Leon Salomon - June 18, 1990
Einsatzgruppen
Had you heard of the Einsatzgruppen group at this point?
Yes.
The mobile killing units?
Yes.
What did you hear about them?
The Einsatzgruppen group had started right away, they were the first troops after the town was occupied and they were going from city to city killing people and, of course, at this particular time, in our town, there were small, little, farm, Jewish farmers who were rounded up and killed by this Einsatzgruppen group. There were quite a few people from the first time ??? got killed. So this was done in the beginning when they came in.
They were shooting them?
Yes, mass graves, the same people who were shot, they had to dig their own graves and they were shot by the Einsatzgruppen.
How did you hear about this, was this just word of mouth?
No, cause it was in the same town. We knew the people.
So the people you knew were rounded up?
Oh yeah.
Children, old people?
Some children, some old people, some children had to carry them.
What were your reactions when you saw people marching off to their deaths?
I actually didn't see it, but I know of those people who were rounded up because this town consisted only of a few hundred Jews, so naturally you know that. You were hiding, you were trying not to be seen, those who were hidden stayed alive for the time being, because those Einsatzgruppen didn't stay for a while, they went through, they did some killing and they kept going on. So this was what you call it, temporary killing.
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