Tag #153705 - Interview #102282 (Leo Lubich)

Maybe it was this optimism that made the arrival of the war on 22 June 1941 such a complete surprise for me. Jacob and I, as well as all our colleagues, got a release from the army service. Uncle Boris, my father’s brother who lived in Izhevsk, called us in Kiev right after the war began. My mother wrote letters to my uncle before the war and he wrote back, but I had never seen him before. He invited us to come to Izhevsk. But my parents refused to leave Kiev. They remembered World War I and said that Germans were civilized, cultured people and would not do any harm to Jewish people. While they considered the option, I left for Izhevsk by myself.