Tag #147765 - Interview #78520 (Sophia Noginskaya)

Thus, when the war began, mother’s parents remained in the Ukraine, in the village of Bolshaya Lovcha. The wife of mother’s brother Yasha [born in 1914] lived with them. She was pregnant. Her name was Raya. There were a lot of Jewish villages in the area; I remember the name of one of them: Kukolovka. When the Germans came, things were terrible. At first they forced all the Jews to work at physically hard labor. Young girls were sent to dig trenches. Then came the sad end. The village of Kukolovka was completely destroyed by Germans - all Jews were executed. At one point the Germans gathered everybody, and the Jews thought that they were going to be shot. They said farewell to each other, but they were forced to dig a ditch for other people, who were shot that very day. My y [ndparentss?] were prese at that xecution and were then compelled to bury the bodies of the executed people, some of whom were still alive … But this all happened in a neighboring village. They said that grandfather came home absolutely grey-haired, he could hardly speak. Then came the turn of Bolshaya Lovcha. Absolutely all people of Jewish nationality were executed as well as people of different origin who sympathized with and helped the Jews. The execution was carried out by Germans as well as by Ukrainians who were on their side. Among the Ukrainians were those who had lived side by side for years with the people they executed.