Part 18

us. The Jewish guardsmen tried to beg him to allow them to stay. Instead of reply he gave what were evidently signal shots in all directions from the town; and shots were fired also at the guardsmen. The Jews fled through the outskirts, and as they left they saw from a distance bandits coming from all sides and pogromists with rifles, pitchforks, and crowbars. And soon we heard "Hurrah, kill the Jews and communists," and the sounds of broken windows and doors. Indescribable were the cries of women and children, just roused from sleep by the inhuman cries of the bandits and by volleys of shots. From all sides a crowd of peasants poured in, men and women, with sacks, and began to break in doors and loot. Women and children tried to flee through windows and were immediately met by blows and shots. With every minute the horror increased. Here women rushed about with cries of "Where are my children?" here with laughter the "conquerors" carried off trophies; here a woman flogged, there a wounded man; thus it continued till morning. The crowd of looters — peasants from the villages of Mozhari, Verpa, Boknevschina, Tkhorin, Begun, Antonovichi, Gorodetz, Petrischi, Listvin — scattered, leaving behind them fragments of window-glass, broken doors, and empty homes with beaten old men who had not been able to escape. The Jews who had fled returned with lamentations to their homes. The local peasants ridiculed them and said, "We didn't touch you, but others showed you how to be bolsheviks." The Jews when they came together began to search for their scattered relations. There were found in the town one seriously wounded man, who died on the way to the hospital, and one wounded in the mouth and head; half an hour later four others were found dead. It is hard to describe the grief which the Jews felt as they buried their victims, who were not responsible for anything, and as they saw at the same time how some of the looters who still remained, continued, amid the lamentations of the wretched people, to "clean up" the remnants of their belongings. After the burial almost all decided to leave this unhappy town and flee to Ovruch. But then provocatory rumors were spread abroad that the same thing was being repeated in Ovruch and that the bolsheviki had abandoned the canton. The day of Thursday, July 16, passed with the departure of several families, taking the remains of their possessions, to seek refuge with peasants whom they knew in the villages, and to hide in their barns. Still the town watched passively while the people's property was being carried off, while the militia was drunk all day long. All the unfortunates could do was to wonder what to do and whither to flee the next night The whole day long peasants continued to alarm them with "advice" to flee, or else all would be killed. The day finished with all in hiding, some in the villages, some in thickets, some with peasant "acquaintances." On Thursday night they again gave the commander of militia 17,000 rubles to guard the town from further attacks. But in spite of this the night was still more terrible than the preceding one. Almost all Jews who were in the villages were killed. The remnants of their possessions which they had taken with them were stolen. Precisely speaking, from the village of Begun eight slain were brought in, two women, three children, and three men; from Verpa, two slain, and one wounded. The militia disappeared. In the town even stoves and furniture were smashed, and they didn't spare so much as an earthenware pot. On Thursday morning at the time of the burial of the abovementioned victims brought from the villages, the cries of the women and the despair of the men reached horrible proportions. The Jews decided that all, with the Rabbi at their head, should gather in the public square and entreat the bandits not to continue tormenting the town. Some went to the priest to beg him also to take part in the meeting. When all the Jews collected they met the bandits with "bread and salt" and the Rabbi addressed them, asking them either to let us all go alive or else kill us all on the spot, and not torture us one by one. In reply to the Rabbi's speech all the bandits cried with one voice: "This is your commune, this is your Jewish government." The Rabbi again began to weep before them, but got no sympathy. Then the priest made a speech. This speech had a clearly counter-revolutionary and anti-Semitic character. "Although the Jews have deserved all this," he said, "they have issued decrees separating church and state, etc., nevertheless, according to the Gospel, it is wrong to kill even guilty people. However, do as you like." His words stirred up the ignorant masses still more, and all day Thursday they did not cease to plunder what property was left, and they beat up all the Jews they met on the streets. The Jews wandered like madmen about the town, not knowing where to hide at night. They were afraid to flee to the villages, since they had already seen the consequences of that, in the morning, when the slain were brought in from everywhere. Only towards evening they began to quiet down a little, since the local postmaster with some peasants called another meeting at which a resolution was passed not to permit further looting and murders, and ordered the Jews to remain at home, since there would be no more looting and