carting hundreds of dead bodies to the ghetto cemetery. In some instances, however, the Ukrainian Nazis would load people who had fainted, but were still alive, onto the wagons. Not infrequently, some of these victims would regain consciousness and plead with the driver to let them go. But the Nazi escort insisted that these peo- ple be buried along with the dead. Some wagon drivers occasionally recognized relatives or friends who were still breathing, yet had no choice but to transport them to their final destination at the cemetery. Consumed with guilt, a few of the wagon drivers later committed suicide. The Gestapo was determined to remove the factory machines and merchandise from the ghetto as quickly as possible. They increased the number of slave laborers assigned to this work. Subsequently, the Nazis ordered that a fence be constructed around the Jewish hospital building, a sort of ‘“‘mini ghetto” where the small group of slaves could stay while their services were required. Meanwhile, conditions in the hideouts were deter1- orating from moment to moment. The number of con- cealed Jews diminished each day. A sense of despair pervaded the shelters, people becoming resigned to the fact that, sooner or later, they would be killed. Some, unwilling to accept the inevitable, began frantically building new shelters that would be even more difficult for the Nazis to expose. On the third day a house near the Judenrat build- ing went up in flames. Some twenty-six Jews perished in that fire. Attempts were made to pinpoint the cause of the blaze, but no explanation could be found. Many Jews suspected that the Nazis set the fire, an ominous new method of liquidation in the hideouts. On Wednes- day, August 18, 1943, the task of emptying Pietrasze Field of its throng of Jews was completed. Most had been deported to Treblinka; some.10,000 others were dispatched to Lublin-Poniatow or Mayjdanek. On the Way to Liquidation At 12 noon a large group of Jews was divided into “suitable for work’’ and “unsuitable for work.’’ Those in the first category were forced with cattle prods into the forward twenty cars of a train. The unsuitables were jammed into the rear twenty railroad cars, and locked in. On the roof of each car, a Nazi with a machine gun stood guard, making sure no one jumped from the train. A number of Jews, as they were being forced into the train, managed to grab weapons from the soldiers but were immediately shot. The train then left Bialystok in the direction of Warsaw. The terrible jamming and the scorching heat caused hundreds to suffocate or to be trampled. The cries from the cars were heartrending. The Nazi guards on the roofs began firing into the train, leaving many killed or wounded. Some daring Jews did jump from the train, provoking a fusillade of bullets. If some escaped being shot, all was not yet well, for along the 94 entire length of the Bialystok-Treblinka route, well- armed Nazis had been placed to capture escapees. At the railroad station in Malkin, the train stopped, because Malkin was the way-station for the newly constructed route to Treblinka. The rear twenty cars where the unsuitable workers were trapped were uncoupled from the rest of the train. Quickly a second locomotive was attached to these twenty cars, carrying them off to Treblinka. Suddenly cries and screams from the Treblinka train became deafening and were heard in the other twenty cars with the suitable workers. After a while, the noise abated and the train to Treblinka van- ished into the forest. The Nazis then turned their attention to the remaining twenty cars. Some of them had breeches in their walls made by Jews trying to escape. In retalia- tion, the Nazis dragged ten Jews outside the cars and shot them in front of everyone else. | As soon as these cars were shut and bolted, and the surveillance intensified, the train continued its grim journey, which lasted for about forty-eight hours. The dead bodies in the cars and human excrement created an unbearable stench. When the approximately 3,000 Bialystoker Jews arrived in Lublin-Poniatow, they were met by the com- mandant of the concentration camp, who, riding on a white horse, inspected his slaves and shot many of those he considered less than adequate. Back in Bialystok, on the fourth day, the Nazis revealed yet a new, even more diabolical, method of luring the Jews out of the hideouts in the ghetto. A group of Nazi soldiers would enter a house and thor- oughly search it for about an hour. Then, finding nothing, they would leave the building in a noisy manner, giving the concealed Jews underneath the impression they had nothing more to fear. Actually, two soldiers would remain inside the house without making a sound. In the hideout the Jews, believing the Nazis had gone, began moving about freely and noisily. Some would start to cough. One of the Nazis would immediately summon reinforcements. The house would soon be surrounded by SS officers, who would shout orders to the Jews hiding that they should come out at once or be killed.

These sudden surprise attacks would confuse the Jews in the shelters, who did not pay any heed to the Nazi ultimatum to emerge. The Germans then threw hand grenades into the house and, when they discov- ered the exact entrance to the bunker, would throw more grenades inside. At once the shelter exploded and was destroyed. Men, women and children lay mutilated under the debris. Those who remained alive were dragged outside and brutally beaten. After a thorough search, the freshly exposed Jews were sent directly to the railroad station for deportation to Treblinka. With this new method of uncovering hideouts, the Nazis captured more than 2,000 Jews on the fourth day, The Bialystoker Memorial Book