During the massacre in which they died, we remained in our hiding place. There twenty-eight of us: Our family; Zaydl BOYARSKY and family; Isaac WILANSKI and family; and some families from Divenishak. While we were hidden, the Nazis went looking for victims. They suspected that we were in hiding, but couldn't find us. Some of us thought we had time to run out to the courtyard, which was not far from the marketplace, where everybody was lying on the ground face down. The others, who were in the majority, decided not to go; and so, nobody went. We stayed where we were; those who had been outside, ready to join the other Jews in the marketplace, came back inside. The bandits left. From our hiding place we could hear the shouts and the shooting. We stayed hidden all day until the slaughter was over.

  Our next-door neighbor was Dr. GORDON, who had come to Woronowa together with all the other Jews from Dzvenishke. At first, he had wanted to join us in the hiding place (bunker) but then he decided to go to the marketplace. He survived, came back and tapped on the wall of our bunker, telling us that all the survivors had been registered; and he had been able to put our names on the list. He urged us to go out quickly and join the other Jews. At first, we didn't answer because we didn't believe he was really Dr. GORDON. We were convinced it was a stool pigeon who wanted to kill us or get us killed. Then, Dr. GORDON returned; and this time, we recognized his voice. He began to yell at us--why were we sitting there?--so we all came out of the bunker and went to the marketplace and sat down among the survivors. Then, we were all driven to the "new place" in a ghetto, and several days later transported to the Lida ghetto.

  As soon as we got to Lida we were put to work at very hard jobs. Although we came home from work totally exhausted our neighbors and we set about digging a new bunker underground. We used to dig all night, and then carry the earth outside so that nobody should suspect anything. It took us two months to finish the bunker. At the slightest hubbub in the ghetto we would rush to our hiding place. We were in the Lida ghetto 16 months, and every single night someone would take over the watch, in case the killers appeared. One morning, at about 5 A.M. we noticed that the SS surrounded the ghetto; and we knew that something was up. Shortly, we found out that everyone must pack up his valuables because we would be sent to Lublin to work. We didn't believe them; and fifteen of us hid in the bunker. All the Jews were taken from the ghetto to Maidanek and the crematorium. The fifteen of us lay in the underground bunker for six whole days, without bread, without water; many of us passed out, lay unconscious; and there was nothing we could do to help them.

  Lying under the ground, we could hear the footsteps of the killers walking around and looking for us, for many bunkers had been discovered; and everyone was shot on the spot. After the sixth night, we decided to sneak out and try to escape. No matter what happened, we must get away because we knew that either we would be found and killed or we would starve to death or die of thirst in the bunker. On a dark, rainy night, we left the bunker and started to walk, feeling our way in the blackness. We reached the barbed wire fence that surrounded the ghetto. Because of the rain, there were fewer sentries than usual. We crawled through the barbed wire, cutting our hands and tearing our clothing. Our family was separated by the darkness. I had two children with me; and my wife had two children. We began to run, not knowing where we were going. The sentries' searchlights began to criss-cross the area. When they saw us walking they began to shoot, but the bullets misfired. We wandered about in the marshes, hoping to find each other, and almost collided with the guards. We lay quietly, hoping the guards would leave and we could proceed. Seeing that it was almost daylight, and we might be spotted, we decided to make a getaway. Crawling on our stomachs we came to the Jewish cemetery. Not far away was a sentry. When he saw us he started to shoot, but the bullets did not hit us, they fell near us.

  Thus crawling, we came to the house of a peasant we knew, who lived near the Regional Commissar. We went into the barn, and waited until someone came to feed the animals, and we would beg them to let us spend the night in the barn. Several hours later they came into the barn. We were shivering so with cold that we couldn't talk. By means of sign language and using our hands, we asked for warm food. They brought it, and told us to climb up the ladder to the top of the barn. Then they took away the ladder, and warned us to be very careful. We expected to stay the night but as soon as darkness fell they ran in and ordered us to leave immediately, because they were afraid the place would be searched and if Jews were found they would be in trouble. We had no place to go, so we decided to remain near the barn, and what would be would be. We had given them all the money we had, but it didn't help. They pointed in the direction of the forest and told us to go there. We dragged ourselves over to a tree; and there, huddled together, and shivering from cold, we waited for daylight, when we would be able to see where we were going.

