Not far from the city is the one remaining Jewish cemetery. Two others were destroyed, and what has been salvaged was moved here. There is a mixture of new and old graves here. Having seen the site where the bodies of 400 Jewish children who were exsanguinated in the Ghetto for blood transfusions for the Nazi soldiers, it is a relief to see a fresh grave site, flowers, a new stone. The recently dead, the naturally deceased are a refreshing variety of dead people.
On to the killing field of Ponari. Depending on estimates, between 70 and 100,000 people – mostly Jews were killed there between July 1941 and July 1944. The pits for burning, the pits for children, the pits for shooting. It is inconceivable in this immense pine forest. Tree crickets sound, wind rustles the tall trees. I am sick.
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