Early in the morning on August 25 (or, according to some other testimonies, August 22 or 24), 1942, the ghetto was surrounded by German gendarmes and Ukrainian auxiliary policemen. Most of its inmates, 1,500 people, were taken to the assembly point. There, the Jews – mostly women, children, and elderly people – were loaded onto carts. Then, with an armed escort of gendarmes and Ukrainian auxiliary policemen (headed by Beckmann, his deputies Franz and Enche, and the landwirte Gempel), they were taken 25 kilometers away from Stepań, to the forest near the village of Korczewie, near the town of Kostopol. A few Jews managed to escape from this convoy, while other would-be escapees were shot on the spot. Upon reaching the murder site, the Jews – men, women, children, and elderly people – had to strip naked and lie face down inside pits that had been dug in advance. They were then shot dead in the back of the head by the SD murder squad. According to the ChGK document, Beckmann, Franz, and Gempel all took part in the killing of Jews at the site. During the same days, the Jews of the town of Deraźne and the nearby village of Osowa Wyszka were killed there, as well. According to another ChGK document, Heinz Löhnert, the Gebeitskommissar of the Kostopol County, and his deputy Rudolf also took part in these mass shootings.

More information: Yad Vashem

On August 24, 1942, the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police and the German Gendarmerie (rural police) entered the ghetto. They rounded up all the Jews of Deraźne, together with those of the nearby village of Osowa Wyszka – 1,868 people in total – and took them toward the town of Kostopol. The Jews were told that they were being taken to work in Kostopol. When the inmates of the Deraźne Ghetto had been removed to Kostopol, all their property was confiscated by the German authorities. According to the same testimony, some Jews tried to run away en route to the murder site, but were shot on the spot. Upon reaching the forest near the village of Korczewie, north of Kostopol, the Jews saw three large pits that had been dug there in advance. Heinz Löhnert, the Gebietskommissar of the Kostopol County, was present there, as was his deputy, Rudolf Guenther. The Jewish residents – men, women, and children – were forced to strip naked and lie face down on their stomachs inside the pit, whereupon they were shot in the back of the head by a squad of the Security Police and SD from Równe. As soon as one group of victims had been shot, the next batch would be forced to lie atop the bodies of their fellows, and be shot in the same manner. The shooting went on for 2-3 hours. Some 20 Jews managed to escape from the murder site. According to the ChGK document, some Ukrainian auxiliary policemen also took part in the shooting. The same document indicates that a total of about 4,000 Jews were killed at the site. This figure includes both the Jews of the town of Stepań and those from the surrounding villages, who were shot there, as well. When the killing was over, the mass graves were covered with earth, and the Germans flattened the area several times with a car. This done, the Germans and Ukrainian policemen loaded the victims' clothes onto carts and cars and took them away.

More information: Yad Vashem

In late August (apparently on August 21 or 24) 1942, Beckmann, chief of the Gendarmerie (German rural police) of Stepań, came from Kostopol to Stepań. In the evening after his arrival, he took the pharmacist Josef Vaks, the head of the Judenrat; his family, and some other Jews (about 10 people in total), and shot them personally near the Gendarmerie building. The bodies of the victims were buried outside the town. After the liquidation of the ghetto inmates near the villages of Korczewie and Kolonia in August-September 1942, the Gendarmerie, under Beckmann's leadership, caught some 50-100 Jews who were hiding. They were taken to the Gendarmerie post in Stepań – where, according to a ChGK document, some of them were shot by Beckmann, his deputies Franz and Enchke, and the landwirte (senior German official of Stepań) Gempel.

More information: Yad Vashem

On August 25 (or August 22 or 24), 1942, during the liquidation of the Stepań Ghetto, Gendarmerie chief Beckmann, his deputy Franz, and the landwirte (senior German official of the town) Gempel instructed the police to kill the elderly people and the small children, who could not walk, in the ghetto itself. Some of the inmates, who tried to escape from the ghetto, were shot on the spot, as well. Beckmann, Franz, and Gempel shot some of the victims with their own hands. Thus, according to the ChGK document, approximately 50 ghetto inmates were killed on the spot.

More information: Yad Vashem

One day, apparently in September 1942, 553 Jews, who had been caught hiding inside and outside the ghetto (after its liquidation), were arrested by the Gendarmerie. Shortly afterward, they were led under an armed convoy, headed by Gendarmerie chief Beckmann, two kilometers away from the town, to the village of Kolonia (renamed Kalinovka in 1946). Upon reaching the shooting site, the Jews were forced to strip naked and lie down in pits that had been dug in advance, whereupon they were shot in the back of the head by men from an SD murder squad, who used machine guns. According to the ChGK document, Beckmann, his deputies Franz and Enchke, and the landwirte Gempel also took part in the massacre.

More information: Yad Vashem

Upon Beckmann's orders, some 50-100 Jews who had been caught hiding (after the killing of the first group of Jewish fugitives near the village of Kolonia) were taken to the Gendarmerie building. From there, some of them were led in groups to the Jewish cemetery of Stepań, where they were shot dead. According to the ChGK testimony, the shooters were Ukrainian auxiliary policemen.

More information: Yad Vashem