The Wild Action

On 21-22 October 1942 (10-11 Heshvan 5703), Skalat endured the bloody tragedy which the Jews of our town called the “Wild Action,” because of the cruelty and savagery with which the brutes carried out the 'deportation' during those two days.

Precisely at 4:00 AM, five busloads of armed and helmeted SS-men pulled into Skalat. They surrounded the town, and then waited calmly until the break of dawn. Three shots were the signal to start the 'action.' Soon the air was filled with the wild cries and unintelligible bellows of the group-leaders and commanders. The Germans stood in full battle order, arranged in groups, strategically placed as though in a planned military maneuver. They behaved as though the “enemy” responsible for starting World War II and threatening the Third Reich were the Jews of Skalat, including the women and children. “Forward! Let no one escape! If they run then shoot -and shoot - and shoot again!”

All of the soldiers had, earlier, received rations of alcohol, which were provided before every 'action,' as though to assure better results and make the 'work' easier, bolder and wilder. The Ukrainian militia, led by its Kommandant, stood to the side in two long rows, awaiting orders from the Obersturmbannfuhrer, who assigned two or three Ukrainian militiamen to each group of German SS-men. “Listen, fellows, work faithfully for the sake of our Ukraine and for the glory of the Third Reich,” the Kommandant called, leading his men forward.

The shouting and shooting roused the shtetl from sleep. The people quickly realized that disaster had struck. Terror and turmoil reigned. People ran about, lost and terrified. Where does one hide? Where does one run? Most Jews did not have bunkers in their cellars and scurried to seek shelter with neighbors in shared hiding places - but by now it was too late. The Germans were running wild in the streets.

The newcomers had no hiding places at all. Some tried to escape, thinking that perhaps it might be possible to break through the ring, reach the “Aryan” side and hide somewhere in the open fields. They had nothing to lose and everyone could see their plight clearly.

Streets and alleys were filled with German and Ukrainian troops, rifles at the ready. They were strategically waiting at every wall. The continuous sound of shooting, the wild shouts from the Germans, the cries of children, the moans and groans of the wounded - all combined into a terrible cacophony. Other Jews still tried to escape, as the soldiers fired at them ceaselessly. The death toll rose minute by minute. Over one hundred fell in the first moments of the slaughter, and the corpses were left lying in the streets all around the town. Only a few actually succeeded in escaping the siege. As the desperate running came to an end, the shooting quieted down. Now the wild killers set out to grab victims from their homes. Jews hid wherever they could, but the majority, lacking hiding places, and without hope or help, remained in place. They surrendered to their fate.

By now there were almost 150 victims. The bloody prologue completed, the cutthroats turned to their main job. From the Houses of Study and Prayer they dragged the Jews and led them in groups to the shul, where they had already crammed in hundreds of others. They dragged their victims from houses, from attics, from cellars, from under beds, from closets, and from all the other mouse-holes. With curses and shouts, they led them to the collection point under a hail of whip lashes and with the prodding of gun butts. One woman, Tonka Bernhaut, while being driven to the shul, screamed curses at Hitler and his 'Master Race.' The German leading her would not tolerate the vilification. He drew his revolver and shot her, shooting again when she attacked him with her fists.

As the 'action' progressed, Obersturmbannfuhrer Muller made a deal with the leaders of the Judenrat and the Kommandant of the Jewish police, Dr. Josef Brif, to take an active part in the 'action.' He solemnly promised that they and their families would be spared. The Jewish police and some individual Judenrat members quickly turned to their assigned work. Their main task was to help uncover the bunkers

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and other hiding places. In the meantime, they got Muller to agree to release those Judenrat members and their families who had been caught at the start of the 'action.' They were quickly released.

The work proceeded under full steam. By noon the shul was packed with over a thousand victims. Obersturmbannfuhrer Muller and his aide, Leks, were very pleased with their Jewish helpers and did, in fact, spare the relatives of the council-members. The Jewish helpers justified their actions with the view that since all was lost, one must, at the very least, save one's own life and the lives of one's nearest. Neither Nirler nor the Jewish police Kommandant, wearing riding breeches and highly polished boots, shirked at their tasks. Just like the Germans, they ran about in their shirtsleeves, cuffs rolled back, redfaced, sweating and excited wielding riding crops. They ran helter-skelter, along with the manic German and Ukrainian butchers, from house to house, from attic to attic, from cellar to cellar - dragging, tearing, beating and screaming like wild animals in imitation of their experienced masters.

