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The fate of my father's older brother and sister was quite different. The
oldest brother, Samuel, was a carpenter like his father, and worked at the
Detkomissi workshop. The oldest sister, Hannah, married a salesman, Efim
Blumkin, who became the head of a food store. The youngest sister, Haya,
suffered from epilepsy and was unable to work.
When the war began, none of them evacuated. At the end of the war Father
sent requests for information on their fate, both to official
organizations, such as the Starodub city council, and to acquaintances,
including my father's math teacher, Mikhail Kibalchich. From the answers to
these questions it became clear that all our relatives had been killed.
Kibalchich wrote the most in-depth explanation of their fates, in a letter
dated November 25th, 1943. Samuel's daughter Mina was killed by a bomb on
the third day after the Germans' arrival in Starodub. After 10 days, Samuel
Yankelevich, his wife Rahil Davidovna, their son Dodik, and my father's
parents-like all the Jews in Starodub-were sent to a ghetto camp set up in
Belovshin on a former collective farm. Each Jew was allowed to take as many
of their personal possessions as they could carry at one time, and the rest
was confiscated. Three days after arrival, all the men were shot. The women
and children were kept in the camp until Spring. They lived there in
cramped quarters, in the cold, and with little food. In March, 1942, the
Germans shot everyone who was left.
oldest brother, Samuel, was a carpenter like his father, and worked at the
Detkomissi workshop. The oldest sister, Hannah, married a salesman, Efim
Blumkin, who became the head of a food store. The youngest sister, Haya,
suffered from epilepsy and was unable to work.
When the war began, none of them evacuated. At the end of the war Father
sent requests for information on their fate, both to official
organizations, such as the Starodub city council, and to acquaintances,
including my father's math teacher, Mikhail Kibalchich. From the answers to
these questions it became clear that all our relatives had been killed.
Kibalchich wrote the most in-depth explanation of their fates, in a letter
dated November 25th, 1943. Samuel's daughter Mina was killed by a bomb on
the third day after the Germans' arrival in Starodub. After 10 days, Samuel
Yankelevich, his wife Rahil Davidovna, their son Dodik, and my father's
parents-like all the Jews in Starodub-were sent to a ghetto camp set up in
Belovshin on a former collective farm. Each Jew was allowed to take as many
of their personal possessions as they could carry at one time, and the rest
was confiscated. Three days after arrival, all the men were shot. The women
and children were kept in the camp until Spring. They lived there in
cramped quarters, in the cold, and with little food. In March, 1942, the
Germans shot everyone who was left.
Period
Location
Russia
Interview
Alexander Paskov