we drew nearer to the Neman, where we encountered a few Belica families. Also here, Nachman constructed an earth-bunker under a tree, such that the smoke from the oven would pass through the bare tree. For two months we knew and heard nothing of Hasia, until she conveyed, via a Christian woman we knew, that she is alive, and is in a partisan group. Four months later, Hasia, along with other

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partisans, came to visit us. They were wearing German clothes, and we all became terrible frightened and fled. However, my mother recognized Hasia. Everybody came back, except that I had run sufficiently far away, that I could not recognize where the bunker was. For nearly two weeks, I was with a Christian, and in the end, a Christian woman led me out, and showed me the way to the bunker.

Henoch and I went off to see Hasia. In the meantime, the German assault on the forest drew nearer. As my mother was hanging out laundry near the bunker, the Germans got closer to the bunker. Everyone fled the bunker through the second exit, and my mother got close to the first exit. One of the Germans threw a grenade in, and my mother was killed. Chaim also fell among the bushes. When it again became quiet in the forest, we returned and buried the dead. Several weeks passed before all of the living were able to get back together and made a bunker anew.

After my mother's death, Henoch went off with a group of partisans to procure bread. Entering the village of Novoselki they were shot at. Henoch was carrying a white sack on his back, and because of this he was a target for the shooting. A bullet hit him in the head, near the eyes, and he fell, and all of his companions scattered and fled. He suffered alone for three days, not speaking, and being unable to see. Christians later told us, that wrestling with death, he dug a pit around himself with his feet. Then the Christians asked the Germans, what they should so with the wounded Jewish partisan. The Germans ordered them to bury him alive.

Henoch was then 16 years old.

El'keh Yevunowicz (Reisner)

The Nazi murderers exterminated El'keh with our little daughter Malka'leh and my entire family: My father and mother, brothers and sisters, and their children. Also, a sister of El'keh, Dob'keh and her husband, stepsister Leah'keh, and her mother – were all killed in the Novardok ghetto together with my family.

May their names be memorialized for all time in the Yizkor Book of the Belica martyrs. And may the German murderers suffer eternal punishment, those who exterminated entire Jewish families for the sole sin of being Jewish.

Take revenge on the accursed murderers of the Jewish people!

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They are two brothers and a sister, the children of Bash'eh bat Eliezer and Zalman ben Yitzhak Fleischer. The other children in the family were: Eliezer, Yitzhak, Velvel, Sarah and Shoshana.

Zalman Fleischer

At Purim time, the temporary headquarters for baking matzos for the entire shtetl was in our house. We would even send matzos to Warsaw. Our Belica matzos had a good reputation. they also brought an income to our Belica residents and us among them.

In 1927, our sister Sarah emigrated to Argentina, where she is to this day. She has a husband, a daughter and a son, and have a nice family life.

In the thirties, our sister Shoshana made aliyah to the Land of Israel, and following her – our brother Yitzhak. To this day, they can be found in Kfar-Saba. While still back home, they belonged to the Halutz movement, and were in the avant-garde of the shtetl youth which was drawn to the Land of Israel.

Our more-or-less normal life continued until that summer day in 1941, when the Germans crossed the Soviet border. Immediately, on the first Saturday, the bandits burned down our shtetl. The only thing that remained was the Njacec street and half of the street on which Lejzor the Shokhet lived. We lived at the house of Lejzor Green (Uszczer).

The people living there were: Our family, Benjamin Green with Bash'eh with two children, and Mot'keh (Lejzor's brother) with Malka Zerakh's with two girls. All together we were 21 people, all in one house.

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After this, at night, we traveled to the Zhetl ghetto. There, too, it was not good for us. We went off to a variety of work, for example, in Dvarec dragging stones and building an aerodrome, chopping wood in the forest, etc.

During the First Great Slaughter, which took place on 13 Iyyar, we lost our elderly father, who was already in his eighties. The echo of his recitation of the ‘Ashrei Temimi’ prayer every Sabbath afternoon after Mincha, still reverberates in our ears, and that – with such a sweet voice, that can never be forgotten by us.

Our younger brother Velvel, and Vikhn'eh, my wife, were the first martyrs.

Until the Second Great Slaughter in Zhetl, which took place on 23 Menachem-Av, we lived in trouble, with 50 or 60 people crammed into one house.

