Tag #129076 - Interview #100036 (Pesse Speranskaya)

In 1940 the Soviet rule was established in [Occupation of the Baltic Republics] [4] Estonia. It introduced no changes into our way of living. None of our relatives had any riches, houses or any other property. We retained our apartment in Peek Street, and my father continued working as a tinsmith. The resettlement on 14 June 1941 [5] did not affect or family either. One week after the resettlement, on 22 June 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union  [6] without declaring a war. My father and his brothers Max, Zalman and Leo were conscripted to the Soviet army almost immediately. I remember my mother and me accompanying my father to a gathering point, and how he held me. This happened on the first days of the war. After that mama started packing so that we could evacuate. Mama had a strong mind. She knew that Jews could not stay in Estonia. Mama convinced Grandmother Teresa, her mother, to evacuate with us. My grandfather was not there with us any longer. He died in 1940 and was buried according to Jewish rules in the Jewish cemetery in Tartu. Mama was telling my grandmother’s sister Rokhe-Leya to join us, but Rokhe-Leya intended to stay. She said she was too old to travel, and she wanted to stay in Tartu.  She wanted to die in Tartu and be buried in the Jewish cemetery in Tartu. Many Jews stayed in the town. Unfortunately, so many refused to evacuate. Germans killed them all. When we returned after the war, people told us that some Estonians guided Germans to Jewish houses pointing at Jews.  We don’t even know where Rokhe-Leya’s grave is.