  When daylight came, we went into the forest and started wandering about aimlessly. After a whole day, we thought we were far from the town by now, but actually it was only three kilometers away. We decided to take the highway; and so, I walked with my two children; all the passersby stared at us. We walked for six days looking for the partisans. On the eve of Rosh Hashonah, my wife and the two children and I with the two children found one another. The BIELITSKI family had been with my wife all this time; and so we stayed together. On the way we met up with other Jews. After walking for ten nights, because we had to hide in the daytime, we arrived in Naliboki where there was a partisan group of 1200 Jews with a Jewish commander BELSE. In the group, there were several women and children from the neighborhood. We stayed with them for ten months. We were naked and barefoot, often hungry and frequently frightened because the German planes used to bomb the forest; and there were many raids in search of partisans. We lived in hovels in the ground with forty men in each. Each of us had three centimeters of place to sleep.

  One morning the Russians liberated us. Eleven days before, the Germans attacked us and 9 Jews were shot to death. Even after liberation, we were in great danger and endured much suffering. The Germans were still everywhere; and the White Poles had come to Woronowa. When we arrived at the marketplace in Woronowa, we didn't see a single Jew and had no place to go. The Gentiles occupied all the former Jewish homes; and none of them would let us in. Several days later, some more Jews arrived; and we remained there for a year. Then we all went to Poland, with the idea of going from there to Palestine. Today, we are still in the Camps in Austria. I have put down my experiences in brief because to go into detail, one could write many books.

n a loud gunshot broke the stillness. The Russians, having come to an understanding with KABAK, were signaling to us that all was well and told us to proceed on our march.

  The Russian riders sent us away with five loaves of bread; and just as they had slipped out from the left side of the forest so suddenly, they vanished on their swift horses to the right side.

  When we arrived at our post on the edge of the forest to change our comrades for others it was growing dark.

  Our departing companions left us their binoculars, so that we could keep watch on the village on the other side of the Niemen River. [They] also showed us a wide, old weeping willow, which would be our observatory. They said goodbye quickly and went back to the base.

  The sun had almost set behind the village. The western sky was reflected in the shining, always placid, broad Nieman river. Several tardy cows splashed in the water, swimming home to their barns. Looking at this panorama and thinking of our own ruined lives, we felt sad and bitter.

  "Look how well off those Gentiles are," I said. "Under all regimes, and in all circumstances, they're [sic] remain in their own homes. They have enough bread to eat, sleep in a bed, till their soil, plow their fields, and nobody persecutes them, nobody murders them like they do us Jews. Maybe it doesn't even pay to fight; there is no room for us any place. What good is our life, without hope, without a future? Hitler and his gang have decided to annihilate every last one of us. There is no way out for us, why should we suffer?"

  "Comrade, comrade," came the answer in an angry voice. "Don't talk like that. You have been created and you must live and have faith in the Almighty and not ask questions."

  "But eventually one is bound to be disillusioned," I replied. "Our hearts are filled with gloom and bitterness. Our future is black."

  "Brother, don't lose you faith in God," persisted the rabbi. "We will live to see Hitler's downfall. Don't lose courage."

  Night fell. Darkness covered the earth like a thick blanket. We made beds for ourselves out of thin pine branches under the big trees, set up a watchman and fell asleep exhausted.

  We were awakened at dawn by nearby cannon fire, explosions, loud and continuous outbursts from automatics, bombs being thrown...the Nazis were blowing up bridges, mills, roads, destroying villages, and attacking our camps in the length and breadth of the forest.

  It was fiercely cold; our bones ached, our teeth rattled, there was a sour taste in our mouths; our hearts were heavy; we yawned apathetically; we were frightened, thinking: "How unfortunate we are; we are in a terrible position, our lives are worthless. We are being driven and persecuted everywhere. They want to destroy us, wipe us off the face of the earth. Our eyes are filled with tears but we dare not weep. It does not become a partisan to weep."