On the day of the slaughter, we lay hidden in hideaways. Our hideout was in the bakery, under the oven. We had previously dug out the dirt and crawled through a small opening that was under the cover (Kotikh). The hiding place was designed for ten people, and we were 25 people. We heard the shooting and the shouting from the Germans and their accomplices. They threw grenades into the houses, tore up the floors, and called for everyone to emerge from their hiding places. We lay like this for 48 hours, in severe overcrowding, and bad sanitary conditions. The first to exit the bunker were: Myself (Herzl) and Meir with the family; Yud'l Kusielewicz with his family, and Zalman the younger boy. Upon exiting, I did not know where to go, because I had no strength. Nevertheless, the inner impetus drove me on. I went through the gentile gardens, and I knocked at the door of a Christian. He gave me a bit of tobacco, because he had no bread. He showed me the way to the Zachepichi Forests.

Along the way, I encountered Christians on their way to Zhetl, to rob Jewish assets. I asked them if they had met up with anyone. The Christians fled without answering me yes or no. On proceeding further, I met an elderly Christian who was pasturing a horse. I got a bit of tobacco from him, and he showed me the way to the forest. It was in this way, more or less, that I dragged myself to the Zachepichi Forest. As I was traversing the forest, I noticed how a person was running past me. I recognized him from afar, seeing that this was Velvel Kreinowicz (Lejzor Mosh'keh's). I called him over and he told me that there are other Jews in the forest, who had saved themselves from the slaughter.

About a week later, wandering this way through the forest, I met up with my brother Yankl, Lei'shkeh and my sister Chaya-Tcherna. This was my greatest joy in life, because I thought that I had been left as the only one from my many-branched family.

At the time that the Great Slaughter was started. Lei'shkeh came home from prayers and told that the ghetto had been surrounded. I sent everyone off into the hideout, and tried to save myself by other means. This did not work out for me. Running back to the hideout, I encountered Dr. Cohen from Warsaw, who shouted

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to me, that I should quickly run away, because [otherwise] I will be shot. I asked him why he too was not fleeing, to which he answered: ‘It is here that I will end my seventy years.’

We were in a second hideout which was at Ziom'keh from Vilna. The hideout was dug out in a stall and was camouflaged. There were 19 of us in the hideout. We lay there for three days. Among us, was a woman from Vilna with a child, named Borovow. The child began to cry, and the rest wanted to strangle the child. But since no one was willing to actually do this, but also because the mother did not want to risk the lives of the remaining 17 people, she left the hideout. She was immediately shot, along with the child, without revealing where we were.

From Thursday on, since the slaughter began – until Saturday night – we sat without food, without drink, or a bit of air. When we came out, we did not know whether it was day or night.

In this condition, we fled to Zaset'. Before reaching the village, we split up: I went off first, and the rest lay down underneath the small bridge, thinking that anything could happen to me, but the rest should remain alive. In this fashion, we reached as far as the village of Pogiry. Upon arriving there, I went to a Christian that I knew, who gave me some tobacco and shared the last of the bread he had with me. He showed me the way so as not to run into the Germans, who, together with their hangers-on, were lying in ambush waiting for Jews that had fled. Midway, we saw a shepherd, who was pasturing cows. He showed us the way to the Zachepichi Forest.

Arriving in the Zachepichi Forest, we heard the cries of children. This was little Sender, Yosh'keh-Itzk'keh's Mayewsky. When we met, we all began to cry, and Sender was hungry, which is why he cried the whole time. Yosh'keh proposed to me that I get Sender to quiet down. He wanted to pay me for this. He had 1100 Rubles with him. I did not consent to this. I promised him that we could carry him to a Christian. We began to attempt to quiet him down using other means. We fed him with fresh green peas, and gave him a lot of water to drink. But this did not help. Later on, we gave him a sizeable amount of baked potatoes to eat, and this too had no effect. We caused the child much other trouble, but fated decreed that Sender remain alive, and today he is located in The United States of America.

A week later, in the company of stragglers, near Zbljany, we met up with out brother Herzl.

After this we, our family, dug out a zemlyanka in the Zachepichi Forest, not far from Pressl, and lived like everyone else in the forest. We suffered through there until 1943, at which time we moved closer to the partisan groups, because being closer to them was more secure.

It was very bad for us in the last year, because the front started to get near and the Germans and Vlasovites occupied all of the villages. We could not go out for food, and we suffered considerably from hunger, sustaining ourselves literally with grass and berries.

