j. a. Testimony of the Wood Merchant, Getzel Rotmistrovsky, 59 Years Old
On Friday and Saturday, May 16 and 17, there were no excesses of any kind in Krasnaya street. We saw only the men who live on the river bank dragging
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stolen goods. People spoke of two or three murders, but they were regarded as accidental attacks. The inhabitants of the street became more and more anxious and began to look for hiding places. On Sunday May 1 8, at 6 o'clock in the evening, four military persons appeared in Rotmistrovsky's cellar, where a few neighbors had sought protection against the shooting, took money, rings, boots and shoes from the people and went away telling the people not to dare give the alarm. A half hour later they came back and ordered the men to follow them to the station. They quieted the weeping and praying women by saying that those who were not communists would suffer no harm at the station. The men, nine of them, left. On the corner they saw eleven more men under military escort. There were in all twenty men between the ages of 19 and 60, the old men predominating. On the way to the station, they insulted, tortured and beat them with clubs; they were forced to sing songs, and were stripped to their underwear. When they were brought to the station, a man, whom Rotmistrovsky did not know, jumped out and cried, "What sort of a communist is Rotmistrovsky, why did you bring him here?" He seized Rotmistrovsky by the hand and pulled him away with great difficulty from the soldier who was escorting him and would not let him go. Rotmistrovsky wanted to beg for his children, 19 and 33 years old respectively, but his rescuer explained that now was not the time to intercede for anyone else, that his life was in danger, and pushed him into a railway car. He locked the doors of the car and promised to get him home in some way. When he was alone and recalled the words of his saviour he understood what danger threatened the other nineteen men, his sons among them. He looked out of the upper windows and listened, but the noise of the drunken bands drowned everything else. After one or two hours Rotmistrovsky recognized by the light of a lantern Tkachtenko, a young peasant from the neighboring village, Russkaya Polyana, and asked him to let him out. The peasant also recognized Rotmistrovsky and threatened to shoot him on the spot. After a time Rotmistrovsky observed to his horror that his car was moving in the direction of Smela. On the siding in Belozeria the train stopped and wounded men were put in and taken off. In Belozeria Rotmistrovsky again saw a peasant (an old man dressed like a peasant, but armed) and asked him to help him out, but the peasant paid no attention to him. In the early morning they came to Smela. He looked for acquaintances among the curious persons who were at the station but found none. Suddenly a military person stopped before his car. He was evidently surprised to see Rotmistrovsky. He brought him a sheet, wrapped him up in it and promised under all circumstances to get him home. He was a commissar and had formerly been a longshoreman and knew Rotmistrovsky well. A little later a Russian shoemaker who lived in Smela came to the car and said to Rotmistrovsky that he had recognized him long before and wanted to help him out, but that he was prevented and was told that there was no pity for Jews. At Bobrinsky station they gave Rotmistrovsky a pair of trousers, a coat and rubber shoes and a certificate entitling him to go to Cherkassy. But they advised him to remain a few days in Smela, as they could not guarantee his life in Cherkassy. He followed their advice. Of the other nineteen who had been brought along with him to the station, only one survived. Wounded, he
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secretly got away and reached home. All the others including the sons of Rotmistrovsky, the 33 year old Srul and the 19 year old Shier, were shot to death at the station.
GETZEL SRULEVICH ROTMISTROVSKY.
b. Testimony of a Man Who Escaped Death