The Story of Ivan Barbul

Ivan Barbul was born as Isaak Rybakov in 1929 in Rezina, which was a mostly Jewish town in Bessarabia at that time. He grew up in a poor Jewish family, with his father working at the local Jewish school.

During World War II, his family was deported to Bogdanovka, an infamous labor camp in Transnistria. While his siblings and parents were killed, Isaak, now 14, managed to survive thanks to Ivan Ilich Barbul and his wife Agafia, who adopted Isaak and gave him a new name, and a new life.