The Partisans

A few days after the first camp 'action,' a large group of the surviving Jews was back at work in the quarry at Nowosiolka, near the woods, some two kilometers from Skalat.

It was just about noon when the inmates were permitted to rest from their labor. Suddenly some shepherds ran up and, with bated breath, related the news that Soviet partisans had arrived, that they were now in the woods and had said that before the day was over, they would enter the town. None of the Jews dared to believe the story. From where? How? But the constant sound of gunfire told them that something unexpected was about to happen. By this time no one feared gunfire or exploding bombs: on the contrary, they lightened the spirits and evoked a kind of vengeful glee. By all means! May they thrash the enemy all day and all night, they felt.

Soon squadrons of airplanes appeared in the sky, some flying quite low. Seeing groups of people in the quarry, the planes loosed salvoes of bullets upon the Jews, who, desperate and frightened, tried to run across the fields. They crawled in among the stalks and waited in suspense for the danger to pass.

Meanwhile the news spread like wildfire through the town and neighboring villages. The German and Ukrainian police ran about like poisoned rats, not knowing what to do. The Germans finally managed to organize some groups to offer resistance to the encroaching enemy. Telephone messages went out to the surrounding villages ordering all members of the Ukrainian police to report at once, in full battle gear. Full battle readiness was also ordered for the Schupo, the Kripo and all other armed forces. Some of the officials and higher ranking members of the German institutions fled into hiding.

At about 5:00 PM. the lead patrol of Soviet partisans appeared in the village of Nowosiolka. The German and Ukrainian defending forces were massed behind the woods near Nowosiolka and, by 7:00 PM, the attack began on the village which the Soviet partisans soon captured, almost without a struggle. At the woods, a battle developed where the Germans attempted to encircle the much stronger Soviet forces. They were unsuccessful and, after a thirty minute battle, the partisans had wiped out almost three quarters of the German and Ukrainian fighters. A small remnant barely managed to escape with their lives.

Then the partisans, led by the famous General Kolpak, surrounded the abandoned town of Skalat and occupied it. On the battlefield lay some one hundred dead, about sixty of them Ukrainians and the remainder Germans. The Jews in the Skalat Camp were joyful: the Soviet partisans had assumed power and many Jews believed that salvation had truly arrived. Naively, they believed that the Jews of the camp would join the partisans. It did not turn out that way.

The partisans worked all night long in the town. They dynamited the four small bridges leading to the outskirts, blew up the police and military buildings and generally destroyed everything that related to the Germans. The camp Jews were overjoyed with the partisans and spent the night leading them to the enemy institutions. They freed all the prisoners in the jail and blew up the cells. They confiscated all the stored goods and foodstuffs from the Ukrainian cooperative association warehouse. During this time, the local population remained in hiding. When the partisans prepared to leave, almost all of the Jews asked that they be allowed to accompany them, but the partisans refused, explaining that they needed healthy people to be soldiers, not broken camp inmates who could barely drag their feet. The next day, however, when the Soviet partisans left the shtetl, they were followed by about thirty of the healthier camp Jews, who, under no circumstances, intended to remain behind and await inevitable death. The partisan soldiers drove them off with sticks, but they continued to run alongside. After much effort and exertion, a few days later they were eventually given weapons and included among the partisan ranks.

The majority of those young people from Skalat perished in the great battle that took place in the Carpathian Mountains. Those who survived that struggle were Mechel Glanz, Nadzio Weinsaft, Buzio Eisenstark, Motek Brik, Bucio Elfenbein and one girl: Hinda Kornweitz. All later joined the Polish Army, which was organized in Russia and participated in battles against the Germans. Among the Jewish heroes

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from Skalat, who died in those battles, were Sholem Schechter, Yankif Hecht, Moishe Axelrod, Yeshua Katz (and his twelve year old son), Dr. Hadassah Mendelewicz, Yisroel Brik, Avram Rosenzweig, Kuperszmit, along with many others who brought glory to the Jewish People. Honor to their memory!

*****

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Eyewitness report of the Ex-Partisan from Skalat, Bucio Elfenbein:

“During the last months of the Skalat Camp, a resistance movement began to grow, to which my brother and I belonged. Our primary aim was to obtain arms and to use them against the enemy in the course of the next 'action.'

Short meetings would take place in the camp courtyard, amid the scattered heaps of furniture which had been brought from the ghetto. Arms had to be purchased and we demanded the necessary funds from everyone, but first of all from our rich 'camp comrades': Zimrner, Lempert, Nirler, etc., - it was to no avail. The 'gentlemen' refused us.

And then, suddenly, the partisans of General Kolpak appeared! What euphoria filled the handful of camp Jews who had been under a death sentence! Moreover, what joy we felt watching the Germans and Ukrainians in their terrified retreat. However, quickly realizing that this was not yet liberation, we experienced bitter disappointment.

The leadership of the partisan brigades, which Mechel Glanz and I contacted, acted purely out of military considerations and would not hear about taking along several hundred people, including women and children. They only allowed thirty people to accompany them, including four women. Mechel and I were both assigned to the Third Company of the Third Battalion. The other Jews were assigned to other battalions (of which there were four).

I remember clearly the first test under fire I underwent, on the day after we left Skalat. It was in the area of Krecilow, where our Third Company was assigned to pin down the Germans who, after their defeat in Skalat, had concentrated quite a large force near the highway. We proceeded in a long line from the partisan camp to the site of our assignment. I marched with special pride since, for the first time, I had an opportunity to take part in a real battle and would finally be able to take vengeance for the murder of my mother and for all our suffering! At our leave-taking, my comrades and those who knew me from Skalat could see the joy of battle-readiness on my face! At that point I could think of nothing else.

The battle ended in a great rout of the Germans and our partisans had almost a clear road all the way to the Dniester River (approx. 22 km away). We did engage in several skirmishes along the way. Between the Dniester crossing and the Carpathians we were in major battles. The Germans sent tanks against us and strafed us daily from airplanes. Hunger and exertion had weakened me to the point of exhaustion. Loss of blood from a wound in my wrist weakened me still further. But I did not lose hope and managed to climb to the highest peaks of the Carpathians.

And there is another episode of those days I cannot forget. Our brigade was located in the hilly region between Delatyn and Mikuliczyn. We were seated in a field, engrossed in a radio communique being read by the aide to the company leader and we heard the news that Mussolini had been driven from power. (I didn't know the date, since by then I had lost all sense of time.) Indescribable joy! We all believed that the war was finally at an end! I searched for Mechel Glanz, hoping to share the overwhelming news, but could not find him.

I was called to headquarters and learned that I had guard duty that night. My post was on a hilly forest path. It was a beautiful clear, moonlit night. I came to a post that once held a directional sign. By the light of the moon I made out the Hebrew letters carved into the wood: the first and last names of the chalutzim ^[73] from Lodz, Warsaw, Lwow, etc. They had been here in 1938 for pre-emigration training. Below one family name and the date, they had carved: L'shana haba'a b'Yerushalayim. ^[74] I wondered: were their dreams realized? Were any of them alive?

Only six of our thirty Skalat partisans survived. Some were wounded, as, for example, Hinda Kornweitz who was hurt in the leg. The others perished in battles and bombardments.”

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