Protocol No. 114
11–1–1940
Dovid M. from Brok
24 years old, journalist.
Left Brok on September 6
Now – Vilnius
On Shabbat, September 9, Brok was set on fire by the Germans. They poured gasoline and kerosene on the buildings and afterwards set them on fire. 110 Jewish houses were burnt down.
During the same day and night, the Germansshot or stabbed to death 38 Jews, among them:
1) Mikhalke Finkelshteyn, a lathe operator, fifty-odd years old;
2) Shmulke Shmeltsinger, a 28-year old bachelor;
3) Yidl Levartovsky, a butcher – in his thirties, together with
4) Moyshele Pzsheshtshelenyets, 4 years old, his nephew;
5) Berish Yablkavsky, a blacksmith, around 60 years old;
6) Arke-Yosl Langleyb, a locksmith, in his sixties;
7) Mendl Treblinsky, a butcher, sixty-odd years old;
8) Yitskhok Kuperberg, chairman of the Chevra Kadisha, in his nineties;
9) Itshe-Meyer Sheyko, a shopkeeper, around 40 years old;
10) Yankev-Meyer Rotbard, dry goods store keeper, in his thirties;
11) Anshl Pravidle, a tailor, in his sixties;
12) Itshe Shpaker, an elderly sick lady;
13) Hershl Tshernovin, a butcher, in his forties;
14) Yankl Migdal, a gravedigger and shoemaker, in his sixties;
his son 15) Henekh, a lathe operator, in his forties;
16) Khaym Shteynberg, a tailor, in his seventies;
17) the wife of Noyekh Bureykes, [pregnant] in the eighth or ninth month, stabbed to death when she was laying in bed;
18) Mendl Yaspershteyn, a rope maker, around 80 years old;
19) the wife of Alter Eynbinder (Finkelshteyn), in her sixties;
20) Markl Vaysbrot, a kvass producer, approximately 70-odd years old. (He was walking on the street. The Germans followed him in a car until they ran him over and killed him.)
21) Meyer, the son of Shmulke Pzsheshtshelenyets, a butcher, around 40 years old;
22) Zishe Zshelenyets, a baker, in his eighties;
23) Motl Holand, a merchant, in his fifties;
24) Hershl Surek, a butcher, in his forties;
25) Mates Mendzezshitski, a shoykhet [ritual slaughterer of poultry], fifty-odd years old;
26) Berish Pivko, a merchant, in his fifties;
27) Yisroel-Khaym Nayman, a shoykhet, around 80 years old.
The massacre took place under the following circumstances:
On Shabbat around 3, 4pm, the Germans ordered the whole population to gather in the church. Whoever went on the street and they [the Germans] had the impression that this individual was not walking fast enough was shot to death.
A day later, at dawn, 12 individuals were shot whilst saying slikhes [the morning prayers recited before or during the High Holidays] at Hershl Surek’s house.
Six individuals were shot on Sunday night when they were sleeping in their beds.
Two individuals – Itshe Shpaker and Yankev-Meyer Rotbard – were burnt alive. The Germans first stabbed Rotbard and then – barely breathing – they threw him into the fire.
The Jews, who they had gathered in the church – around 300 persons –, were escorted away by the Germans outside the city to the peasant Kovaltshik and there they were held for 3 days under the constant threat of execution. On the fourth day, they were all – children at the age of 14 and old men – taken into the barracks of the Ostrów (Mazowiecka) Concentration Camp.
Many times during the night, they pointed at these Jews reflectors and machine guns. Before they executed the announced shooting, the Germans issued the order that no one should dare to cry but that they have to be happy and laugh instead. They ordered them to sing songs. At the same time, the Germans
The Jews were held without food for three days and hungry they were later led to work repairing the highway.
On different days, the Jews were finally released. On the eve of Sukkot, the remaining Jews from Brok were released. And they were chased across the border to Zambrów (which was already on Soviet territory).
Signature: 1Note 1: Missing