StudyGuide - Courses

Uncovering the Holocaust by Bullets

Watch the testimony video, read accompanying documents and answer related questions.

Access to accompanying documents

Witness

Vasile B.

Country

Moldova

Birthdate and Birthplace

1921, Scăieni

Year of video recording

2013

InEvidence link (YahadMap)

Know more

Scăieni, MOLDOVA

Scăieni is a village situated to the east of Edineț. As soon as the Romanian troops arrived, all the Jews of the village were rounded up, shot and buried in the village. A local administrator, an attorney, complained to the Romanians that the Jews should not have been buried in the village. Thus, the bodies were exhumed and reburied on the edge of the village, in a pit reserved for animals. Vasile was a witness to the shootings of 2 columns of Jews who had stopped in Scăieni.
With Vasile, the Yahad - In Unum team went to the execution sites. Two graves are situated on a pasture around 50 meters from the road. There is no memorial and the bodies are still buried there. Nearby, there is another mass grave, containing the Jews of Scăieni.

Vasile B. born in 1921 © Victoria Bahr - Yahad - In Unum

Vasile B. explaining his memories © Victoria Bahr - Yahad - In Unum

Vasile B. deep in thought during the interview © Victoria Bahr - Yahad - In Unum

Glossary

The paramilitaries
The paramilitaries that the witness discusses were local auxiliaries or Romanians.

Historical note on Moldova and Romania
Under Soviet domination, Moldova was invaded by the Romanian army and gendarmes at the end of June 1941. Allied to the Nazis, the Romanians engaged in the massacre of the Jewish population. Antonescu’s Romania was directly responsible for the murder of over 300,000 Jews along its border regions and in Soviet territories that it occupied.

Questionnaire

1.- How old was Vasile at the time of the events ?

2.- How was Vasile able to witness the shootings? How many of them did he witness ?

3.- What happened to the Jewish children? Who dug the graves, What happened to the Jewish victims’ bodies during the second shooting ?

4.- Who were the killers? Who gave weapons to the villagers from Scăieni to kill the Jews ?

5.- According to Vasile, what was the main motivation of the killers ?

6.- Why were some of the killers unhappy ?

7.- How did the Romanian gendarmes know where the Jews from Scăieni lived ?

8.- What were the five stages of the crime ?

9.- Why do you think that the witness accepted to give a testimony 80 years after the events ?

10.- Why do you think that it is important to collect and teach about this type of testimony ?

Additional Resources

Access supplementary materials, including articles and further reading suggestions, for a comprehensive learning experience.

Historical notes

Scăieni is a village in Donduşeni district in northern Moldova. In 1930, there were about twenty Jews living in Scăieni among 2,414 mainly Moldovans and Slav inhabitants. Some of Scăieni’s Jews were merchants and owned shops. YIU’s witness Vasile B., born in 1921, remembers his Jewish neighbors, Pinkaus and Ianko. Jews from the village would go to synagogue in Briceva, about 16km away. In 1930, the Jews in Briceva numbered 2,431, almost 89% of the total population, making Briceva one of the most important Jewish communities in Donduşeni district. There were several synagogues In Briceva, a Jewish cemetery, several cheders and a bathhouse.

PICTURES GALLERY

YIU TEAM WITH VASILE B.