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We managed to get to the Jewish ghetto in the town. We stayed in Mogilyov-Podolskiy. There was another ghetto established there since there were too many inmates. Our house was within the area of this second ghetto. There were few families from Romania and Bessarabia accommodated in our house. There was no space left for us and we went to my father’s brother Froim. Froim gave us shelter, though there were also few other families staying in his house. Besides the Romanian gendarmes and policemen there were also Jewish policemen in the ghetto. On the next day after we came to my uncle’s house, somebody reported on us and policemen Pirogovskiy and Ashkenazi, whom we knew before, came to his house to arrest us. My uncle pushed us into the oven of his big Russian stove. My mother and Mariam could hardly fit in there, but I had no problem, being small. The policemen told my uncle they knew that we were in his house. He told them to look around since there was nobody he was hiding in his house. They looked around and even looked into the oven, but didn’t find us. They left, and we stayed to live in my uncle’s house.
The German commandment ordered to take Jews from Bessarabia to Pechora, but these inmates had money and jewelry to pay off for their escape. Since there was a fixed number of inmates to be taken to Pechora, the Romanians were capturing residents of Mogilyov-Podolskiy. However, some Moldavian and Romanian Jews were still sent to the Pechora camp. In early 1943 Romanians captured about 200 inmates in a raid. They killed them near Skazintsy village, 5 km from Mogilyov-Podolskiy. Many of our acquaintances perished there. The Jewish community installed a monument to the deceased Jews. My husband and I went to the opening ceremony.
Mama continued altering the clothes that the Ukrainian villagers had bargained for food they brought to the ghetto. Mama left the ghetto to go into the town or even to neighboring villages to find customers. Of course, this was risky, but there was no alternative, if we wanted to survive.
The German commandment ordered to take Jews from Bessarabia to Pechora, but these inmates had money and jewelry to pay off for their escape. Since there was a fixed number of inmates to be taken to Pechora, the Romanians were capturing residents of Mogilyov-Podolskiy. However, some Moldavian and Romanian Jews were still sent to the Pechora camp. In early 1943 Romanians captured about 200 inmates in a raid. They killed them near Skazintsy village, 5 km from Mogilyov-Podolskiy. Many of our acquaintances perished there. The Jewish community installed a monument to the deceased Jews. My husband and I went to the opening ceremony.
Mama continued altering the clothes that the Ukrainian villagers had bargained for food they brought to the ghetto. Mama left the ghetto to go into the town or even to neighboring villages to find customers. Of course, this was risky, but there was no alternative, if we wanted to survive.
Period
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Riva Pizman Biography