The Holocaust by Bullets by Father Patrick Desbois

Author:Father Patrick Desbois
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2008-03-04T16:00:00+00:00

Adolf Wislovski, Lisinitchi, Lviv, August 2005

Patrick Desbois: Where were you when you saw the extermination?

Adolf Wislovski: I was high up in some oak trees, down there. I was with two friends.

P.D.: Do you remember where the trucks arrived?

A.W.: They stopped over there, further up. We saw one truck arrive first, then lots of others arrived at the same time. In the trucks there were people, civilians, and then afterwards the soldiers arrived in their cars.

P.D.: Were the civilians Ukrainians, Jews, Polish?

A.W.: Who knows who they were . . . There were different nationalities. In the beginning, in 1941, there were only Jews.

P.D.: What happened then?

A.W.: The trucks stopped. They violently forced the people to get out.

The guards surrounded them. There were four SS, in the four corners of the civilian trucks. They were made to undress completely and they were taken down. The people were shouting and screaming but the SS shouted as well "Schnell" [fast]. They were guided by the guards toward the pits. They were told to run but of course they didn't have much strength left. It was horrible.

P.D.: How many pits were there?

A.W.: We counted 59.

P.D.: When did they dig the pits?

A.W.: One or two days before.

P.D.: Once they had dug a pit, did they kill people and so on?

A.W.: Yes. When we saw them digging a pit, we knew that there would be a German action.

P.D.: Did the executions take place in the morning or the evening? A.W.: There were some in the morning and in the evening.

P.D.: Did they kill people in groups or all at the same time?

A.W.: They killed all the people in the truck at the same time.

P.D.: Did another truck arrive immediately afterwards or was there a long time between the trucks?

A.W.: It wasn't regular. There could be two in one day, there could be a day or two without executions.

P.D.: After killing people, did they put soil on top of the pit?

A.W.: They immediately put soil. The place was left open and in the first few days and months after these first actions, one could come and look; later, it was no longer possible and no one could come. The Germans were continually stopping their vehicles, waiting for people to be brought to them to be shot. They were everywhere in the fields and on the roads.

P.D.: In your opinion, how many farms were close enough so people could see the executions from their windows?

A.W.: The farms up there could see—there were two or three.

P.D.: Did they think that they were going to be killed since they could see everything?

A.W.: They heard the shots and the cries; they understood what was happening.

P.D.: Who was in these teams of gunmen? SS, Gestapo, non-Germans?

A.W.: SS and Gestapo. We could tell by the signs on their collar. There were Russians and perhaps others, locals. They were digging the pits. The Russians still wore their uniforms. The Germans were more numerous.

P.D.: How many massacres of Jews were you able to see?

A.W.: I only saw one and it was atrocious.

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