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We provided yet another martyr – our beloved brother Lei'shkeh. He was in a partisan group and was killed. We buried him with our own hands in the forest, behind an oak, where other fallen Jewish partisans lie in their eternal rest. For the Belica Semyna^[1] groups, this was a great loss, because he was very dedicated to all the Belica people, and he was very well oriented towards the forest.

We lived like this until August 1944. The Red Army liberated us. We came back to our shtetl Belica, solitary and broken. It was then that we began to sense the great calamity that had befallen our people.

We did not remain in Belica for very long. We sensed the enmity of our neighbors towards us. As soon as a means to get to Poland opened up to us, we went off there, with the hope, that from there, we would be able to travel on further. And, indeed, this is what happened.

From Poland we traveled to Budapest, and from there, to Austria. In Austria, we sat in the camps and waited, for the opportunity to get to the Land of Israel, and to meet with our sisters and brothers. Thanks to God, we lived long enough to accomplish this, and upon our arrival in Israel, we, indeed, were reunited with them. We live in Kfar-Saba. In our present happiness, we never forget our dear and beloved Jews of our shtetl Belica by the Neman, who were exterminated in such a terrifying manner.

Translator's footnote:

1. From the Russian word for a small family group. Return

From the right: Benjamin Baran (‘Lamai Pasuda’) and Israel Zlocowsky after the Liberation (1945)

A virulent anti-Semitism reigned in the Otryad. Apart from me, there were two other Jews: One Leon'keh (Leib'l Wolkowysky), born in Belica and lived in Zhaludok. (a son of Abraham'keh Mun'keh's) and a Jewish girl from Slonim, Lyuba Abramowicz.

The Christian partisans so hated the Jews, that it was literally a risk to life for Jewish partisans and Semyna to meet with them in the forest. Indeed, because of this, Jews suffered greatly in the forest, most of them frm Belica, those who were fortunate enough to save themselves from the slaughters, and lived in zemlyankas in the forest – on the other side of the Neman – together with their families.

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Jews from neighboring towns concentrated themselves around the Belica Jews. I would sometimes visit these so-called ‘Semyna Groups’ where I would feel very good and at ease, as would be among Jews.

On one occasion, it was in September 1943, several Christian partisans, from our Otryad, fell upon a zemlyanka in the forest. The S. family from Lida lived in that zemlyanka. They raped the mother and daughter, and not satisfied with this, they poured out the dough from the mixing trough, and excreted on it.

The commander of the diversionary group found out about this incident, and after a short investigation, took the guilty ones out, and had then shot near the crucifix of the village.

Upon learning about this, the shkotzim from our Otryad began to circulate in those areas and looked for Jews, in order to avenge their comrades. One time, when I was riding my horse near the village of Gezgaly, I saw how a Belica family, man, his wife, and two children were going in the direction of the village for food. I stopped them and told them that our partisans are circulating in the village, who are only looking for an opportunity to shoot Jews. However, nothing helped, and they stubbornly went off to the village. This gave me no surcease. I allowed them to proceed, but, at a distance, I followed them, in order to see what would happen.

On nearing the village, they were stopped by the partisans from our Otryad, who immediately began to shout: ‘Ho, here come the plunderers to rob’ and the partisans immediately began to search them.

The plaints of the unfortunates did not help, saying that they had come to beg for some bread from the peasants. The bandits wanted to shoot them immediately. I rode up, and immediately began to plead for their lives, saying to them: ‘What do you want from them? You can see that here there are two small children.’

The bandits let them go out of fear of me, who could be a witness and testify to what they might have done. They also took into account how I could, at the right opportunity, repay them in kind.

In a second instance, I also had the opportunity to save the Semyna Group, in which additional Belica Jews could be found, in addition to the Novogrudok family, and Nachman Baranchik. I learned that the partisans from our Otryad were looking for the sled tracks by which they could reach their zemlyankas, in order to plunder and kill. Immediately after I heard this, I rode off quickly on my horse to the village of Gezgaly, and sent a written message with a peasant, that they should leave their location as quickly as they can. As soon as they got my message, the Jews left the zemlyankas, to a second place, and to their good fortune, there were no casualties. On the following morning, the partisan-bandits did indeed fall upon the zemlyankas, robbed and then burned everything. Nachman and his family fled, literally, at the last moment before the attack. In this way, the Belica Jews, for the second time, rescued themselves from a certain death.

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