On January 15 the Cossacks began early in the morning to drive young Jews to the station, to sweep and clean the cars. They took mostly young Jews, but did not neglect old ones either. On the way the Cossacks robbed them. At the station they were compelled to do all kinds of dirty work, even unnecessary work. They mocked them, and beat them with whips and scourges. They took the better dressed ones to one side and took their clothes and shoes away from them. By evening almost all had been robbed, one killed, another seriously wounded. And while they were at the station, other Cossacks plundered their homes in the town.
Panic Reaches Highest Pitch
An extremely perturbed state existed in the city. It was felt that a new catastrophe was approaching. The Jews were in a panic of terror. They decided to die all together. So towards evening they began to gather in the synagogue. But the synagogue could not accommodate all. It became unendurably stifling. Many fell in swoons. Some, being unable to endure the closeness and the throng, knocked out windows and ran away at random. Individual Cossacks got into the synagogue and robbed whomever they could. At the same time other
OVRUCH:
Cossacks robbed members of the home guard, and, as above mentioned, even killed one of them.
Mass Execution and Departure of Kozyr-Zyrka
Thus the Jews of the city of Ovruch spent the night of the fifteenth of January. On the morning of the sixteenth the Cossacks spread about the city the report that the commissar of internal affairs, in whom, as was said, the Jews had the greatest confidence, was inviting! the representatives of the Jewish population to listen to an announcement of great importance to the Jews, just received from Zhitomir.
The Jews welcomed this news, believed it, and about fifty or more men went to the station. On the way they were surrounded by mounted Cossacks, who pursued them with whips and made them sing maiefis (a Jewish song) and other songs. The poor wretches understood that they had fallen into a trap. When this extraordinary procession drew near to the station, the Cossacks surrounding the Jews began to cut them down with sabres and fire at them with revolvers. The Jews scattered and fled, bullets raining after them. At the same time other Cossacks near the station itself, who had prepared an ambush for the Jews, opened fire on them with machine guns. Thirty-two corpses remained on the spot. Many others were wounded; a few escaped. When this hecatomb was finished, Kozyr-Zyrka appeared among the Cossacks, who greeted him with the words: "Thank the Lord, little father, we shot a lot of the Jews." Photograph of three corpses is attached hereto. (Testimony of Nemerzel, p. 95; Weinermann, p. 13; Kaplan, p. 1-10.)
In the same night, in view of an attack of the bolsheviks from the direction of Kalinkovichi, Kozyr-Zyrka with his crew abandoned the town and departed for Korosten. Thus ended the regime of Kozyr-Zyrka in the city of Ovruch.
Summary
As a result of this regime as many as 80 Jews were killed and as many as 1,200 houses plundered. Not more than ten or fifteen homes were, by accident, left unharmed. In the given case the pogrom took place under the slogan: "Kill the Jews because they are bolsheviks." But the attitude of the masses in Ukraine towards the Jews is such that any other
UKRAINE
slogan would suit as well for a pogrom. The pogrom came near levelling all the Jews in Ovruch in respect to property; almost all became comrades in beggary. The losses must be reckoned at a hundred million, at the present rate of exchange perhaps in milliards.
Local Committee of Assistance to Pogrom Victims
In Ovruch a committee of assistance for pogrom victims was formed, which is working very effectively. But the help it gives, of course, is infinitesimal in comparison with what is needed. For Ovruch help is needed on the very largest scale, on a national scale. Regarding the character of the assistance given by this committee, as also regarding the movements of money in general, a report has been prepared by S. S. Kahan, who traveled with me to Ovruch.
Soviet Commission for the Investigation of Pogroms