Historical Background and Interviews
II. The War The War
victims as they walked onto planks set over the graves. They were executed by SS soldiers, some of whom were drunk, in groups of twenty-five. First, the children. Then, the women. Lastly, the men. 6 At day’s end, the dead and injured were covered with earth. Fifteen hundred of Ludvipol’s Jews were murdered that day at the mass grave. Those who had hiding places inside the ghetto sealed them- selves in at the first announcement to assemble in the square. The Germans and Ukrainians made thorough searches of every house and yard first thing in the morning, and marched those they found to the mass graves, where they were executed. The searches con- tinued for several days, during which time about 150 more people were discovered. Most of these people were killed on the spot or brought to the ghetto square and executed there. One woman, Sofia Szteinman, wrote in testimony that she decid - ed in desperation to try to escape. “I made a break for it just outside of town and the barracks, wrenching myself from the hands of my nieces and nephews. I ran down a slope and fell into a clump of tall flowers under the window of a Ukrainian cottage. The Ukrainian woman heard the noise, opened her window, saw me, and cried out to the police, alerting them to the presence of a Jew. Fortunately, the people walking on the highway were shouting, wailing, and lamenting so loudly that the police did not hear. I crawled out of the flowers and ran to the rear of the house, where I found open fields and a privy. I quickly concealed myself in the privy, but the Ukrainian woman ran to the privy, opened the door, and resumed her shouting for the police. This time they heard. One of them ran up and began hitting me around the head and face with a carbine — afterward I had ten scars on my head from the blows and eight of my teeth fell out — and I begged him to just kill me, not to tor - ture me. He indicated that he did not want to waste a bullet on me. Deputy Spiegel was nearby and ordered me to get up, then beat me around the face with his fists and kicked me. He was a big fat German. When I was barely breathing, he ordered me to run to
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