Selected text
We knew about the war. We followed the events. There was a loud-speaker in the settlement. People clustered around it to listen to round-ups. There was even a local paper. We were looking forward to victory. All of us thought that we would be released from exile after the war was over, but nothing changed for us when the victory came on 9th May 1945 [13].
Uncle told us about many of our family members who perished. My father’s brothers Leib, Abram and Pesach, their wives and children were shot in Estonia. Only Father’s sister Ester, who was in evacuation with her family, survived. The family of my father’s sister Ella was exterminated in Riga. Grandmother Rosa and Mother’s sister Tatiana and many relatives of Grandmother who lived in Riga, were also murdered. Who knows whether they were shot by Germans, or by Estonians and Letts who started exterminating Jews before the arrival of the Germans… Estonia was one the first among the occupied countries, reporting to Hitler that no Jews were left on its territory [cf. Judenfrei] [14].
I am sure if we hadn’t been deported on 14th June 1941, Estonians wouldn’t have helped the Germans and wouldn’t have accepted them as the liberators from the Soviet oppression. Many Estonians suffered during deportation and blindly hated the Soviets, being ready to fulfill any orders just to get rid of the Soviet regime. We should not forget about that either. And Jews probably wouldn’t have been appalled by the Soviet regime more than by fascists, and many of them would have left and survived. Things would have been vastly different … What can I say about that. Things happened the way they did.
Uncle told us about many of our family members who perished. My father’s brothers Leib, Abram and Pesach, their wives and children were shot in Estonia. Only Father’s sister Ester, who was in evacuation with her family, survived. The family of my father’s sister Ella was exterminated in Riga. Grandmother Rosa and Mother’s sister Tatiana and many relatives of Grandmother who lived in Riga, were also murdered. Who knows whether they were shot by Germans, or by Estonians and Letts who started exterminating Jews before the arrival of the Germans… Estonia was one the first among the occupied countries, reporting to Hitler that no Jews were left on its territory [cf. Judenfrei] [14].
I am sure if we hadn’t been deported on 14th June 1941, Estonians wouldn’t have helped the Germans and wouldn’t have accepted them as the liberators from the Soviet oppression. Many Estonians suffered during deportation and blindly hated the Soviets, being ready to fulfill any orders just to get rid of the Soviet regime. We should not forget about that either. And Jews probably wouldn’t have been appalled by the Soviet regime more than by fascists, and many of them would have left and survived. Things would have been vastly different … What can I say about that. Things happened the way they did.
Period
Year
1945
Location
Vavilovka
Russia
Interview
Irene Shein