KARTUZ-BEREZA 1993 YZKOR
The Destruction of Kartuz Bereze
By Moishe Tuchman
The
Germans entered the town on
On
June 26, the Germans set fire to Hevra Kadisha's synagogue. The fire
destroyed one side of the market place and the nearby streets. When the
inhabitants tried to save their property, the Germans threatened they would
open fire on them. The Germans assembled the Jews on
When
the Germans entered they set up a Judenrat composed of: NISSAN ZACKHEIM,
NAFTALI LEVENSON, FISHEL BEISER, HANOCH LISKOVSKY, MEIR ROSHINSKY, AND OTHERS
(YAACOV MOSCOVITCH, BINYAMIN SHAPIRA, YAACOV-ASHER FRIDENSTEIN, GOTEL PISETZKI,
YAACOV SHLOSBURG, LEIBE DANZIG and LEIBEL MOLODOWSKI, who served as
translator). A Jewish police force was set up to help the Judenrat. Its
commander was Shmuel Geberman. The policemen included ROGOLSKY, YAACOV
ZAKHEIM, YOSEF SHUSHAN, KALMAN EPSTEIN, YAACOV GLEZER, ELIEZER SCHTUCKER and
others whose names I do not remember.
The
task of the Judenrat was to execute the orders of the German authorities, i.e.
mainly to supply Jewish workers aged 16 to over 50. They had to fulfill
German demands by providing contributions, gold, confiscated valuables and to
supply gifts. The Jewish police had to translate the orders into
practice.
The
Germans ordered every Jew to hand over the gold he possessed during the first
few days after their arrival,. Afterwards, they confiscated radios and
other valuables. Non-fulfillment of orders presaged the death
sentence. The Jews fulfilled the demands which got more difficult
daily. In the initial months after the German conquest, there was still
some contact with the outside world. Peasants of the area came to town
and sold food in return for materials and domestic objects. As yet, there
was no starvation. The Judenrat distributed 250 grams of bread daily to
everybody.
All
the Jewish inhabitants aged 16 to 50 or more (apart from mothers of babies)
turned up standing in rows outside the home of MATYA BERMAN, where the German
command was situated. The Jews wore two yellow-patches, one on the chest
and one on the right side of the back. The Germans would select work
groups and drive them off to work camps. One of the local Christians acted
as supervisors of the groups. They derived enjoyment from the afflictions
of the Jews.
The
jobs included repairing roads, cleaning in camps or at Bluden railway station
where trucks were loaded and unloaded. They also did construction
work. The Germans ordered the reconstruction of parts of the houses of
HANANYA EISENSTEIN, LICHOVITSKY and others. The shoe cooperative, set up
during Soviet rule, continued working under the Germans.
Occasionally,
the workers would return from work beaten up and injured. The Germans
claimed the Jews were responsible for the war and should be beaten. The
Jews hoped that the Russians would soon defeat the Germans. In the first
months of the German conquest, a group of SS commanders arrived at Chomsk and
killed nearly all the Jews there. From there, they went on to Sporewa,
Olszewe and Nauke and other villages, killing all the Jews. A few Jews
survived and reached Bereza. The Jews of Seltz, Bluden and part of those
from Malch were also expelled to Bereza. The Germans also rounded up Jews
living in small villages to make the work of destruction easier.
After
it became clear that the Jews could not meet the contributions imposed on them,
the Germans gave them licenses to travel to nearby towns to raise the required
sums. The Jews of Bereza survived between one slaughter and another in
this way.
Life
became more difficult daily, without hope or expectancy. If the
Christians had wanted to help the Jews, many Jews could have survived.
However, as long as they did not suffer from the Germans they watched the Jews
suffering with indifference and enjoyed their torture. Some of the Jews
who worked outside the ghetto had opportunities to escape from the ghetto to
the forests. Very few did it because every Jew knew that if he escaped,
the Germans would take revenge on his family and other Jews. Each
individual was linked in life and death with the destiny of Jewry; mutual
responsibility was very high.
