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My mother and I left the ghetto and went to Mogilyov from where we caught a train to Lipkany. Our house and my grandmother Khone's house had been burnt down. We found a room in a half ruined house and lived there until 1947. My mother baked buns from the flour that people gave to her. People brought her eggs or a few potatoes in exchange for her work. I became an apprentice in a maintenance yard. I got my payment in food. Sometimes we didn't get anything for weeks and had to eat potato peels.
In Lipkany we found out what had happened to our family. My father had been severely wounded at the front. A woman from the hospital where he stayed sent us a photograph of our father with other patients and a nurse. This was the only message that we had about him. He must have died in this hospital. My father's brother Yankel and his family perished in one of the many ghettos in Vinnitsa region, and so did my mother's older sister Esther. My father's younger sister Rivka, my mother's brother Yankel, and her sister Priva and her children returned home from a ghetto. I believe, it was in Tulchin. Later they moved to Israel: Yankel and Rivka in 1946, and Priva in the early 1970s. Rivka died in 1995, and Priva died in 2001. Their children, my cousins, live in Israel. Yankel was a farmer and worked with horses in Israel. He died in the late 1980s. His son Avidor, who changed his name to Shakhai in Israel, became a writer. He writes in Hebrew. I can't read in Hebrew and don't have any of his books.
In 1947 we moved to Chernovtsy. Our neighbors told us that there were many vacant apartments in the town and that it was possible to get a job there. We found an apartment and moved in there. My mother went to work at a bakery. I was 14 and had only studied for four years at a secondary school; one year of it in a Russian school). My Russian was very poor. My mother and I went to the director of a trade school. My mother explained to him that my father had perished at the front and that I wanted to become a driver. I was admitted and finished school as a professional driver and mechanic. I remember my first day at work in 1949. I was driving a huge dump truck delivering debris to a dump site. There was a good team of drivers and I was accepted by them. They were experienced drivers and shared their knowledge with me. That was 53 years ago, and I never regretted my choice.
In Lipkany we found out what had happened to our family. My father had been severely wounded at the front. A woman from the hospital where he stayed sent us a photograph of our father with other patients and a nurse. This was the only message that we had about him. He must have died in this hospital. My father's brother Yankel and his family perished in one of the many ghettos in Vinnitsa region, and so did my mother's older sister Esther. My father's younger sister Rivka, my mother's brother Yankel, and her sister Priva and her children returned home from a ghetto. I believe, it was in Tulchin. Later they moved to Israel: Yankel and Rivka in 1946, and Priva in the early 1970s. Rivka died in 1995, and Priva died in 2001. Their children, my cousins, live in Israel. Yankel was a farmer and worked with horses in Israel. He died in the late 1980s. His son Avidor, who changed his name to Shakhai in Israel, became a writer. He writes in Hebrew. I can't read in Hebrew and don't have any of his books.
In 1947 we moved to Chernovtsy. Our neighbors told us that there were many vacant apartments in the town and that it was possible to get a job there. We found an apartment and moved in there. My mother went to work at a bakery. I was 14 and had only studied for four years at a secondary school; one year of it in a Russian school). My Russian was very poor. My mother and I went to the director of a trade school. My mother explained to him that my father had perished at the front and that I wanted to become a driver. I was admitted and finished school as a professional driver and mechanic. I remember my first day at work in 1949. I was driving a huge dump truck delivering debris to a dump site. There was a good team of drivers and I was accepted by them. They were experienced drivers and shared their knowledge with me. That was 53 years ago, and I never regretted my choice.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Leonid Krais