  "You know, fellows," said a half-frozen HESHKE, "here we don't have to observe any mitzvahs. We don't have to wash our hands in the morning--there is no water--we don't have to pray in the forest. I'll bet you that here in the forest I can choose the prettiest girl in the group; they their [sic] lives have no value, either, hungry, naked. Several weeks ago I got some food from the peasants and brought it back to the forest for commander   KESSLER's 'tavo' (girl friend) Rachel...She took an apple from me and gave me such a sweet look that my heart stopped."

  RACHMAN tossed HESHKE an angry look.

  t was only a short distance to the big weeping willow at the edge of the woods with its low, widespread branches. From this vantage point we could see, through the binoculars, the white houses of the village of Nissif [?]. We could see the children, the school, and the sentry.

  The first two to volunteer for sentry duty were KABAK and GUTELEVSKI. They checked their weapons and slunk silently to a spot where they could clearly observe the village on the other side of the Nieman River. Each comrade stood on guard under the big tree twice a day.

  Not far from our observation point, in the middle of the field on the edge of the forest, was a mound of earth. Our comrades debated: some thought it was a grave of unknown partisans whom the Nazis or the "Whites" (our Polish, Lithuanian and Ukrainian neighbors who assisted the Nazis) had murdered and buried here in the middle of the field.

  Others thought this was an abandoned potato pit, where peasants store potatoes from fall to spring.
  There were many incidents where wandering Jewish families, who had lost their way fleeing from the ghetto, were captured by peasants and given into the hands of the Nazis or the Lithuanian, Ukrainian and Polish henchmen, who shot them on the spot. The "catchers" [were] rewarded with a few kilograms of salt.

  We finally decided that towards evening three comrades, including this writer would investigate this strange pit.

  We thought if this was a partisan burial place it is worth finding out, maybe we could find a clue that would tell us who they were, because transporting them elsewhere was impossible at a dangerous time like this.

  After sunset we looked around us carefully, to make sure that the coast was clear, and then moved cautiously toward the sand pile that lay over the top of the pit.

  When we came close, we realized immediately that this was a potato pit and not a partisan-grave. Our hearts leaped for joy. This meant that we would have food for our families for a week at least. We moved aside the lopsided door. Inside it was pitch dark. We did not dare use a lantern. The slightest glimmer of light would be highly dangerous.

  We got hold of two beams of wood and all three lowered ourselves slowly into the dark. When we got to the bottom, we could feel that we were not stepping on potatoes but on a slimy mass that moved under our feet. We reached down and touched something wet and slippery, quivering. We listened and heard a terrible hissing from all sides, and realized that we were in a snake pit. "Let's get out of here," I shouted. "Save yourselves, comrades! This is a snake pit!" By some mysterious power, a strength we didn't know we had, we managed to climb up out of that horrible place.

  [This is the end of this manuscript--page 135 but for the additional page follows, under the heading 'extra page – no number']

  …we asked again: "Little stool, tell us, if there will be peace next year? The stool did not move. A sign – that the answer was no. When we asked, in how many months will Woronow Jews be redeemed, the stool tapped nine times. We considered this a good sign and consoled ourselves with the thought that our salvation will come very soon. The stool did not deceive us. Nine months later, our "salvation" did come. Exactly nine months later, the horrendous massacre of Woronow Jews took place. The stool became the hero of the day.

  A group of Jews locked themselves in, day and night, and asked the magic stool questions, which it answered. The Jews comforted themselves with the little stool's predictions, which revived their spirits like a restorative medicine during those bitter, hopeless days and terror-filled nights of dread, isolation, pain, and suffering.

  When a woman did not believe her husband about these omens, he assured her that what the stool foretold had come to pass in six houses so there is no doubt anymore; and we must have faith.

  From all this, we can conclude that our young people and intellectuals were very neurotic. They were grasping at straws, looking for a ray of light that would pierce the gloom of their existence. It must be noted that if the Nazi authorities had any inkling about the magic powers and miracles demonstrated by the stool, they would accuse the Jews of trying to destroy the Nazi State with its SS, Gestapo, and Reichwehr. Our fate would be sealed.

  When the Wilno and Lithuanian Jews asked the stool when they would return home, it stood motionless on one of its legs. This was a bad omen. But Jews are a people who don't give up hope until the last moment and whose faith is eternal.

DEPEND UPON GOD TO RESCUE US:
[NOTE: The manuscript ends here.]

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