One
day, the Germans divided the Ghetto into Ghetto A and Ghetto B. They held a
census of Bereza Jews beforehand and assembled them in two ghettos. Ghetto A
was situated in Ulany street from the home of Shlomke Weinstein to the home of
Yehuda Potack and it included several peasants' huts in Pruzana street, which
bordered on Ulany street. The Jews who worked for the Germans, the
"productive" Jews, lived in Ghetto A. All the rich people who
succeeded in bribing the Germans lived here. There were families that
were split up between the ghettos. The borderline was the street where
Rabbi Trop lived, by the river. Those Jews who did not manage to get productive
work for the Germans lived in Ghetto B. The two ghettos were surrounded
with barbed wire. Workers had permission to leave and enter under the
supervision of a Christian resident.
On
the date in which the ghettos were established, July 15, 1942, German and other
police surrounded the two ghettos. The Germans told the Judenrat that the
Jews in Ghetto B were being sent to Bialystock for "productive"
work. Jews destined for Ghetto B who were still living in Ghetto A were
transferred.
In
Ghetto B, the Germans went from house to house, assembling all the Jews in the
street and marching them off to the railway station at Bluden. The old
and sick who were unable to form up outside, including Rabbi TROP, were shot on
the spot. On the way to Bluden, a few Jews tried to escape, but were shot
by the Germans. In Bluden the people were placed on a train and taken to
the station at Brona Gora, in the direction of Baranowicz; there they were all
killed at the edge of the many ditches dug for their burial. At Brona
Gora, there was a mass grave of Jews from many small towns. YITZHAK
ORLOVSKY, the son-in-law of HANNA-GITEL LIEBERMAN and ELIMELECH TUCHMAN, were
miraculously saved, they returned to Bereza and reported back on the murderous
cruelty of the Germans.
After
the destruction of the Jews in Ghetto B, the Germans promised they would not
harm the other Jews whom the German army found to be advantageous. Many
young people did not believe the Germans and began escaping. Some fled to
the forests and others to Pruzana. There, they lived in the ghetto in
better conditions, because Pruzana belonged to Prussia and was included in the
Third Reich. Since the Germans did not have detailed lists of the Jews
who were killed, Jews escaped to the forests, without suspecting their
relatives could suffer because of it. But the Christian population in the
villages and on the roads threatened them and endangered their lives.
Russian gangs wandered in the forests under the guise of partisans and every
Jew who fell into their hands was killed. Because of this, Jews came back
to the ghetto from the forests.
The
Germans began suspecting many Jews of maintaining links with the
partisans. One day, 21 Jews working in the sawmill were arrested on
suspicion of maintaining contacts with the partisans. They were arrested
at the home of YOSEF CHOMSKI and the next day they were all shot in the church
garden. The Jews in Ghetto A were once more frightened to death.
On
October 15, 1942, SS men and the police surrounded the ghetto. The Jews
realized their last hour had come. They collected all their valuables,
sewing machines and clothes still in their possession and brought them to the
home of the tailor AVRAHAM GREENBERG and set the house on fire. The blaze
spread to more homes in Ghetto A. Members of the Judenrat gathered at the home
of ELIYAHU SIMCHA EPSTEIN and committed suicide by hanging. There was
also an underground canal leading from Ulany Street to Pruzana Street and some
Jews fled into it. All were choked to death, but nobody knew how this
occurred.
On
October 16, the Germans entered the ghetto, rounded up all the Jews still
there, took them in vehicles to a hill five kilometers away and killed
all of them in prepared ditches. HENACH LISKAVSKY, SHMUEL GOBERMAN,
MAYRIM SAVINSKY and SHMUEL NODEL survived the slaughters. They worked as
tailors and shoemakers for the Germans, but after a week they too were killed.