The
Holocaust period and the colonies
Source of the Holocaust
material and translater of
the testimony sheets.
Chaim Freedman
Petah Tikvah, Israel
email: chaimjan@zahav.net.il
The following is a
description of the action carried out by the Nazis against the Jews of
Zelenopolye in which Shlomo-Reuven Komisaruk was killed.
(See Yad Vashem testimonies
below)
The Death of the Jewish
Collective Farm Workers of Zelenopolye
Taken from `The Black Book'
(by Ilya Ehrenburg, 1980)
Zelenopolye is an old Jewish agricultural colony. At
one time it was the site of the rich and flourishing collective farm
"Emes". Before the war, Jews, Russians, there every year to see this
blissful friendly family.
When the Germans arrived in Zelenopolye, they found
that a significant portion of the Jewish population had evacuated. Only a few
families and a handful of old folks remained who did not want to leave the
place where they were born and had grown up. These were feeble old people: Idl
Kalmanovitch, Girsh-Leib Kozlovsky, and his wife, Shloyma Kamsoryuk and his
wife, and others.
As soon as the Germans occupied the colony they
decided to "clean the earth and the air" of Jews. Murder was not
enough for them. According to their plan, the people had to pass through all
the circles of hell. Idl Kalmanovitch was an old, respected, religious Jew. The
Germans spread his tallis on the ground and ordered the old man to kneel on it
before the bandits. The old man refused. Then the Germans shaved off his
snow-white beard. But even that was not enough for them. With a razor they
scraped the skin from his face, cut his face in many places, and cut off his
ears. In spite of his terrible pain, Kalmanovitch did not ask the Germans for
mercy.
Shloyma Kamsoryuk was an invalid and an honest
worker. The villains tortured him mercilessly. They cut Shloyma into pieces and
cast the dismembered body to the dogs.
The other Jews remaining in the colony hid in the
rain and the cold for a long time, but the same fate overtook them as well.
Khana Patursky's family was murdered in a vicious
fashion. Her sixteen-year-old daughter Rakhil was raped and shot. Her other two
children and her mother were also shot. The oldest daughter, Tanya, was hanged
before her mother's eyes.
All in all, seventy-four local residents and
fourteen nprisoners of war were killed in Zelenopolye. There were very many
victims in this region, since it was a national Jewish district.'
Three Yad Vashem testimony sheets (scanned original and translation) for
Shlomo Reuven Komisaruk and his sons Vladimir and Lev.
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YAD VASHEM "DAF ED" [testimonial form] [number] 166816 Surname: Komisaruk Personal name: Vladimir Date of birth\estimated age: 1900 Gender: Male Marital state: Birthplace: Ukraine, Zaporozhe Oblast, Jewish
colony Grafskaya Mother: - Father: Shloyme-Rubin Spouse: Place of residence: Ukraine, Zaporozhe Oblast,
Jewish colony Zelenopolye Place of residence during the war: Action in
army.
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Vladimir Komisaruk - Yad Vashem
Place and circumstance of death: Perished at the
Front in Smolensk region.
Details of the declarer: Komisaruk, Daniil
Semenovitch
Relationship to the victim: brother
Address: Ukraine, Town of Mariupol, 15 Kazantzev
St. 31, apartment 125.
I declare herewith that the testimony I have given
in all its details was correct and true to the best of my knowledge and
familiarity.
Signature: Komisaruk
Place and date of registration: Town of Mariupol,
19.12.95
During the war I was in the
camp\ghetto\forest\prisoner: evacuated
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YAD VASHEM "DAF ED" [testimonial form] [number] 166835 Surname: Komisaruk Personal name: Shloyme-Rubin Date of birth\estimated age: - Gender: Male Marital state: married Birthplace: Ukraine, Zaporozhe Oblast, Jewish
colony Grafskaya Mother: - Father: Shepa Spouse: Place of residence: Ukraine, Zaporozhe Oblast,
Jewish colony Zelenopolye Place of residence during the war: then - Jewish
colony Zelenopolye. Occupation: farmer Date of death: October 1941
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Shloyme-Rubin Komisaruk - Yad vashem
Place and circumstance of death: Perished in the
Jewish colony Zelenopolye, Zaporozhe Oblast in the mass execution [ shooting]
of Jews.
Details of the declarer: Komisaruk, Daniil
Semenovitch
Relationship to the victim: son
Address: Ukraine, Town of Mariupol, 15 Kazantzev
St. 31, apartment 125.
I declare herewith that the testimony I have given
in all its details was correct and true to the best of my knowledge and
familiarity.
Signature: Komisaruk
Place and date of registration: Town of Mariupol,
19.12.95
During the war I was in the
camp\ghetto\forest\prisoner: evacuated.
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YAD VASHEM "DAF ED" [testimonial form] [number] 166831 Surname: Komisaruk Personal name: Lev Date of birth\estimated age: 1907 Gender: Male Marital state: Birthplace: Jewish colony Grafskaya, Zaporozhe
Oblast, Ukraine Mother: - Father: Shloyme-Rubin Spouse: Place of residence: Ukraine, Zaporozhe Oblast,
Jewish colony Zelenopolye Place of residence during the war: Action in
army. Occupation: storeman in exchange store. [place
where people brought old clothes, metal to exchange for food, soap etc] Date of death: October-November 1941 |
Lev Komisaruk - Yad vashem
Place and circumstance of death: Perished at the
Front in Donbass region.
Details of the declarer: Komisaruk, Daniil
Semenovitch
Relationship to the victim: brother
Address: Ukraine, Town of Mariupol, 15 Kazantzev
St. 31, apartment 125.
I declare herewith that the testimony I have given
in all its details was correct and true to the best of my knowledge and
familiarity.
Signature: Komisaruk
Place and date of registration: Town of Mariupol,
19.12.94
During the war I was in the camp\ghetto\forest\prisoner:
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Remember to check
the Yad Vashem database. The Central database of the Shoah victims'
names. There are many people who came from our colonies and towns. Search by
surname and by town name. |