It was characteristic that these Germans, virtuosos of atrocity and brutality, were simultaneously cowards. They even feared children who might put their eyes out in vengeance. If such a German had to search some hole in a cellar or an attic, he would send in a Jew while he stood outside, safe from attack. Some Jews would, indeed, uncover hiding places and drag out their own.

In a relatively short time the Germans managed to dehumanize their victims and some Jews did not escape the brutalization forced on them by the killers. The will to live, no matter how tragic the conditions were, perhaps explains the shroud of iniquity and cruelty which covers the mounds of corpses. “Meyer, Meyer! Do all that you can so that we may live! “ - pleaded the mother-in-law of the infamous Nirler at that time. In this light it was proper to do almost anything to save one's own, even if it meant sending thousands of others to death. And both the mother-in-law and son-in-law did survive.

The 'action' went on. The shul was packed: even the ante-room and the women's balcony. The officers of the 'action' were forced to take out many people to make room for the newly-arrived captives. Under heavy guard, groups of wretched victims were taken to a wet meadow near the railroad station where the soil had always been soggy because of the swamps which once covered the area.

On the first day of the 'action' 2,000 Jews were captured. Conditions in the shul became intolerable. Scores of swaddled children, some in sacks and some wrapped in sheets, lay, scattered, on the stone floor of the ante-room. They whined and cried ceaselessly. Infants screamed for their mothers' breasts. They shivered with cold and nervously tossed about their arms and legs. No one paid attention to them. Their own mothers had left them to God's mercies as they themselves ran to hide. For who would admit a mother and screaming child into a bunker? And how could one run with a child in one's arms? The youngest infants were forgotten in the great madness of the stampede. But the executioners didn't forget them...they shot them on the spot or brought them to the shul in little sacks.

The sanctuary was packed. No one was permitted to leave: not even to attend to bodily needs. Soon the stench became overpowering. None of this prevented the crowd from praying: people murmured prayers, recited Psalms, offered confessions. Motie Perlmuter wailed verses and the congregation repeated them in response. The cries and sobs of hysterical women rose from all sides. Most of the captives no longer had faith in the possibility of rescue. Many were sadly silent, biting their lips. Most of the older children understood what was happening but tried to keep their spirits up. They bore their pain and woe quietly and stoically, with a determination beyond their years. “What could be the sin of such little flowers?” someone in the crowd called out. There was no reply.

The 'action' continued to rage in the town. Then scores of soldiers surrounded the Shul and the last groups captured during the day were brought to the meadow that evening. The quota that had been set by the Tarnopol Gestapo had not yet been filled. Three shots, fired in rapid succession, was the signal for a break, and the SS gang headed off to enjoy themselves at the Judenrat office, where a celebration had been prepared. Liquor, whiskey, wine and eggnog flowed like water. There were roasted and marinated meats, cakes and pastries. Pretty girls were also present. The caterers of the Judenrat busied themselves

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at the richly adorned tables, slavishly dancing attendance on the guests as though they were monarchs. Laughter was heard, music played: the night passed in song, dance and joy. All of this while 2,000 people suffered in the heat of the packed shul and in the cold of the meadow by the railroad.

On the second day, Thursday 22 October, capturing victims became more difficult. Nevertheless the required additional 1,000 victims, plus a surplus, were collected. Scores of bunkers were uncovered that day, some of them sheltering from sixty to seventy people.

Terrible scenes occurred in the meadow near the railroad station, where the victims were gathered. Everyone had to remain in a kneeling position. If someone moved, he was savagely beaten by the Ukrainian Hitlerites. Limbs ached and grew as numb as logs. The weeping of women and children pierced one's ears. Scattered about the very center of the large clearing lay scores of tiny children, pleading and crying. The weather was autumnal: bleak and cold. Night fell abruptly, heavy and dark. Bonfires blazed on all sides of the square, illuminating the terrible scene. The Ukrainians had built the fires for warmth and to keep a closer watch on the Jews. Constant firing into the air was another warning to those considering escape. The wretched victims lay down on the damp earth; hunger, cold and deathly fear coursed through the very blood in their veins.

