Tag #152544 - Interview #101417 (Sarah Kaplan)

The war, which began in June 1941, was a surprise to all of us. We knew that there was a war in Europe, but it seemed so far away from our small town. We were always told that our country was the strongest in the world, and it never even occurred to us that somebody might attack us. A few days after the war began Berdichev was bombed. My husband was on the watchtower at that time. My 6-year-old son and I climbed the watchtower shouting to him, ‘The town is being bombed, we have to leave!’. But he thought this was just another training and couldn’t believe that Berdichev was really being bombed. When we got down I saw the car of my husband’s boss Kostyukov, the director of OSOAVIACHIM, and his wife and children. There was another car nearby loaded with carpets, dishes, bags with flour and sugar and boxes with herring. I said to my husband, ‘Look, how well prepared your boss is to run away while you stand on the watchtower’.

We ran home and I tried to convince my mother and father to go with us. I didn’t know a thing about how the German treated Jews, but some inkling told me to escape. My parents refused to go, and I failed to convince them. My mother and father’s sisters and brothers and their families also stayed in Berdichev. I ran to Kostyukov to ask him to take us in their vehicle, but he refused. Then I removed one bag of sugar from that other vehicle, got there and pulled my son and my husband onto it. Kostyukov threatened us with his gun, but I didn’t get off the vehicle. I also managed to pick up my brother and get him on the vehicle.