Kehilot/BiałystokA living הַנְצָחָה — preserving the memory of destroyed Jewish communities through their Yizkor books.

Place · forest

Augustow Forests

Augus- tow Forests

Prisoners were forced to cremate bodies and sift ashes in the Augustow Forests.

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... In this way we worked for two weeks in the Augus- tow Forests. After all the martyrs had been cremated, we were ordered to sift thorugh the ashes in search of gold rings, watches, gold teeth and other valuables that might not have melted in the fire, and to turn them over to our masters. The ashes themselves were buried 1n a deep pit, over which trees were planted, in order to erase any evidence of Nazi savagery. ...

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... Grim Bonfires in the Augustow Forests

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Then came another day — more gruesome than all that had preceded it. We were all loaded onto a special wagon, used to cart off condemned men to be shot, and, under stringent security by police armed with machine guns, we were taken to an open field in the Augustow Forests. The Nazis equipped us with shovels and hooks. Not knowing for what purpose we were to use these implements, we understood nevertheless that something terrible lay ahead. The place where we were left was cordoned off with barbed wire and surrounded by police with machine guns. ...

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