I Only Wanted to Live: The Struggle of a Boy to Survive the Holocaust by Tamir Arie

Author:Tamir, Arie [Tamir, Arie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-05-01T22:00:00+00:00

15.3 – Massacre on the Ghetto Streets

From the window, I watched as SS units entered the ghetto, led by their officers. They were armed as if for battle, carrying bayoneted rifles and submachine guns, with grenades hanging from their belts. I had never seen these SS before; they weren't from the permanent force that ran the ghetto. I could see both ends of Juzefinska Street from this window, depending on which side I stood, which gave me a good view of most of the ghetto.

I stood glued to the window the entire day, changing sides constantly. What I saw was a hell that was extremely hard to believe could even happen. In the morning, the Jewish Police ran around announcing through loudspeakers that everyone had to leave their houses immediately and walk to Zgody Square. If anyone would be caught inside, they'd be killed immediately. Slowly, slowly, people started coming out – whole families, women with children, and also children alone. The SS men would beat them with sticks and bayonets, driving them toward Targowa Street, which led to Zgody Square (I couldn't see the square itself from the window). They would shoot anyone who fell down. I also heard shots fired from the direction of the square. From the direction of Ghetto B I saw how the Jewish Police were directing groups of Jews toward the square. These were mainly the refugees who had been brought several weeks earlier from the tiny towns around Krakow. They looked awful; the men with unshaven beards and torn clothes, most of them barefoot. They walked as if hypnotized, as if they didn't understand what was happening to them, looking neither right nor left. They walked quietly. I noticed that they didn't speak to each other. Children held hands and didn't cry. It was a scene of ghosts from hell. It wasn't clear if they knew they were being led to their deaths or if they had no clue.

Later in the afternoon, there was much more shooting. Groups of SS and Jewish Police were going into houses to search. From time to time they'd bring out individuals or families, stand them on the sidewalk facing the street, and shoot them in the backs of their heads. When the people fell, they'd kick their bodies into the street. Blood flowed in the gutter along the sidewalk. They’d lay the young children down on the sidewalk, shoot them and kick them into the gutter. If children were being held by their mothers, they'd first shoot the children and then the mothers. It was obvious that these SS men were expert killers. They did their job mechanically, doing the same measured motions repeatedly, like a kind of game they'd practiced over and over: They'd either unholster their gun (or cock their submachine gun), go close to the victim, shoot, take two steps back, and put the gun back in the holster. Over and over again.

This ritual of sidewalk execution took place in a terrible silence; only the shots were heard.

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