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We left in November 1941 and returned in December 1943. We stayed in Sargorod [5] the whole time. Life over there is beyond description. We lived in a house – a Jewish family from Poland lived there as well. Their entire house had been occupied and a couple of rooms were given to those who came from Dorohoi. We were around 4 families crammed in a single room, and that room had no windows anymore – the glass was broken –, and we slept on the floor, each family sleeping in a corner of the room, we had managed to get some straw and that’s what we slept on – I suffer the consequences now, the rheumatism. Well… there is much to be said. I had typhus. A hospital was improvised there, in Sargorod, and I was taken there for a few days. I also had typhoid fever… I don’t even know how many diseases, no sooner would I recover than I’d fall ill again. The first winter was… [awful] My grandmother died – she was elderly. And then – my father. Our father was suffering from a heart condition, he had a stroke and died. The filth killed him soon after our arrival in Sargorod. We arrived in autumn – he died in winter. He was around 50 when he died.
Forced labor was compulsory. From our family, they took me – since I was a small girl – only 2-3 times to pick tobacco. And they would give us a loaf of bread – the pay for a day’s work. We stayed alive by selling our shirts, our things, what we had brought along with us in a backpack. We sold these to Ukrainian peasants. Some folks from Bukovina knew their tongue, Ukrainian, and acted as intermediaries. They took your things, sold them, and brought you back some money. German Marks were used there, that was the currency they used in these occupied areas. People were also using Romanian money, but to a small extent. And there was a small market in the town, and you could buy potatoes there – we also ate the potato peels. And when we still had money to buy food with, we’d buy something and boil it on a stove – it was called a ‘pripicic’. There was a sort of metal lamp on an oval table and you placed wood chips in it, that’s what you used as firewood; the upper part was a round pipe where you placed the pots, and that’s where we cooked, turn by turn, all 4 families, a warm broth from what we managed to find.
Finally, in the end, when it was possible, we received support, help from Bucharest. My mother’s brother sent us some money every now and then and that’s how we survived. He sent it by mail, and we received it through the Community. A Jewish Community had been formed in Sargorod by the Jews from Bukovina: from Suceava, Campulung, from… The Community received the money by mail and called us and handed it over to us. But this was later, around 1942 or 1943 – I forget when it was exactly. About a year – shall I say –, not long before returning home.
The Community had set up a bathroom with showers, and we were taken there for a shower from time to time.
Forced labor was compulsory. From our family, they took me – since I was a small girl – only 2-3 times to pick tobacco. And they would give us a loaf of bread – the pay for a day’s work. We stayed alive by selling our shirts, our things, what we had brought along with us in a backpack. We sold these to Ukrainian peasants. Some folks from Bukovina knew their tongue, Ukrainian, and acted as intermediaries. They took your things, sold them, and brought you back some money. German Marks were used there, that was the currency they used in these occupied areas. People were also using Romanian money, but to a small extent. And there was a small market in the town, and you could buy potatoes there – we also ate the potato peels. And when we still had money to buy food with, we’d buy something and boil it on a stove – it was called a ‘pripicic’. There was a sort of metal lamp on an oval table and you placed wood chips in it, that’s what you used as firewood; the upper part was a round pipe where you placed the pots, and that’s where we cooked, turn by turn, all 4 families, a warm broth from what we managed to find.
Finally, in the end, when it was possible, we received support, help from Bucharest. My mother’s brother sent us some money every now and then and that’s how we survived. He sent it by mail, and we received it through the Community. A Jewish Community had been formed in Sargorod by the Jews from Bukovina: from Suceava, Campulung, from… The Community received the money by mail and called us and handed it over to us. But this was later, around 1942 or 1943 – I forget when it was exactly. About a year – shall I say –, not long before returning home.
The Community had set up a bathroom with showers, and we were taken there for a shower from time to time.
Period
Location
Shargorod
Vinnytska oblast
Ukraine
Interview
Sura Milstein