When the Nazis attacked the house at 29 Kupiecka Street, rounding up all of its residents into the street, a bold young man, Izchok Malmed, whipped out a jar of acid from his pocket, hurling it in the face of a Nazi soldier, who was blinded at once. Seeking revenge, the sightless Nazi fired his revolver several times, hitting another Nazi soldier and instantly killing him. In the melee, Malmed vanished.
Commandant Friedl, after learning what had happened, ordered that one hundred men, women and children living in the area where the incident occurred be rounded up and force-marched to a nearby garden, where they were lined up against the wall of an adjacent bet hamidrash and shot with machine guns.
Afterward Nazi soldiers captured another group of Jews, forcing them to dig a large pit for the bodies of the one hundred martyrs. A thin layer of earth covered them. Some were still alive, their hands groping upward through the earth.
The Nazi soldier accidently shot by his colleague whom Malmed had blinded was carried to the Judenrat building, and his body was placed on Barasz’s desk. Friedl then proclaimed to Barasz, "See what your Jewish criminals have done. Now we shall take revenge.
You shall see what we can do." Friedl issued an ultimatum for the perpetrator of the crime to surrender within twenty-four hours. Failing that, the entire ghetto would be destroyed with everyone in it.
Barasz knew the Nazis meant what they said. He sent word to Malmed to give himself up and thereby save thousands of Jewish lives. As soon as Malmed heard, he surrendered himself to the Nazis.
Tamarof’s diary described in detail Malmed’s courage. Asked why he killed the Nazi soldier, he replied: "I hate you. I regret I only killed one. Before my eyes my parents were murdered. Ten thousand Jews in Slonim were liquidated before me. I have no regrets." Tamarof tried to slip poison to Malmed but failed. Even the police could not get near the prisoner.
The next morning, Izchok Malmed, a hero of the ghetto, was hanged in the square where he had performed his act of courage. Despite the horrible torture to which he had been subjected, Malmed cursed the Nazi murderers. After several minutes of hanging on the gallows, the rope broke and the body fell to the earth. Instantaneously, the Nazis riddled Malmed’s corpse with bullets and rehanged the body for another forty-eight hours.
As other Nazi soldiers descended upon a building at 10 Kupiecka Street, its residents courageously resisted, attacking the invaders with axes, knives and iron bars. The brave wife of one Mendl Kurjanski threw acid into the faces of the Nazis and prepared immediately to set fire to the building. The German soldiers, after calling out reinforcements, captured Mrs. Kurjanski and threw her out a second floor window. Subsequently they pushed her child out the same window. Managing to pick herself up and run, this heroine was shot many times, her bloodied body falling on top of her dead child.
When Commandant Friedl found out about this fresh wave of Jewish resistance, he rushed to the building like a wild tiger, personally shooting in the head Jews who fought against his troops. Within several minutes, a mountain of Jewish bodies lay outside 10 Kupiecka Street. At 8 o’clock in the morning of February 5, the slaughter was temporarily interrupted so the murderers could have their breakfast.
At 10 A.M., the carnage recommenced, this time with the assistance of Ukrainians and White Russians, who lusted for blood. They forced Jewish police officers and firemen to accompany them during their diabolical acts.
The Jewish police were ordered to seek out Jews in their hideouts. In rare instances, the Jewish police officers did turn in some Jews to the Nazis, but, for the most part, they risked their lives by telling the Gestapo they could not find anyone. The Jewish firemen were ordered to climb onto the roofs to look for concealed Jews, and to use axes to tear the roofs apart as well as the walls of the houses. The firemen, however, did not turn over any Jews to the Nazis.
The slaughter lasted an entire day from 2 A.M. until 5 P.M. Friday, February 5. The Gestapo succeeded in rounding up about 3,000 Jews. They were taken to the Judenrat building, by then the makeshift Nazi headquarters. From the Judenrat they were led away to the railroad station, forced into trains and sent to Treblinka and Auschwitz.
Click to enlarge photo of Malmed Street Click to enlarge postcard of Bialystok Gestapo headquarters The Heroic Action of Malmed (By David Zabludovsky, Zabludow Yizkor book, 1962) When, on the first day of the action the ‘kidnaps’ started in my uncles house, Motke Zabludovsky, on 29 Kopiatski St., a matter arose that brought a big disaster. Yitzchak Malmed, a youngster from Slonim who worked in Weinbergen’s paint store drew out a bottle of vitriol that was prepared ahead of time and sprayed it on the SS man's eyes. The SS guy blinded and crazed from pain, shot from his gun and killed another German. Immediately Fritz Friedel arrived. He gathered a hundred people that were in that very crowded place and ordered to take them to Praga’s garden, there they were put against the fence and shot with a machine gun. Among the dead were my uncle Motke, and his family.
Yosef Zabludovsky, that was saved and is now in Israel hid on the roof of one of the houses and saw the horrible scene from the time they were gathered until they were shot.
Friedel told the Judenrat that if Malmed will not show up until the next morning he will shoot five thousand Jews. Malmed knew in his hiding place about the threat and he gave himself up to the murderers. After he was tortured badly he was sentenced to death by hanging. Malmed was hung across my uncle’s house, and near the ‘Beit haMidrash’ he acted proudly. He spit in the faces of the murderers and before he let his soul out he threw in their faces the words "robbers, murderers, you will pay for this; your end is not far". For three days his body was hung for others to see and be warned. Kopiatski Street now has the hero’s name "Malmed St."
My uncle’s house and the buildings around were not damaged. When I look at the passing door from room to room in my nephew’s apartment, Chaim Zabludovsky, may he rest in peace, and also in the place with the stain from the vitriol that was sprayed in the Nazi's eyes. I remember the words of the poet Morris Rosenfeld: "You are telling about blood, suffering, and courage that once were." Yes! But those weren’t once, but not too long ago in my uncles house, Motke.
Not once I went to the Praga garden, the place of the murder, where a big part of my family was killed. I stood there, frozen, and looked quietly to the ground that absorbed the blood of innocent victims, and the world was silent.
I would like to mention here the tragic Friday, immediately with the invasion of the Nazi units; 1,500 Jews from Bialystok and the surrounding areas were put in the big synagogue and were burnt alive; among them was my cousin, Aaron Zabludovsky, that for years was a famous chess master. Among the burnt ones named "people of Shabbat" were many from Zabludow.
My father, Yosef Zabludovsky, that lived in the ghetto in my uncle Motke’s attic, died, as I heard, before the first action, I never found his grave.
Honor Their Memory!
Web: 2003 Tilford Bartman
