Selected text
I was too small to get involved in adult discussions. I heard about fascists, but I didn’t think there would be a war. I remember that my mother was a member of the civil defense team of housewives of our house. There were frequent trainings and my mother often ran away at the signal of training alarm. She was a member of the unit of chemical defense. She showed us how she put on an anti-yprite suit telling us that she managed it quicker than anybody else.
Therefore, when at 7 o’clock in the morning of 22 June 1941 the radio broadcast the signal of alarm – ‘the threat of air raid’ my mother prepared to go to the yard for training as usual, but this was a real alarm and the radio repeated announcing the threat of an air raid. My father grabbed my brother and we rushed to the basement. I don’t even remember feeling any fear. It seemed like a game. Kiev was bombed on this day, but not in the center and we didn’t hear any explosions. At 12 o’clock there was an emergency message on the radio and our neighbors came in to listen to the radio. Molotov [13] announced the treacherous attack of Hitler on our Motherland. We stayed in Kiev a little over ten days from the moment the war began. There were few air raids, when we took shelter in the bomb shell in the neighboring yard. There was no organized evacuation and nobody said that Jews had to leave in the first turn, because fascists were killing them. I remember my father saying that Germans were killing communists, but not a mention of Jews. On 3 July 1941 my father sent us in evacuation. He stayed in Kiev. We took a boat down the Dnieper with other families of governmental officials. We didn’t have much luggage: my father said we were not leaving for long. Besides, my mother with me, a little girl, and my little brother, could not carry much.
There were mainly old people and women with children on the boat. We arrived in Dnepropetrovsk and were accommodated in a school building. We were provided one hot meal per day. There was a bomb shell in the basement of a house near the school. Three days after we arrived there was an air raid. My mother with me and little Roman could run as fast as the others to the bomb shell. My mother stood by the wall in the corridor of the school and we were with her. This was where we stayed during the air raid: the bombs were falling around, but none of them hit the school. Then we heard a terrible crack: it turned out a bomb hit the house where the bomb shell was. There were no survivors. Few days later we went to the railway station. It was overcrowded. There was a freight train on the platform. My mother and were looking for a railcar to get in, but people were shouting from there that there was no more space left inside. Then the commandant of the station helped us. He ordered that they opened a railcar and let us in. The people inside reluctantly let us in. We put our suitcase on the floor and sat on it. When the train started, another air raid happened, but we moved on. We got little food on our way, and when the train stopped, I jumped off to fetch some boiling water fearing to miss the train. We arrived at the Tikhoretskaya station in Stavropol Krai [2500 km east of Kiev]. We were accommodated in a house. He owner of the house and the head of the family residing in it was Stephan, a German man. I don’t know whether he was an anti-Semite, but he was looking forward till Germans came and kept threatening that when they came we would have a hard time. We were having a hard time. We were robbed in this house: a watch, my mother’s nice dress and a suit were gone. Roman got poisoned with something and had bloody flux. Fortunately, my mother still breastfed the boy and tanks to this Roman survived. My mother breastfed him till he turned 2 years old and this saved his life in the evacuation.
Therefore, when at 7 o’clock in the morning of 22 June 1941 the radio broadcast the signal of alarm – ‘the threat of air raid’ my mother prepared to go to the yard for training as usual, but this was a real alarm and the radio repeated announcing the threat of an air raid. My father grabbed my brother and we rushed to the basement. I don’t even remember feeling any fear. It seemed like a game. Kiev was bombed on this day, but not in the center and we didn’t hear any explosions. At 12 o’clock there was an emergency message on the radio and our neighbors came in to listen to the radio. Molotov [13] announced the treacherous attack of Hitler on our Motherland. We stayed in Kiev a little over ten days from the moment the war began. There were few air raids, when we took shelter in the bomb shell in the neighboring yard. There was no organized evacuation and nobody said that Jews had to leave in the first turn, because fascists were killing them. I remember my father saying that Germans were killing communists, but not a mention of Jews. On 3 July 1941 my father sent us in evacuation. He stayed in Kiev. We took a boat down the Dnieper with other families of governmental officials. We didn’t have much luggage: my father said we were not leaving for long. Besides, my mother with me, a little girl, and my little brother, could not carry much.
There were mainly old people and women with children on the boat. We arrived in Dnepropetrovsk and were accommodated in a school building. We were provided one hot meal per day. There was a bomb shell in the basement of a house near the school. Three days after we arrived there was an air raid. My mother with me and little Roman could run as fast as the others to the bomb shell. My mother stood by the wall in the corridor of the school and we were with her. This was where we stayed during the air raid: the bombs were falling around, but none of them hit the school. Then we heard a terrible crack: it turned out a bomb hit the house where the bomb shell was. There were no survivors. Few days later we went to the railway station. It was overcrowded. There was a freight train on the platform. My mother and were looking for a railcar to get in, but people were shouting from there that there was no more space left inside. Then the commandant of the station helped us. He ordered that they opened a railcar and let us in. The people inside reluctantly let us in. We put our suitcase on the floor and sat on it. When the train started, another air raid happened, but we moved on. We got little food on our way, and when the train stopped, I jumped off to fetch some boiling water fearing to miss the train. We arrived at the Tikhoretskaya station in Stavropol Krai [2500 km east of Kiev]. We were accommodated in a house. He owner of the house and the head of the family residing in it was Stephan, a German man. I don’t know whether he was an anti-Semite, but he was looking forward till Germans came and kept threatening that when they came we would have a hard time. We were having a hard time. We were robbed in this house: a watch, my mother’s nice dress and a suit were gone. Roman got poisoned with something and had bloody flux. Fortunately, my mother still breastfed the boy and tanks to this Roman survived. My mother breastfed him till he turned 2 years old and this saved his life in the evacuation.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Isabella Karanchuk