Parchment Burning

During Sukkot, 1939, German soldiers forced their way into the synagogue in Siedlce, Poland. They beat the Jews who were praying inside. When people tried to escape, they were shot. Yosef Rubin was killed in this way. ( Association of Siedlcers in Israel ) A few months later, the synagogue was burned to the ground. According to some reports, homeless Jews who had been living in the synagogue died inside. ( Yizkor Book )

Skalat 1942 At the end of August, 1942, the Nazis began deporting the Jews of Skalat. They began with the weakest segments of the population - orphans and the elderly. 600 Jews were brought to the local synagogue, where they were kept overnight. During this time, some of them were killed. The next morning, when it was time to transport the Jews to the extermination camp in Belzec, the dead bodies were thrown onto the truck along with the living. ( Virtual Shtetl ) Testimony from that evening corroborates this. A woman, Mrs. Weissbrod, who had taken the place of her elderly mother in the synagogue reported that "The shul was crowded, suffocating. Screams! Sobs! The old people sigh, cough, clamor and faint. All that time in the heat without even a drop of water. A few of the aged and sick, lacking stamina, had already died." She continues that when the Nazis arrived to load the victims onto trucks, "When all the victims had been loaded aboard the trucks, one of the mil

Kharkov, Ukraine 1941 In late 1941, the Nazis ordered that all Jews in Kharkov relocate to some huts on the outskirts of the city. Those who were not able to relocated were locked into the synagogue on Meshchansky Street. These were mostly elderly, disabled or very young Jews. According to testimony gathered in 1943, "a large number of them from to death and others died of hunger. Altogether 400 persons died in the synagogue building." ( Yad Vashem )