The War
The Mass Murders and Our Escape into the Forest
mothers tried fruitlessly to soothe the infants, and I thought it was the end of our lives. When the babies would not stop and there was no other choice, the men put pillows over the babies’ faces to muffle the sounds of their crying. They had to press down hard so that no sounds would escape. Several agonized minutes passed while the Ukrainians searched for us. When they finally left, the pillows were removed from the babies’ faces. Both had suffocated. One of the mothers became hysterical and started to moan and weep, and had to be subdued by the men. It was very painful to see both mothers howling silently, and tearing pieces of themselves. The men were in shock. It was a colossal tragedy. We did not talk about it. No one talked to anyone. We remained hidden in this place for three days, shoulder to shoulder, head to head, with two dead ba- bies, and the knowledge that our own lives, too, were worthless. At any moment, we thought we would be next. Our condition was intolerable. After three nights, we figured we were going to die there anyway if we did not go out. So, during the night, we left the basement. I guess my father and the other adults decided that we had to go out because we were going to suffocate there. We opened the floor and went outside. It was dark and quiet, and we ran. We meant to run in the direction of the forest, but by mistake we ran away from the forest. The three families got sepa- rated and each one disappeared in the dark. But all five of us from my family ran together. As we were running, we were intercepted by Ukrainians lying in ditches with rifles. We thought they were going to kill us, but apparently they did not want to make any noise that the Germans would hear, so they only robbed us of everything we wore, the few possessions we had on our bodies. They took our coats and shoes and stripped us practically naked. They confiscated ev - erything they could, rings, clothes, whatever. Then they let us run away, almost naked. They left me my pants and shirt, but they took away my sweater, coat, hat, and shoes. They did the same to my mother, sisters, and father.
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