Tag #155707 - Interview #94745 (Tsyliya Spivak)

My father didn’t want to leave home. He believed that we didn’t have to panic, that Germans were a civilized nation and were not going to harm Jews. He judged Germans from the time of his captivity during WWI. However, my mother didn’t want to stay in any circumstances. Some sixth sense, her instinct of self-preservation was forcing her to evacuation and she actually raised the rest of the family. It was hard to leave: people were storming into trains and our numerous family with the children and my old grandmother it was more than we could manage. My father made some arrangements with villagers and in the middle of August they brought a wagon to our house. We loaded our simple luggage and headed to Novgorod-Severskiy. My grandmother, Sima with her two children and Bodana and Fania were in the wagon with us.  Sarrah and Alik, Zelda and Lisa with their children were on another wagon. So this bunch of us reached Novgorod-Severskiy, an old town located in the very north of Chernigov region.