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My grandmother joined us as far as Kopaygorod. She fell sick in Kopaygorod and couldn't walk any farther. She sat down on the ground, and a Romanian officer shot her. My mother and I walked on. My mother had a bag with a pillow and a blanket for me. A Romanian officer thought that my mother had something of value in this bag and hit her on her arm in order to take away the bag. He broke her arm. This happened near the village of Krasnaya Eroshynka near Zhmerinka. He threw things out of the bag and left them lying there, when he saw that there was nothing of interest to him. Local people took my mother to hospital where she had her arm put in plaster. She had to stay in hospital.
I wanted to stay with my mother. I escaped, was hiding in a haystack under a bridge, and the convoy didn't notice me. I found my mother in the hospital. She didn't eat any food there, because it was not kosher food, and she couldn't force herself to eat it. My mother had two boxes of matches that she had taken from home. I went to a house in the village and asked the mistress of the house whether they needed matches. I explained that I wanted bread in exchange to give it to my mother, who was in hospital, and told them my story. The mistress took a loaf of bread with the intention to cut half of it off for me, when her husband came. He told her to give me a full loaf. She also gave me a few eggs and a bottle of milk. This was kosher food that my mother was allowed to have.
After my mother recovered, we went into the street where another group of Jews was passing by. There was no chance to escape, and we were captured and thrown into this group. We had a typical Semitic appearance, and it was no problem for them to recognize our identity. We came to the town of Djurin in Shargorod district, Vinnitsa region.
Djurin was controlled by the Romanians. They weren't as oppressive as the Germans. There were no mass shootings in the ghettos under their supervision, but the conditions were very hard considering the lack of food. Inmates of the ghetto went to work on a road construction site in Tulchin. An acquaintance of ours went to work at the quarry in Tulchin. The Romanian guard told him to climb a tree and jump down. He refused to jump and they shot him. There were other shootings in the ghetto. Many people died of various diseases or starved to death. The Romanians gave us no food and we ate anything we could get.
I wanted to stay with my mother. I escaped, was hiding in a haystack under a bridge, and the convoy didn't notice me. I found my mother in the hospital. She didn't eat any food there, because it was not kosher food, and she couldn't force herself to eat it. My mother had two boxes of matches that she had taken from home. I went to a house in the village and asked the mistress of the house whether they needed matches. I explained that I wanted bread in exchange to give it to my mother, who was in hospital, and told them my story. The mistress took a loaf of bread with the intention to cut half of it off for me, when her husband came. He told her to give me a full loaf. She also gave me a few eggs and a bottle of milk. This was kosher food that my mother was allowed to have.
After my mother recovered, we went into the street where another group of Jews was passing by. There was no chance to escape, and we were captured and thrown into this group. We had a typical Semitic appearance, and it was no problem for them to recognize our identity. We came to the town of Djurin in Shargorod district, Vinnitsa region.
Djurin was controlled by the Romanians. They weren't as oppressive as the Germans. There were no mass shootings in the ghettos under their supervision, but the conditions were very hard considering the lack of food. Inmates of the ghetto went to work on a road construction site in Tulchin. An acquaintance of ours went to work at the quarry in Tulchin. The Romanian guard told him to climb a tree and jump down. He refused to jump and they shot him. There were other shootings in the ghetto. Many people died of various diseases or starved to death. The Romanians gave us no food and we ate anything we could get.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Leonid Krais