UKRAINE
killing. In spite of this the Jews decided to spend the night all in one place, in the second story of the house of a certain Ratner. Until three o'clock it was in fact peaceful. It seemed that peace had been re-established. The postmaster with some peasants kept watch in the town and disbanded some ruffians. Only after three o'clock began that massacre which will always remain in the memories of those who spent the night in the place. Bandits armed with axes and rifles again approached the town, with their chief Kosenko at their head, and at once burst into the Ratner house, where almost all the Jews were. At once they killed five people outright, seriously wounding the Rabbi. The rest fled. Those who spent the night in gardens, hearing the cries and laments of those who were running through the town, began also to run about the streets in a panic, and were met there by a hail of bullets, which killed and wounded many (25). So it went on till 5 A.M. The murderers scattered again, evidently after bullets, but good-hearted peasants said they were going to return again soon, to finish up everything. In the meantime the Jews began to rescue the seriously wounded. Especially they undertook to save the Rabbi, for he was very grievously wounded in the chest. But at this point shots were heard again. The murderers returned. Most of the Jews, seeing this, fled to Ovruch. About thirty or forty people, remained with the wounded, besides those who were hiding in gardens, fearing to fly to Ovruch, because of the provocatory rumors spread to the effect that the bolsheviki had abandoned Ovruch. On the way to the hospital the bandits finished the Rabbi with a thrust of a bayonet, and did the same to other wounded, whomever they met, including women and children. The ruffians met one woman (Kipnis) and raised her four-year-old child in the air on the point of a bayonet, and thrust it through. The unhappy mother got away.
The result of this horror was 62 dead, about 45 wounded, and many who have disappeared without trace so far. Among the dead were the Rabbi and a certain Kiev student Naidich. I wish here to give brief statements by way of characterizing these two persons. Our Rabbi, Reb Boruch, was considered the ornament of Hebrew orthodoxy throughout the entire canton of Ovruch; besides his religious training he was very cultivated in secular respects. All respected him not only as a religious pastor, but also as an intelligent man of the world, and all Jewish society worked in co-operation with him. Naidich was a student of the Commercial Institute, who was spending his vacation in Slovechno, and was co-operating, as an educated young man of the world, to a large extent in the development and extension of enlightenment among the young people of Slovechno. He served as an example to all by the nobility of his soul, his pure morality, and his courteous manners with people. These two victims will remain forever in the memory of all the people of Slovechno, and tears will long be shed over their destruction. The witness of these horrors,
III. Testimony of Hannah Avrum-Berovna Gozmann, Aged 45