Tag #151585 - Interview #78173 (Seraphima Gurevich)

In the summer of 1941 I finished the 9th grade. I had the highest marks in all subjects and my parents decided to send me to the best pioneer camp in the country, Artek in the Crimea. I spent only one week there. On the afternoon of 22nd June 1941 we heard the artillery cannonade. Our teachers knew about the beginning of the war but they were not telling the children about it. They didn't get any instructions and were confused about what to do. On the following day the children were to evacuate from the camp. There were quite a few children from Voronezh in the camp, and a representative of the Voronezh Military Division came to take these children home. Our train was bombed on the way to Voronezh. Air raids in Voronezh began about a week after I came there. When an air raid began, we ran to hide in the basement of our building, which was transformed into an air raid shelter.