ers made attempts to escape from the ghetto or to bur- row under the fence to the outside. These efforts resulted in numerous casualties and, on the whole, failed. At two in the afternoon the next day, several high- ranking officers of the Gestapo command, headed by Friedl, appeared at Pietrasze Field, demanding that eve- ryone fall into line. The masses, frightened by this group, refused to obey and pandemonium broke out. Suddenly a hail of bullets sprayed the field, increasing the panic. One Nazi officer ordered a cease fire and explained to the throng that if they failed to line up as usual, the entire population in the field would be exter- minated. His calmly delivered ultimatum quickly re- Stored order. The Gestapo officers made their way through the lines of Jews, carrying long canes with u-shaped han- dles. The Nazis used these canes to collar the younger and stronger Jews, hooking the handles around their necks and pulling them out of line for slave labor. Many of those selected resisted, for they did not wish to leave their wives and children. They were beaten over the head with the canes and were forced to go with the Gestapo anyway. In the next four hours, some 3,000 people were removed from Pietrasze Field, including several hundred young women. At the same time, a second group of Nazi officers pulled the elderly and ill out of line, shoving them onto wagons heading for the ghetto cemetery. There the Jew- ish firemen, under orders from Friedl, had excavated a large number of pits. Many groups of several hundred Jews were brought to the cemetery on the wagons; Fried! would arrive, issuing instructions for the elderly and ill Jews to be pushed to the edge of the pits. He would then fire his gun, which signaled other Nazi sol- diers to open a barrage of gunfire. The victims, riddled with bullets, fell into the pit. Those who were still alive were pushed into the mass grave, which was imme- diately covered with earth. Rabbi Dr. Rozenman, his wife and two daughters were also detained at Pietrasze Field. The girls, realiz- ing what lay ahead for those sent to the ghetto ceme- tery, quickly shaved off their father’s beard. to make him appear young and fit for labor. Several hours later, Markus, one of the leaders of the Judenrat who still enjoyed a modicum of authority, succeeded in releasing Rabbi Rozenman and his family from the field. At once other Jews began pleading with him to save them as well. With tears in his eyes, Markus answered that he could not rescue everyone. Still, he managed to extricate several Jews from Pietrasze Field, taking them to the Judenrat building, where there were more than fifty Jews who were still of use to the Nazis. The Rescued Children The same group of Nazi officers that separated the young and strong for labor from the old and weak for The Bialystoker Memorial Book death announced that children up to ten years of age would be removed from the field and assigned to other places, where they would be well taken care of. The parents of these children wavered, having no confidence in the Nazi promises. Nevertheless, recognizing that either way they had nothing to lose, many parents poignantly parted with their children, entrusting them to the hands of the authorities. Twelve hundred children were sent back into the ghetto and put in a building opposite the Jewish hospi- tal. Several scores of women came along to take care of them. And Jews officially under the protection of the Gestapo also helped look after the children. Those Jews at Pietrasze Field deemed unfit for work were transported to the railroad station, shoved into freight cars, which were then boarded up with wooden slats. The next day they were already in Treb- linka, where they were gassed and cremated. The following day the scene at Pietrasze Field was the same. The masses were provoked into a stampede, resulting in the trampling deaths of many hundreds. When the tumult ceased from time to time, the Nazis opened fire. The heat also caused the deaths of hundreds of Jews, who did not even have a sip of water for days. When the sun rose, many hundreds of crushed, bullet-ridden or comatose bodies were seen lying all over the field. That was the grim climax of the second day. On the third day, an 800-man Nazi force, armed with axes and saws, systematically continued to tear down all the buildings they suspected of harboring Jews. Whenever they found people hiding, the Nazis hacked them to death. The shut-off of water and elec- tricity made some Jews conclude that they could not survive in the hideouts. As a result, some three hundred willingly surrendered to the Nazis. The Heroic Resistance of the Jewish Fighters