How it was

There were no signatories given on the poster, no one to whom questions could be directed. Information about your fate would have to be gleaned from these lines alone. And all the information seemed to be there, which is some ways had a calming effect. Surely, people thought, it wouldn’t be possible to shoot everyone, it wouldn’t be economical, it wouldn’t make any sense. "They won’t waste the bullets on us", "Why would they kill women and children? We’re not fighting them", "The Germans are a civilized people"… Such were the discussions in the apartments of Kyiv. Such were the thoughts to suppress the fear of the unknown and the pain of leaving one’s family home. There wasn’t much time, just one night to gather your things.

Take with you documents, money, valuables, warm clothing, sheets, etc.

Reading this, people understood that if warm clothing was needed, that meant they would be taken somewhere and that they would be spending the winter far from home. A terrible thing in itself, but something that for the Soviet people was already quite commonplace.

Any Jew who does not follow this instruction and is found in another location will be shot.

This is the most important point, from a psychological point of view brilliantly constructed, as most people would understand the logic of this to mean: "people who follow the instruction will not be shot". Furthermore, the order forbade the looting of vacated apartments. So for those who went on September 29 to the corner of Mel′nikova and "Dokterivskaia" streets (no attention paid, of course, to the correct spellings), none suspected they were going to their deaths. It was only later that witnesses and survivors would say that they knew or felt it, but that was already with the benefit of hindsight.

Thousands of people went to that fatal cross-street. Thousands of names would remain in memories and in the sorrowful lists… Raisa Isaakovna Rabinovich with her daughter Sofiia Leont′evna Kremer, a talented young artist, a beautiful draughtswoman, working in an architect’s workshop… Dina Pronicheva, an actress from the Young Viewer’s Theater… Lialia Mikhailova, who refused to let her husband go alone to an unknown destination… The poet Chudnovskii… Children, children, and more children: Ania Shteiman, 6… Izia Shul′man, 11… Roma Eidel’shtein, 1… Lina Entina, 3… Thousands of names, a horrific register of the deceased.