"Ripe on Time" is a graphic novel created by Veronika Klianchyna (Ukraine), Aryna Vardev (Ukraine), Marita Mühlpointner (Germany), Emily Schweinsteiger (Germany), Robert Curasov (Moldova), Teia Olaru (Moldova).
Based on Centropa's interview with Bella Kisselgof in Ukraine, 2002, this graphic novel visually connects all happenings of Bella's life through vines. Changing colours depending on what is happening in the story, the vines show how interconnected our lives and stories are with history.
Born in the Donetsk region, Bella Kisselgof describes her life growing up Jewish in Ukraine before, during, and after World War II. In her interview she remembers her family’s evacuation to Uzbekistan when the war began, the death of her father at the front, and the hardships of wartime survival. After the war she returned to Donbass, completed her education, and built a career in printing and engineering. In her later years she became active in Jewish cultural life, hosting a Yiddish/Ukrainian radio program and participating in community clubs, slowly reconnecting to a Jewish identity she had deemed lost.