Tag #144345 - Interview #78096 (samuel sukhenko)

Soviet rule began in 1917; first, the Germans came, then Denikin's soldiers. In January 1920, the latter were thrown out, and the Soviet rule began. There were no pogroms. But when 90,000 of Denikin's soldiers passed through our village, they would rob Jewish houses and rape girls. This went on for three days, and I remember every detail of it, even now. All day and all night, by horses and in cars, Denikin's army passed through our village. We lived in a very beautiful house, so my parents, my youngest sister and me moved to our neighbors. It was a small house with an earth floor. A poor Jewish family lived there. Once, five Cossacks burst into the house. They were looking for gold, but those poor people had never seen any gold themselves. Then Cossacks began to threaten to kill them. They told us to stand on the trestle-bed near the stove and said, "Now we'll kill you." My father, who was a military man, whispered to us, "Be quiet, they just want to intimidate us." They heard and began to shout: "Who here speaks, Zhid?" Then they took the neighbor's daughter, stripped her naked, straddled her and prodded her with whips. All the same, where could her parents find gold? Then they took her by force to another room. After some time they went away; the girl was left there. We run away from their house as quickly as possible. I was 11. Denikin's soldiers left, and for a whole week, nobody was in control. Then a small detachment of mounted Red Army soldiers appeared. In front of us boys, they shot a soldier of the White Guard, whose body then lay in downtown for a long time, eaten by pigs.