William Leibner, October 3rd 2000. Jerusalem, Israel
[Contributing Coordinator's Note - The non-Jewish calendar dates provided by Mr. Liebner in his article are in error, and are corrected below in brackets.]
Rumors spread throughout the hamlet that it too is marked for elimination. Jewish communities in the area were disappearing at an alarming rate. Nobody knew what happened but the fact remained that they were gone. No trace left of entire communities. Of course, people were killed and massacred but what happened to entire communities. These thoughts remained with every Jew but there was no answer. Everybody hoped that perhaps this hamlet would be the exception. Of course, the Germans always gave assurances that no changes are in sight. Then things began to move in a rapid succession.
On Sunday the 5th [sic - 9th] of August 1942 (26th day of the month of Ab, Tashab), Von Rauschwitz, (Gestapo commander of the Jaslo district to which Dukla belonged) with two other henchmen arrived in Dukla. They went directly to the Judenrat and demanded that it prepare 40 pair of boots until Monday evening. Shimon Shtoff, the head of the Judenrat collapsed upon hearing the demand. Still the Judenrat sat for hours and debated the ultimatum or rather how to fulfill it. By evening, the council agreed on a resolution, namely, every Jew will pay a tax of 10 zlotys. This will establish a fund of 35,000 zlotys that will suffice for 35 pair of boots. It was estimated that a fine pair of boots cost about 1,000 zlotys. To cover the shortage, the council imposed a tax of 100,000 zlotys on wealthy Jews of Dukla. Mr. Mordechai Tzehngut immediately gave 20,000 zlotys and Mordechai Postrung ( married to Sima Leibner of Zmigrod ) gave 10,000 zlotys.
The council also decided to send a delegation of three members of the Judenrat with 100,000 zlotys to a Mr. Margolies in Gorlice. Supposedly, the latter who lived in Germany for many years was a close friend of Von Rauschwitz. The thought was that he could influence the German to cancel the extermination that was scheduled for Dukla. The Judenrat already knew that the Jewish communities of Zmigrod, Fristik, and others had already been removed. The dayan (Jewish religious judge) Yeshajahu Schapiro of Dukla received a letter from his father in law, the Rabbi of Strzyzow. The letter was written on the road and stated that the entire Jewish community of Strzyzow is being sent to an unknown destination. He ends the short note with the famous historical invocation: "May God have mercy on us".
The delegation with the 100,000 left for Gorlice on Monday morning, the 5th of August 1942. Later in the day, a police limousine pulled up in front of the shop of Yehoshua Guzik, the famous tailor. He used his connections to help Jews whenever he could. From the car emerged, Mentz, the assistant of the Gestapo in Jaslo, Paul, the head of the Judenrat division in Jaslo and two more henchmen. Mentz ordered two suits and insisted that they be ready within a week. The entire community received the news of the visit and believed that nothing will happen during the week The general feeling however was very depressive. Even optimists like the watchmaker Leib Altholtz began to change their view. In the evening, the delegation returned from Gorlice and reported that Margolies stated that nothing will happen to Dukla according to Von Rauschwitz. At the same time, reports filtered into Dukla that the city of Krosno is surrounded with Ukrainian police forces in full battle gear.
The people liked to believe the report of the Judenrat committee from Gorlice and dismissed the news about Krosno. Then, about 2 P.M.on Tuesday 6th 1942 the Dukla committee that carried food to the Jewish workers at the nearby quarry returned to the shtetl. They stated that large pits are being dug in the forest near the village of Tilawa that is located about 10 kilometers from the hamlet of Dukla. The committee, headed by Itsche Borenstein, delivered daily food shipments to the Jewish workers in the quarry since the Germans hardly fed them in spite of the heavy work. Itsche Borenstein was also the party that initiated a kitchen that provided food to the resettled Jews in Dukla. These Jews were deprived of everything and needed all the help that they could get. Later, a local JSS (Jewish Self-Help) was established to provide meals to the needy. The committee was headed by Itsche Borenstein and received help from the Judenrat and the JSS office in Krakow.
