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After four or five days spent in the open air in October 1941, they took us across the border to Mohilev.
The situation was desperate there. The houses were in ruins and the thousands of people who arrived had nowhere to stay. We ended up in an abandoned house. It had two floors. Downstairs was a barber’s shop where a hairdresser lived and worked. The Russians called him ‘Parikmacher’ [Yiddish-Russian word meaning ‘wig maker’]. The house had been hit by a bomb and the staircase that led to the upper floor was broken. We had to climb an improvised staircase. We slept on the floor.
Mohilev was overcrowded; we couldn’t stay there anymore. They didn’t give us any food. We had finished our supplies on the way. They had confiscated our money and given us in return German marks specially issued for Transnistria. It was the only currency that was permitted there. I don’t know how my parents did it, but, for a while, we bought food. There were a few peasants who had remained in the area; they sold things like potatoes and eggs.
The situation was desperate there. The houses were in ruins and the thousands of people who arrived had nowhere to stay. We ended up in an abandoned house. It had two floors. Downstairs was a barber’s shop where a hairdresser lived and worked. The Russians called him ‘Parikmacher’ [Yiddish-Russian word meaning ‘wig maker’]. The house had been hit by a bomb and the staircase that led to the upper floor was broken. We had to climb an improvised staircase. We slept on the floor.
Mohilev was overcrowded; we couldn’t stay there anymore. They didn’t give us any food. We had finished our supplies on the way. They had confiscated our money and given us in return German marks specially issued for Transnistria. It was the only currency that was permitted there. I don’t know how my parents did it, but, for a while, we bought food. There were a few peasants who had remained in the area; they sold things like potatoes and eggs.
Period
Location
Mohilev-Podolsk
Ukraine
Interview
Carol Margulies