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In 1940 the Red Army entered our town declaring it a part of the Soviet Union. Many Romanians escaped to Romania and left all their belongings behind. The Soviet authorities didn't touch our family because we weren't rich. All rich people were arrested and sent to Siberia. Some of them were even executed. The slogan of the Soviet power was: 'A Nobody should become a Somebody'. Those people in Lipkany that hadn't worked hard or made any efforts in their life reported on their rich fellow citizens and received their belongings from the new authorities for their services. The authorities began to fight religion by closing synagogues, churches and cheders. I went to a Russian secondary school and finished the 4th grade before the war.
When the Russians came, Lipkany was a town near the border. It belonged to the USSR and the area beyond the town was Romania. On 22nd June 1941 [1] the Germans arrived in the Romanian territory and opened fire on Lipkany. There was a commandant office and a frontier regiment in Lipkany that set up a defensive position.
We didn't know anything about the situation in Europe, and the German attitude towards Jews. We knew that there was a war, but we didn't believe we would be involved in it. We were simple people living in a small town and didn't go deep into politics. My father went to the front at the very beginning of the war, and we never saw him again. Many Jews left their belongings behind and left for Brichany [25 km from Lipkany]. We went there, too. We left a message for Yankel with our neighbors to tell him that we were heading for Brichany. He came on a horse-driven cab and took us to Khotin, where we settled down with my grandmother Beile. But we didn't stay in Khotin for long.
Romanian and German forces soon arrived in Khotin. The Jews were ordered to get together in the main square and bring food for three days. That was all we were allowed to take with us. My mother and I, grandmother Beile, my mother's sisters, Esther and Priva, and their children, her brother Yankel, his wife and his son came to the square at the set time, along with more than 500 other Jews. There were also my mother's relatives and their families from Khotin. We had hardly left our houses when the locals began to break into them and steal our belongings. They broke windows and doors to get into the houses and set them on fire. As we were leaving Khotin, rabbis, doctors and other intellectuals were being killed. I don't know why they selected intellectuals. Probably they wanted to exterminate the elite, or they believed intelligent people to be more dangerous to them. There were about 120 of them, who were told to dig a pit. After they were done, the soldiers shot them and threw their bodies into the pit. There's a monument now which was erected on this spot beside the road. People come there to honor the memory of the victims.
After we had been walking about 10 kilometers, a Romanian officer told people that those who couldn't walk might stay behind and wait for carts to pick them up. There were people among them that could walk, but they decided to take advantage of the opportunity. We walked another 100 meters when we heard shooting. All these people - children, older and ill people - were shot. We came to a barbed wire fenced area in Sekuryany. From there we were taken to Ataki and then to Mogilyov-Podolskiy. I remember the day we spent in Mogilyov-Podolskiy. We stayed in a barrack, and my mother put me to sleep on the floor. A woman beside me was in labor. I was about 10 years old then. So many years have passed, but I still remember her delivering the baby. It was so horrible. I don't know what happened to her and her baby.
We ran out of food very soon. My mother tried to save some food for me. Ukrainians were trying to help us. They were standing at the side of the road, throwing potatoes, apples, eggs, milk and whatever else they had over to us. Our Romanian convoy pretended not see that they were giving us food.
When the Russians came, Lipkany was a town near the border. It belonged to the USSR and the area beyond the town was Romania. On 22nd June 1941 [1] the Germans arrived in the Romanian territory and opened fire on Lipkany. There was a commandant office and a frontier regiment in Lipkany that set up a defensive position.
We didn't know anything about the situation in Europe, and the German attitude towards Jews. We knew that there was a war, but we didn't believe we would be involved in it. We were simple people living in a small town and didn't go deep into politics. My father went to the front at the very beginning of the war, and we never saw him again. Many Jews left their belongings behind and left for Brichany [25 km from Lipkany]. We went there, too. We left a message for Yankel with our neighbors to tell him that we were heading for Brichany. He came on a horse-driven cab and took us to Khotin, where we settled down with my grandmother Beile. But we didn't stay in Khotin for long.
Romanian and German forces soon arrived in Khotin. The Jews were ordered to get together in the main square and bring food for three days. That was all we were allowed to take with us. My mother and I, grandmother Beile, my mother's sisters, Esther and Priva, and their children, her brother Yankel, his wife and his son came to the square at the set time, along with more than 500 other Jews. There were also my mother's relatives and their families from Khotin. We had hardly left our houses when the locals began to break into them and steal our belongings. They broke windows and doors to get into the houses and set them on fire. As we were leaving Khotin, rabbis, doctors and other intellectuals were being killed. I don't know why they selected intellectuals. Probably they wanted to exterminate the elite, or they believed intelligent people to be more dangerous to them. There were about 120 of them, who were told to dig a pit. After they were done, the soldiers shot them and threw their bodies into the pit. There's a monument now which was erected on this spot beside the road. People come there to honor the memory of the victims.
After we had been walking about 10 kilometers, a Romanian officer told people that those who couldn't walk might stay behind and wait for carts to pick them up. There were people among them that could walk, but they decided to take advantage of the opportunity. We walked another 100 meters when we heard shooting. All these people - children, older and ill people - were shot. We came to a barbed wire fenced area in Sekuryany. From there we were taken to Ataki and then to Mogilyov-Podolskiy. I remember the day we spent in Mogilyov-Podolskiy. We stayed in a barrack, and my mother put me to sleep on the floor. A woman beside me was in labor. I was about 10 years old then. So many years have passed, but I still remember her delivering the baby. It was so horrible. I don't know what happened to her and her baby.
We ran out of food very soon. My mother tried to save some food for me. Ukrainians were trying to help us. They were standing at the side of the road, throwing potatoes, apples, eggs, milk and whatever else they had over to us. Our Romanian convoy pretended not see that they were giving us food.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Leonid Krais