Tag #154322 - Interview #94611 (Natan Shapiro)

We got to the station of Vorozhba near Kiev. The train stopped giving way to the trains that headed to the front. We didn’t know how long we had to wait. My mother went to wash children’s underwear taking advantage of this occasion and I went to fetch some water. All of a sudden an air raid began and a few trains at the station left. My mother and I tried to run to catch our train, but I could move only very slowly without my artificial limb and when we got to the track where our train was supposed to be we only saw its tail. Our belongings, however few, documents and my orthopedic shoe were in this train.

After some time we managed to get on an open platform of a military train. It was getting cold at night. A woman gave me her cotton jacket to keep warm. Then during one of the stops the train made it to a place where there was a train with evacuated people that headed to the East and we were allowed to board it.

The only thing we had was the kettle that I had with me when I went to fetch some water. My mother didn’t let me get off the train when it stopped. Our fellow travelers fetched us water, soup or tea – whatever was available – in this kettle.