As published in Gennady Makhorin’s Ruzhin’s History: Tales & Documents, published in Ukrainian, by Volin Publishing, Zhitomir, 2000.
Document One: Act from January 12, 1944
about
what Nazis did to Jewish Population
in
the City of
On July 17, 1941, German troops collected Jews and brought them to the Lenin monument, and forced the group of Jews to sing revolutionary songs, and to dance around the monument. Afterwards, they gave these Jews two shovels and one pick, and forced them to destroy the monument. When they finished destroying the monument, they were beaten and again forced to dance around the monument. Everything was filmed. Then, they were given permission to leave.
On July 20, 1941, forty-five Jews were seized from the streets and their apartments, and were brought to the river, next to the “NovoMir” kolkhoz. Where they were beaten with rifles & stabbed with bayonets. They were forced into the river and made to dance. This group of people was then brought to a stable, pushed against the wall and searched. After the search, these people were brought to the bottom of a hill, given shovels and ordered to dig graves. They stood each person at the grave’s edge and questioned him or her as to who had shot at the Nazis. However, this process did not reveal the culprit. All of them were herded to the stable’s hayloft. On the next day, it was ordered to surrender all valuable objects, such as cameras, radios and watches – within 30 minutes.
On September 10, 1941 at 4:00 a.m., the Gestapo and Polizei surrounded the town and all the Jews, while being beaten, were forced to assemble at the Universal Store. Approximately 1000 people, together with children, were beaten by the Gestapo and moved to in another building. The rest of the people, except those under 13 years of age, were put in a truck and brought to the forest on Karatcheyev Hill, where men and women were separated and killed by automatic weapons and machine guns. The wounded were thrown into the pits of those killed, and all were covered by soil. After the killing of the Jews, the soil continued to tremble for two days. Altogether, 750 Jews were killed, and this aktion was committed by Nazis and the traitors: Skaradumov, Goncharov, Yosef Rodenko (former Chief of Police) and Krochmal. The children of the victims were left in the town by the bandits.
Infants were grabbed by the leg and thrown against the Universal Store building. Other infants were suspended by one leg under a drainpipe. They made a list of the others, still alive.
November 6, 1941: a directive was issued from the headquarters of Zhitomir District ordering the Commissar of Ruzhin, Ganglofa, to enforce that all Jews would wear a yellow circle on the left breast, and another on the right side of the back. They forced the entire Jewish population to destroy their homes, and to build new homes for the Germans and Polizei. About 200 Jewish homes were destroyed at this time. The Commissar’s foreman, Katchanovsky, oversaw this.
In December 1941, Kumert – the Commissar’s assistant – issued an order entitled “22,000 Rubles Contribution” against the Jews. This attempt at extortion was unsuccessful. In January 1942, a second order was issued, trying not only to extort funds, but also to confiscate all valuables, such as rugs, cartons, watches, blankets & other goods.
On April 30, 1942, members of the Polizei arrested 120 Jewish men from Ruzhin and its suburbs. From this group, they took 90 physically fit men and ordered them to deliver horses to the Front. One of these men escaped. The rest disappeared.
On May 1, 1942 around 4:00 a.m., the Gestapo and Polizei assembled and surrounded 560 Jews with their families. They were brought to a school. The children were thrown by the arms & legs into a horse-drawn cart and brought from the school to a large prepared pit, which they were forced to enter.
Among the adults, 27 were sent home. The rest of the Jews were brought to the pit, ordered to disrobe and forced to stand at the edge of the pit. They were shot, with their bodies falling on top of the children, still alive. This whole action, managed by Chief of Police Rodenko commanding 50 people, was over in one hour. Those remaining 27 people were forced to collect the belongings from the houses of those killed, and bring them to one house, where the Polizei divided up the spoils.
Sixty people - women and children – escaped, running towards the forest & fields. But the Polizei caught them, and they were starved and beaten in a cellar for two days. Meanwhile, two of the work group hung themselves. 25 tried to do the same. Consequently, the Polizei had to release the 60 people from the cellar.
July 22, 1942: a car came to the Jewish camp, and took 67 people to an unknown destination.
October 1, 1942, 7:00 a.m.: the Polizei ordered all Jews – healthy and sick alike – to come to their headquarters. Twenty skilled craftsmen were sent home. The rest of the group started to run, and the Polizei shot them all.
May 20, 1943: the Polizei surrounded a home and arrested its 16 Jews, bringing them to their headquarters, where they were beaten with rubber truncheons. Their hair was pulled. Eleven were killed. Five were sent home.
August 1, 1943: the remaining 20 Jews from Ruzhin were taken to the Polizei headquarters, where 17 were killed. Three were spared, however their families had been killed.
All these above facts are but one page in what the savage fascists did to the Jews of Ruzhin. This report was made by the official military administration:
Captain: Kurako; Privates: Travin, Pasenko; Ruzhin Citizens: Pliskovsky, Kriger; and
Representatives of the Communist Party Headquarters: Tkatchov, Tsfirov