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As soon as we settled down in our big house my mother and sister took to sewing and my brother Jacob became an apprentice for a locksmith at the ‘October forgery’ plant. Our life was just beginning to improve when the period of famine began in 1932. We starved and suffered a lot. Henry took Bronia and the children to his parents in Malin – they kept livestock and could make ends meet.
My mother and Aunt Sonia often went to Kiev by train to buy bread and sell it in Korosten. They stood in lines a whole night. Once when they left and I was alone at home I went to bed, but heard somebody scratching on the window. I saw a dark silhouette of a man that was trying to get into the house through the window. He must have known that there were no adults in the house and that I was alone.
There were many robbers at that time that even murdered people for a piece of bread and there were cases of cannibalism. I got very scared and began to shout in a low voice, ‘Who’s there?’ The man left. When Yasha returned from his night shift I was sitting at the table holding an ax. Yasha brought some food – they received food at the plant and he tried to bring some food for me. Sometimes public activists from the plant brought pies stuffed with peas or cabbage to school. They were sweeter than cakes.
My mother and Aunt Sonia often went to Kiev by train to buy bread and sell it in Korosten. They stood in lines a whole night. Once when they left and I was alone at home I went to bed, but heard somebody scratching on the window. I saw a dark silhouette of a man that was trying to get into the house through the window. He must have known that there were no adults in the house and that I was alone.
There were many robbers at that time that even murdered people for a piece of bread and there were cases of cannibalism. I got very scared and began to shout in a low voice, ‘Who’s there?’ The man left. When Yasha returned from his night shift I was sitting at the table holding an ax. Yasha brought some food – they received food at the plant and he tried to bring some food for me. Sometimes public activists from the plant brought pies stuffed with peas or cabbage to school. They were sweeter than cakes.
Period
Location
Korosten
Zhytomyrska oblast
Ukraine
Interview
Natan Shapiro