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Those Jews who remained in Ushachi perished later.
Among those who remained was my brother Ele. He (together with his family) came to Ushachi to visit our parents. On July 4, 1941 (early in the morning) they tied their cow to the cart and started moving eastward. Several families followed them. Having covered 35 kilometers, they reached the small Ulla River and saw the wooden bridge in ruins. The retreating Red Army soldiers, who did not want Germans to cross the river and pursue them, had destroyed it the day before. The Jews became panic-stricken. At that moment, the Germans approached them and ordered to come back home. The carts returned home.
At first, the Germans left Jews alone. It was a disturbing calm.
Later, my cousin Aron, Isaya’s son (Isaya was my father’s brother) was the first in our family executed by Germans. And at the end of summer 1941, all Jews in Ushachi were ordered to move to the left bank of the river into houses located around the small synagogue (those houses were cleared out beforehand). So that was the way ghetto in Ushachi was organized. Children and old men, sick and disabled people moved there. It was their last shelter.
My brother Ele managed to get out of the ghetto. People advised him not to come back. He could be rescued, especially because at that time partisan groups were being organized nearby. Ele thought it over, gathered some food, and made a decision to go back to his family. But in the ghetto, the Germans took the food away from him. Ele’s wife gave birth to a boy, but several hours later he died of hypothermia.
It happened on January 12, 1942. People in the ghetto were ordered to stand in line. The Germans said that they would be sent to the east by train. Jews moved forward under he escort of submachine gunners. They covered several hundreds of meters, and then the column was ordered to go right (to the left bank of the river). Everyone who was still able to think realized that it was their final journey.
Here I’ll retell you the story of an acquaintance, whom I met in 1950: ‘The day before the execution, the Germans forced twenty strong men to dig a hole near the road. The ground was very frozen, therefore the hole was not very deep. The Germans stopped the column in front of the hole, selected parties of 20-25 people, and shot them using submachine guns. Injured people were pushed down in the hole alive.’
Two days later, Germans brought about 200 Jews from the Kublichi shtetl to the same place. They were executed by shooting the same way as the previous group of Jews. Along with the Kublichi Jews, my brother Isaak Lerman, the German language schoolteacher, was shot, too. He would have preferred to remain alive but in hell, but he refused to work for Germans as an interpreter.
Among those who remained was my brother Ele. He (together with his family) came to Ushachi to visit our parents. On July 4, 1941 (early in the morning) they tied their cow to the cart and started moving eastward. Several families followed them. Having covered 35 kilometers, they reached the small Ulla River and saw the wooden bridge in ruins. The retreating Red Army soldiers, who did not want Germans to cross the river and pursue them, had destroyed it the day before. The Jews became panic-stricken. At that moment, the Germans approached them and ordered to come back home. The carts returned home.
At first, the Germans left Jews alone. It was a disturbing calm.
Later, my cousin Aron, Isaya’s son (Isaya was my father’s brother) was the first in our family executed by Germans. And at the end of summer 1941, all Jews in Ushachi were ordered to move to the left bank of the river into houses located around the small synagogue (those houses were cleared out beforehand). So that was the way ghetto in Ushachi was organized. Children and old men, sick and disabled people moved there. It was their last shelter.
My brother Ele managed to get out of the ghetto. People advised him not to come back. He could be rescued, especially because at that time partisan groups were being organized nearby. Ele thought it over, gathered some food, and made a decision to go back to his family. But in the ghetto, the Germans took the food away from him. Ele’s wife gave birth to a boy, but several hours later he died of hypothermia.
It happened on January 12, 1942. People in the ghetto were ordered to stand in line. The Germans said that they would be sent to the east by train. Jews moved forward under he escort of submachine gunners. They covered several hundreds of meters, and then the column was ordered to go right (to the left bank of the river). Everyone who was still able to think realized that it was their final journey.
Here I’ll retell you the story of an acquaintance, whom I met in 1950: ‘The day before the execution, the Germans forced twenty strong men to dig a hole near the road. The ground was very frozen, therefore the hole was not very deep. The Germans stopped the column in front of the hole, selected parties of 20-25 people, and shot them using submachine guns. Injured people were pushed down in the hole alive.’
Two days later, Germans brought about 200 Jews from the Kublichi shtetl to the same place. They were executed by shooting the same way as the previous group of Jews. Along with the Kublichi Jews, my brother Isaak Lerman, the German language schoolteacher, was shot, too. He would have preferred to remain alive but in hell, but he refused to work for Germans as an interpreter.
Period
Year
1941
Location
Ushachi
Vitebesk
Belarus
Interview
Boris Lerman