By morning, many people were frozen and too weak to stand. Part of the crowd was almost naked, having been dragged from bed in their underwear. The people were miserable, staring blankly and hardly recognizable. They had already resigned themselves to their fate. Still, at times, some individuals tried to escape, although they were rarely successful. The Hitlerite guards shot down the escapees, and the toll of the dead and/or seriously wounded grew higher and higher. A few did manage to escape, but most were caught and returned by peasants without a conscience. Bloodied corpses were strewn about. Hundreds of peasant onlookers stood around, ostensibly watching sympathetically, but actually enjoying the Jewish agony.

All of the people in the shul were brought to the meadow in the afternoon of the second day. With the arrival of the last group of captives, at around 7:00 PM, the count stood at over 3,000. This, apparently, was the Gestapo's assigned quota. The full complement of German, Ukrainian and Jewish participants now gathered at the train station for the new task of transporting the victims.

Part of the Judenrat was otherwise engaged in town: making preparation for a farewell banquet for the Tarnopol SS-men. But some of the Jewish police were still busy, trying to effect a last-minute rescue of some of the Judenrat members' families, who had been swept up among the captives. The main intercessions were made on behalf of Dr. Gutman, bookkeeper Moshe Sas of Tarnoruda and Dr. Finkelstein of Podwoloczyska. The Judenrat negotiated the matter with Muller and Leks, the Gestapo representatives. The chief was in a very bad mood and kept cursing and shouting. As far as he was concerned the 'action' was finished. But the members of the Judenrat were determined to save them, regardless of the cost and therefore they kept interceding. “For every Jew I free, bring me 25 others,” Muller demanded, thinking this would make them desist.

“At your command, Herr Obersturmbannfuhrer!” replied a Judenrat member, who promptly turned to the police and gave the appropriate orders. Some of the Jewish police set off through the streets, with renewed energy, to uncover another bunker somewhere and to supply, quickly, the needed number of people. But after half an hour's raging through the town, they were barely able to gather up a total of 25 people. The German, Muller, stared in amazement at his Jewish “assistants.” He dismissed only Dr. Gutman and his family and the bookkeeper, Sas. He would not free any others. He shouted and swore and would not listen to another word. The Ukrainian militiamen drove the newly-captured Jews into the human mass.

The last death negotiation ended the 'action.'

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The system of trading Jews for other Jews was a usual practice for the Judenrat. The councilmen were always ready to do business for large sums. In addition there were always favorites and dignitaries to look after.

A locomotive pulled empty freight-cars up to the station platform and the command was given to load up the victims. The soldiers drove the Jews into the cars. Amid shouts and blows, groups of l00 to 200 were crammed into each of the cars. The dead were also tossed in and included in the count. The cars were sealed and boarded up. In one hour's time, the long train was ready to depart.

At 9:00 PM, the transport moved out, leaving behind a bloody meadow, over which various items of clothing were strewn haphazardly. An army of peasants, with baskets and sacks, quickly attacked these “spoils.” But this scene offended the aesthetic sense of the Germans: “Such bloody swine!” they shouted, and the peasants ran off quickly.

Obersturmbannfuhrer Muller and his aide, Leks, heartily thanked the Ukrainian Kommandant and his men for their devoted collaboration as well as the Jewish police, who stood drawn up in ranks like the strings on an instrument. They, in turn, saluted the departing German guests from Tarnopol, who rapidly climbed aboard their large buses. The Obersturmbannfuhrer, his aide, and the rest of the higher functionaries were seated in their limousines. Leks stuck his head out of the side window, stared coldly at the group of Jewish councilmen, and called out: “ Auf Wiedersehn! We should return in four weeks!” He smiled sadistically and suddenly called out: “Come here, Ober Jude. ” ^[47]

Nirler stepped forward, listened to a few words and answered: “At your command, Herr Chef!”^[48]

The limousines drove to the Judenrat offices, where the Gestapo-men spent another hour. They had time for a toast, a light supper and to receive attractive gifts before departing.

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