Mass Murder in Serniki Luba Botvinik (nee Kaz)

The Jews of Serniki were murdered in early September 1942, presumably on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. The German execution squad arrived shortly before lunch and left in the late afternoon. With the help of local collaborators, the Jews were rounded up and brought to a pit 40 metres long and 5 metres wide on the outskirts of the village. The victims were forced to lie face down on the floor of the pit, while marksmen at the edge of the pit targeted the heads of the victims. Other victims were clubbed to death. Corpses were stacked on top of each other in layers. Altogether, about 850 men, women and children were massacred.

In 1990 – in the wake of one Australian Nazi war crimes investigation – the gravesite was excavated in order to find the archaeological and forensic evidence of this heinous crime. A team of the Special Investigations Unit, headed by Professor Richard Wright, and assisted by Ukrainian officials and soldiers, fulfilled the task of ‘unearthing the Holocaust’.

Various objects were found, including bullets and cartridge cases, a coin, a watch, a pair of glasses, bits of clothing and footwear, an artificial leg and a Schnappsflasche (schnapps bottle), presumably thrown into the pit by one the murderers after the job was done. They were used as forensic evidence in the War Crimes Trial in Adelaide in 1992 and subsequently donated to the Sydney Jewish Museum.

These are the only known images portraying Jewish life in Serniki. Ivan Polyukhovich was alleged to have murdered Tsalykha, Luba and her baby Tzila in September 1942. Pepe Kaz carried the photographs as she escaped from Serniki shortly before the community was slaughtered. They were tendered by the prosecution in the case against Polyukhovich.

Photographs courtesy of David Bevan, published in his book A Case to Answer: The story of Australia’s first European war crimes prosecution, Wakefield Press, 1994.