The oppressive atmosphere of Wednesday, August 7th [sic - 12th] , 1942 affected everybody. This was the eve of the new month of Elul. People went to the cemetery and invoked their parents' intercession on their behalf. Even children came to pray at the cemetery. Candles were lit in many places. The shuls and the shtibelech were full of people praying for the cancellation of the order that was about to descend on the community. Later that day, Mentz arrived at Guzik's place and insisted that the suits be finished today. He assured everybody that nothing would happen in Dukla.
Thursday, August 8th<i> [sic - 13th] </i> 1942, the first day of the month of Elul found the Jewish community in a hopeless state. The shtetl was surrounded with Ukrainian police forces. At 7 A.M the Judenrat announced throughout the city that all the Jews are to assemble at the Graf's garden by 9 A.M.. Anyone hiding will be shot on the spot. Many Jews had the feeling that this was their last journey and took with them the bare essentials, notably the talith and phylacteries. The women assembled hastily some items notably clothing and some food. Thus started the Jewish community to move to the assembly point. Old, sick, children, parents and entire families headed in silence to the garden. Inside the garden, there was a table, next to it stood Von Rauschwitz, Schmatzler (head of the Gestapo in Krosno), the head of the Ukrainian forces, Shreter, and a few other henchmen that nobody could identify.
Precisly at 9 A.M. Rauschwitz gave the order of total silence. He then called the head of the Judenrat, Shimon Shtoff and gave him instructions. The latter stood up on a chair and announced that all workers of the quarry of Emil Ludwig-Breslau and Arthur Walde- Munich, of the Gutes Management, of the sawmill and of the various German enterprises and offices are to move to one side with their wives and children. Those Jews that do not work to move to another section. Children up to the age of 15 years to move to another section. All sick, elderly and disabled Jews were ordered to another section. Suddenly, a police car arrived at the scene, an SS man named Dr, Haze stepped out of the car and ordered Rauschitz to his side. They spoke for a few minutes and Dr. Haze re-entered the car. A Gestapo man then grabbed Shimon Shtoff by the collar and booted him into the car that soon left the area. The Jewish population was terrified.
Meanwhile the Ukrainian police searched the area for hidden Jews and shot those that they found. The Jewish police was also busy searching for hidden Jews. They checked the cellars, attics and hiding places and located an old couple that was led to the assembly center. The head of the Jewish police presented the culprits whereupon the Gestapo chief slapped him across the face and blood started to stream from it. The car returned to the assembly area and Shimon Shtoff was tossed out of it and fell to the ground. The car left the area and a Gestapo man read the following order. All men between 15-35 are to line up along the wall and face it. All men above 35, all women and children under 15 years of age are to line up in another group. Sick and disabled people to assemble in another group. Nobody spoke, people were terrified and said their good-byes by merely blinking their eyes.
A detail of Jews was taken to help load the sick and disabled onto trucks. Soon the convoy of trucks left for the forest of Tilawa where they were shot and buried. About 300 Jews from Dukla and about 200 Jews from Rymanow found their resting place in the prepared pits of the forest. Amongst those shot were also the former commander of the Jewish police, Yehezkel Goldman and a member of the Judenrat, Mordechai Tobias and his wife the secretary of the Judenrat. The men above 35 years of age, the women and children were pushed aboard trucks and transported to the railway station in Iwonicz where they were loaded aboard a transport for the death camp of Belzec. Amongst the last to be tossed onto a truck was Shimon Shtoff. The group of men that faced the wall was then lined up three abreast and marched to two buildings. There were about 350 men that were divided into two groups, each group received a building.
Thus on Thursday, August 8th [sic - 13th] 1942,
(the first day of the month of Elul, Tashab) ended the
existence of an old established Jewish community, namely the
kehilla of Dukla. May it be memorialized for eternity.
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