by Alexander Kimel
 
 

                    On March 20, 1942 the Einsatzgroupen killed 3400 Jews. After the action,
                    when I was looking for my sister, I saw a shadow of a girl moving slowly
                    through the streets. She was all soaked and stained with blood. When she
                    came closer I recognized her. It was Cyla, the sister of my school friend
                    Arnold.

                    When she came closer to me, she recognized me. She approached me and
                    said: "Josh can you help me to get home?. I am all shaken. I just came out
                    from the grave."

                    Without asking her any question I took her under the arm and walked her
                    home. When we walked into the room she collapsed on the bed. I took a
                    wet towel and started to wipe the blood off her face. I wanted to see if she is
                    still bleeding?

                    When under the influence of the cold water she slowly came to her senses
                    and opened her eyes. She recognized me.

                    "What happened to you? You are covered with blood."

                    "I was shot and came out of the mass grave." She answered.

                    "I can't believe it. How did it happen?"

                    She told a blood stirring story. "I was standing in line to be shot. I was the
                    last of my family. My father, mother and my brother were already shot. The
                    SS man was sitting at the edge of the pit and shooting nonchalantly people. I
                    felt like being suspended in a world of non-believe, watching a horror movie.
                    The carnage was unbelievable."

                    "I was very calm. When my turn came, the Murderer looked me straight in
                    the eyes and nonchalantly lifted the weapon. I heard an explosion and I fell
                    into the pit. Thank God it is over for me, I said to myself. It was so fast,
                    without pain. Now I will be going to Heaven. The worst is over."

                    "After a while I started to choke. The weight of the bodies falling on my
                    dragged me down. My ordeal is not over. I am alive. I started to move my
                    hands, my head. I was alive, indeed. With all my strength I pushed upward
                    to get some air. I whole day I struggled to keep breathing."

                    "After a while the shooting stopped, and soon I heard the Prayer for the
                    Dead- Kaddish said. It meant that some Jews are still alive. I laid quietly,
                    afraid to be shot. When the darkness fell I crawled out of the pit and came
                    back. Joel, what is going to happen to us?, I am scared of living and afraid
                    of dying."

                    Before I could answer the question, the door opened and an elderly
                    neighbor walked into the room. Seeing the girl she started to cry softly.
 

Holocaust Educational Digest, Alexander Kimel-Holocaust Survivor,
http://haven.ios.com/~kimel19/what.html