WITNESSES SPEAK. Reflections on Daniela Rosenberg’s book “Holocaust by Bullets: Jewish Settlements of the Dnipropetrovsk Region”

Abstract

This short article is a reflection on a book by French researcher Daniele Rosenberg about the Holocaust in the Stalindorf Jewish National District. Based on eyewitness accounts collected by the Yahad-In Unum team, the researcher describes life in the Jewish colonies of the region during the 20s and 30s of the 20th centuries, as well as the implementation of the Holocaust policy during the years of Nazi occupation. For many witnesses, what they saw was a difficult experience that stayed with them for the rest of their lives. They talked about the robbery of the Jews, the persecution of them by the German soldiers, local authorities, and the police. They described in detail how the Jews were gathered for execution, how they were taken to the scene of the crime, how it took place. Also, in the testimonies of many people there is information about ghettos and forced labor camps. After all, many witnesses recall the shooting that they personally saw or heard the sounds of gunfire and people screaming. These testimonies contain important information that made it possible to reconstruct the mass executions of Jews in the countryside.