REFOEL RAJZNER THE GHETTO IN FLAMES At 8 A.M., August 16, 1943, entire streets in the ghetto were in flames, gutted by the Jewish resistance. About 20,000 Jews were forced to congregate ‘in the Judenrat gardens, hoping for a respite from imminent death. Yet there was no escape. As soon as the Nazis saw that the ghetto streets were burning, they began to fire with machine guns, rather than wait until 9 o’clock, as scheduled. The shooting generated mass confusion and panic. Within a few moments, hundreds of Jews had fallen — shot or trampled. The shouts and cries of the masses could be heard far away. These terrible scenes remain indescribable to this very day. Another thousand Jews fled to the Jewish hospital building, assuming it would be immune from destruc- tion, as it had been during the February operation. This time, however, the Nazis opened fire from all direc- tions, and the vast majority of Jews in the hospital per- ished. Among those killed was the well-known pediatrician, Dr. Segal. From another side of the ghetto, well-armed Ukrainian and White Russian Nazis entered the streets in tanks. They were greeted by hand grenades hurled by the heroic young Jewish resistance fighters. Chawe Chalef, a heroic 16-year-old, was killed in a hail of bullets as she threw the first grenade. The slaughter of the ghetto Jews was carried out with typical German efficiency and precision. Gestapo officers on motorcy- cles made the rounds of the streets, spraying everything in sight with machine gun bullets and hurling grenades. These couriers of death remained in constant contact with Gestapo headquarters at the Judenrat building. Approximately 3,000 Nazis participated in liquidating the Bialystok ghetto. Despite continuous sniper fire from windows and attics carried out by Jewish resisters, an army of 700 Nazis finally made its way to the Judenrat gardens, where many thousands of Jews had assembled. Already hundreds lay dead and wounded. A fierce confrontation followed between the resistance fighters and the Gestapo. The Heroic Jewish Youth The young Jewish heroes of Bialystok fought to the death against the Nazis. As soon as one fell, two others took his place in battle. Dedicated Jewish women handed over grenades and bullets to the men. Quite a few young girls were killed before they had a chance to pass the ammunition. But this did not deter other heroines from aiding the resistance effort. Abrasza Galter, one of the fiercest young resisters, The Bialystoker Memorial Book saw his sister severely wounded in the Judenrat garden, after she carried ammunition to fellow fighters. Unable to tolerate her suffering and hoping to prevent her from falling into Nazi hands alive, he shot her once through the head. The courageous battle in the Judenrat gardens con- tinued for about half a day, leaving several scores of Nazi soldiers dead and approximately fifty wounded. The majority of the ghetto fighters perished in this inhuman and unequal combat, which they had to wage with primitive weapons against such overwhelming mil- itary might. Some of the resistance fighters managed to flee and lived to carry on the fight in other places. At about four in the afternoon the siege of the Judenrat gardens was concluded. Among the brave martyrs of the Judenrat gardens was Welwel Wolkowiski, liaison between the Partisans and the ghetto fighters, whose home at 13 Czepla street was the meeting place for the resisters. With virtually no Jews left alive in the gardens, I observed the apocalyptic scene from our attic for quite a while. In every direction, dead bodies were strewn, mixed with other Jews half dead and groaning. Those still alive asked for some water and others shouted with their last breaths, ''11610!" Some even pleaded: “‘Shoot me in the head. I can’t take the pain any longer.” While the struggle was taking place in the Judenrat gardens, a group of Nazis entered the ghetto streets with a fire engine to put out the blaze near the ghetto fence. From the windows and attics, the resistance fighters immediately started shooting, causing confu- sion and panic in the Nazi ranks. Two daring 15-year- old friends, Szmuel Rajzner and Nochum Kozak hid in an attic at 12 Czepla Street. They killed two Nazis standing near the fire engine with well-aimed shots. As it grew dark, I sneaked out of my hiding place and, disregarding the danger, crawled on my belly to a neighboring building. There I looked around, rummag- ing and calling to someone who might answer — but no reply. Nobody was left alive. Then I moved along to the gardens, where bullets were flying in a thick hail. I found myself creeping over dead and half-dead bodies, the latter moaning with their last strength. To my hor- ror, I saw live children next to lifeless mothers, the tots apparently unnoticed by the Nazis. The muted whining of the children was unbearable.