Tag #150143 - Interview #78484 (Maria Reidman)

When the Great Patriotic War [8] began in 1941 I was finishing my 4th year. We knew that Hitler had come to power in Germany but nobody thought it would lead to a war. When the war started I called my family in Olevsk telling them to leave everything behind and come to Kiev immediately. I was sure that Kiev would never be occupied. Later the students were sent to dig trenches in the vicinity of Kiev. We didn’t know the situation on the front but there were rumors that Kiev would soon be occupied.