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When Chernovtsy was liberated in 1944, I was recruited to the front-line forces. I was sent to Verkhovetskiy training camp in Gorky region. Soldiers were sent to front-line forces from this camp. We lived in earth-houses. There were huge fleas, and the conditions were awfully unhealthy. Many young people were sent to the front. I went to the battalion commanding officer to ask him to send me to the front. I said to him that fleas had almost eaten me, but he replied in Yiddish, 'I'd rather fleas eat you here than worms there. When I hear that somebody needs a translator I will send you to them'. I spoke fluent German and Romanian, and he was going to find me a position as a translator somewhere with the headquarters of the army. But then the war was over in 1945, and we were sent to Termez at the border with Afghanistan. The military had to take their assignments and fulfill orders. I served there until 1946 when I demobilized.
I returned to Chernovtsy and got my former job at the stocking factory. I worked there until I retired in 1989. I was living with my aunt. She and her husband returned from a camp in Transnistria [7]. The majority of Jews were taken to camps during the war, but the mayor of Chernovtsy, Marian Popovich, a Romanian, managed to rescue 16,000 Jews from Chernovtsy. He issued work permits to them, which were their official permission to stay in Chernovtsy. Those that were in the camps were starving to death and suffering from diseases. I don't know the exact number of survivors. Romanians didn't arrange mass shootings, but they created conditions under which people were dying anyway. There were mass shootings arranged by Germans, who didn't stay long and were replaced by Romanians, in Chernovtsy at the beginning of the war. 900 Jews were shot. This year a monument was erected in their memory and was inaugurated by Doctor Mark, the rabbi. My cousin, the son of my father's sister, was among those that were to be shot, but he managed to escape. I got to know that my family had been deported in June 1941. I didn't hear from my family for a long time.
Life was very difficult after the war. There was an awful famine in 1947, but then life began to improve. When I returned to Chernovtsy there were only a few synagogues operating. They were gradually closed, except for the one in Kobylitsa Street, which is still there. I sometimes went there on holidays.
In 1948 the campaign against cosmopolitans [8] began. The Jewish theater and school in Chernovtsy were closed. The official broadcasting stations told incredible stories about the cosmopolitans, who wanted to overthrow the Soviet regime. I can't remember any examples, I just know that it was terrible. The majority of the people didn't believe the official propaganda. People listened to foreign radio stations. The authorities were jamming radio broadcasts in Ukrainian and Russian, but many people knew German and could listen to those stations without obstruction. People shared the news they heard. So we were aware that anti-Semitism was Stalin's policy and that he was planning to deport Jews to Siberia. There were rumors that Stalin's daughter wanted to marry a Jewish man and that this was the reason for the persecution of all Jews, but it's hard to say whether this was true or not. Then the Kremlin Doctors' Plot [9] began. Nobody believed a word of this lie. The local population knew that Jews were the best doctors, and nobody believed this slander about Jewish doctors. There was no anti-Semitism at the factory, and I didn't face any.
I returned to Chernovtsy and got my former job at the stocking factory. I worked there until I retired in 1989. I was living with my aunt. She and her husband returned from a camp in Transnistria [7]. The majority of Jews were taken to camps during the war, but the mayor of Chernovtsy, Marian Popovich, a Romanian, managed to rescue 16,000 Jews from Chernovtsy. He issued work permits to them, which were their official permission to stay in Chernovtsy. Those that were in the camps were starving to death and suffering from diseases. I don't know the exact number of survivors. Romanians didn't arrange mass shootings, but they created conditions under which people were dying anyway. There were mass shootings arranged by Germans, who didn't stay long and were replaced by Romanians, in Chernovtsy at the beginning of the war. 900 Jews were shot. This year a monument was erected in their memory and was inaugurated by Doctor Mark, the rabbi. My cousin, the son of my father's sister, was among those that were to be shot, but he managed to escape. I got to know that my family had been deported in June 1941. I didn't hear from my family for a long time.
Life was very difficult after the war. There was an awful famine in 1947, but then life began to improve. When I returned to Chernovtsy there were only a few synagogues operating. They were gradually closed, except for the one in Kobylitsa Street, which is still there. I sometimes went there on holidays.
In 1948 the campaign against cosmopolitans [8] began. The Jewish theater and school in Chernovtsy were closed. The official broadcasting stations told incredible stories about the cosmopolitans, who wanted to overthrow the Soviet regime. I can't remember any examples, I just know that it was terrible. The majority of the people didn't believe the official propaganda. People listened to foreign radio stations. The authorities were jamming radio broadcasts in Ukrainian and Russian, but many people knew German and could listen to those stations without obstruction. People shared the news they heard. So we were aware that anti-Semitism was Stalin's policy and that he was planning to deport Jews to Siberia. There were rumors that Stalin's daughter wanted to marry a Jewish man and that this was the reason for the persecution of all Jews, but it's hard to say whether this was true or not. Then the Kremlin Doctors' Plot [9] began. Nobody believed a word of this lie. The local population knew that Jews were the best doctors, and nobody believed this slander about Jewish doctors. There was no anti-Semitism at the factory, and I didn't face any.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
max shykler