Tag #116362 - Interview #78774 (Fania Brantsovskaya)

We used to joke that there were three factories in our yard. One was Nadezha, a confectionary. Its old Jewish owner Vishrut, his son and one worker made chocolates and lollipops and gave them to daily workers to wrap them. At that time bone-shaped chocolate ice cream was very popular. There were no fridges and chocolate in mould forms was taken to the yard to cool down. The children were waiting for them to take the forms outside hoping to get some treats. The Vishrut family had two sons and a daughter. Her name was Anna. Once we were invited to her birthday party. We made fancy carnival costumes from goffered paper. We had lots of fun at the birthday party and laughed so much that we peed and wet our paper skirts. Anna entered university shortly before the war. Her father had an agreement with the housekeeper that he would give shelter to the family and hide their valuables once the Germans came. However this housekeeper happened to be a real fascist and reported on the family. Their older son, a mathematician, was the only survivor. He lives in the USA now.