Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Martin Koby - April 20, 1999

Did that happen?

Yes. And my father got away easy. My father was not a native, as you know, was not a native of my village. In the summer of '41, all the intellectuals you know, those that were in the Communist jails came home. The gymnasium, gym...the gymnasium students. And all the intellectuals that participated in the movement for an Independent Ukraine, there were a lot of them were--the Polack, the Polish government jailed them. And then the Soviets jailed them...

Hm.

...because they already knew you know, you cannot trust these guys, because they're ??? guys. So whether they committed a crime in the Soviet Union or not, they went to jail.

Uh-huh.

I mean, they--whatever, whatever they were. So they all came home. And some of them were not arrested. They formed this new g...grou...new movement in our village when the Germans came. And they were you know uh, having meetings every day and I knew where. I used to see them. I used to go in there to the window for look what's going on there. Well you know, stupid. Who could have defend...so they--one night, they called--they sent messages uh, to every adult Jewish man had to report to Mr. Kerbitz's Inn. There was like an Inn you know, you could have a meal there and you could have uh, stay overnight. So, so um, old you know, motel.

Yeah.

It was an inn.

Or you could have a meeting there?

Pardon?

Or you could have a meeting.

Or you could have a meeting.

Yeah.

The Czechs used to have a dances there. That's where they showed movies sometimes. That's where they had the--a theater performance you know, because they had a big hall. And the Czech people had a brass band. So they used to--Thanksgiving was held in this place. And if you wanted to party, that's where you went, to Kerbitz's place. Kerbitz--a Czech. And he had a place where he kept ice all summer you know, a big pl...a hole in--you know, brick--a brick uh, cellar, a big humongous cellar. He kept ice. And then he had other cellars for potatoes you know, for food storage.

Uh-huh.

And they took over this, intellectuals the, the gymnasium boys and the other--their followers. And they called every adult man over eighteen to come to--for an interview. But it's funny, they must have copied the Soviet system. They always called them at two--three o'clock in the morning. We lived the closest--my parents' house was the closest to Kerbitz--to this house to this estate. And he came there and we--and they saw--you ??? whatever the greetings were. And they surrounded them and they started beating the hell out of them.