The Ditches
After checking the ditch [20] in the evening I would lock
myself up for the night and wait for the morning. In the morning, I
cleared the frost on the glass window and waited with my camera. I had a
very good field of observation: I could see Count Potocki's palace, from
which a unit of soldiers approached. On the other side I could see the synagogue and those who were doomed to die leaving the synagogue. I
had a panoramic view, and I could see all the activities on the roads leading
to the ditch, which was about 20 meters [60 feet] from my position. I could not use my camera because I considered it worthless in comparison with the lost lives and the camera dropped from my hands. Only shortly afterwards I took a few pictures, when victims’ blood was steaming in the cold.
[After shooting the victims] the Germans left immediately, as if they were disgusted with their job. So, right away, I went out to the ditches. I was there when the bodies were stripped of the bloodied clothes by the assigned person. I was there when the bodies were covered up, still moving and making wheezing noises. I was trying to recognize someone, yet in vain.
Translator's Notes:
[20] Apparently, the Germans followed their common practice
of lining up their victims in front of a ditch before shooting them, so their bodies
would fall directly into the ditch.
