Tag #116040 - Interview #91352 (Chasia Spanerflig)

In 1932 I finished the Tarbut school. The same year an event occurred that changed the life of our family. One July night there was a strong gust of wind and the sparks from the timber plant touched the thatched roof of a Belarusian house, wherefrom they moved to the town. All of us – my parents, grandparents, I – being sick at that time – and my brother ran out of the house. All of us were in our night gowns. Father told us to move to a safe distance wherefrom we were watching our house burning. That night half of the town burnt. Grandfather Aron’s house also burnt, but the synagogue wasn’t touched by the fire. Somehow it was spared from the flames. In a moment our family turned indigent. We spent that night in the house of some Jews, whose house didn’t burn down. In the morning the town took measures to save those who had been affected by the fire. All those who’d suffered from it were given rooms in the houses which weren’t burnt. People gave them the best rooms and shared some things. Money was collected for the victims to start construction of new houses.