| Where vicitims are from, last know location | Lublin |
|---|---|
| Town/county where mass grave is located | Tatary |
| Mass Grave Location | On the outskirts of Lublin, ar Tatary towards the Warsaw route, at no 22, away from the road. on Mr Prerawski's field, 50 or 100m away from Mr Karol Mulak's barn. A grave 5m long and 1.8-2m wide |
| Date of Murder | March or April [1942] |
| Numer of Victims | hundreds - childeren, women and elderly |
| Names of Victims Mentioned | |
| Full Testimony | On the outskirts of Lublin, towards the Warsaw route, there is a village called Tatary. At no 22, away from the road, there is an enclosure, where Mr Karol Mulak, an old man, who still remembers the times of the Austrian rule, lives with his family. The artificial openings in Mulak's barn overview the fields. From this place, the old man was watching things, which were supposed to be carefully hidden from view, crimes of mass murder, executed upon infants in dippers.[...] it was in March or April [1942], prisoners were brought to dig ditches. It was on Mr Prerawski's [?] field, 50 or 100m away from me. The prisoners worked hard throughout Saturday and half of Sunday, struggling with frozen ground. Sensing incredible secret, against strict prohibition, I was watching those peculiar preparations from the barn. The pit was 5m long and 1.8-2m wide. Having finished, the prisoners walked off. [...] Suddenly, a huge truck closely covered with a black tarpaulin appears on the road. The trucks stops in a field 100m away from the road, where a pit had been dug. It reverses till it is right by the pit. The tarpaulin opens and small children appear, most of them in dippers. There are also 2 adult men. Gestapo men put the children on a sand mound and another one of them shots at the children with a machine gun. After that, one of the Jews throws them into the pit and another one, standing in the pit, puts them one next to another to take up as little space as possible. The children are still in dippers, half-alive and convulsing. The German economy has to prevail even now. [...] A Gestapo man finishes them off, shooting a machine gun to dying children in the pit. He tries to drown out the horrifying moans coming from the inside of the pit. [...] They leave the pit uncovered and the truck drives off to transport others. It comes back after about an hour. This time it brings older children. In groups of four, they go to die holding hands. The children stand over the pit and a German man shots them with a revolver. Some of them fall into the pit immediately, others are thrown in by Jews chosen to do that. [...] Another transport comes after an hour. Now, there are almost only women, the staff of a Jewish hospital. [...] The last transport came to their final resting place on foot (because of a truck malfunction). There were more or less 40 persons; older people, around 60 years of age, were there too. All well-dressed in black, wearing hats, women also well-dressed. [...] Finally, it was time for those who were putting the bodies in the pit. One of them was determined to escape. While running, he was constantly tripping over and falling into a gully. That's where he was shot by an Ukrainian. They covered the bodies with a thin layer of dirt and drove off. The moans could be heard long after that. A hand or a leg was sticking up. Some time later another transport was executed. Then, the Ukrainians covered the pit with a thick layer of dirt and drove off with a sense of well-fulfilled obligation. |
| Testimony Number | 301/636 |
| page in longer testimony | pages 1-2 |
| Date of Testimony | Lublin 1945 |
| Name of Witness | Karol Mulak (Pole) |
| Current Country | Poland |
The Reut School, Jerusalem – The Society for the Advancement of Education