My nephew, my brother Lev's older son Mikhail Freisond. This photo was taken on his 13rd birthday. This photo was taken in Yaryshev in 1939.
After finishing school my older brother Lev entered the agriculture technical school in Vinnitsa. After finishing it he became a specialist in growing tobacco in the Jewish kolkhoz. Lev got married in 1925. His wife’s name was Rosa. She was from Yaryshev. In 1926 their first son Mikhail was born.
On Sunday of 22 June, 1941 the WWII began. Kofman, one of our distant relatives from Yaryshev, lived in Kopaygorod Vinnitsa region. He was chief of the town financial department said that we had to leave Yaryshev. I was not so sure that we had to do this, but decided to do as he said. My mother and sisters packed some clothes. I asked my brother and his family and other relatives to come with us, but they refused. My mother, my sisters and I moved to evacuation. We didn’t take any warm clothes, being sure that the war was going to wend soon. We just locked the door and left. It never occurred to us that we were leaving Yaryshev for good.
In 1942 Germans made a ghetto in the town fenced with barbed wire. Ukrainian policemen were guarding the ghetto. There were Jews from many villages of Vinnitsa region in the ghetto. 5 Jewish families stayed in our house. On 21 August 1942 all inmates of the ghetto were lined in columns and taken outside the town. They were convoyed by policemen with machine guns. They were all taken to the outskirts of the town where there was a deep pit dug. They were made to stand on the edge of the pit and killed. They killed those who still stirred. Almost all our relatives lie in this pit. On 21 August 1942 my paternal grandmother Tube, my father’s brother Aron, his wife Kreina and their three children, and my father brother Iosif’s wife and her four children were killed. My mother’s brothers Azril and his wife, Aron and his wife, daughter and the daughter’s children, Gershl, his wife and their four children perished there. My brother Lev, his wife Rosa and their two sons also perished in this shooting. The older son Mikhail was 14 and the younger one was just 4 years old. All inmates of the Yaryshev ghetto, including 400 Yaryshev residents lie in this ghetto. The Jewish town of Yaryshev vanished. Only those who were away from Yaryshev survived. Few years ago we collected money and installed a memorial crypt on this shooting place. There is a plague with the names of the deceased on it. Unfortunately, we could not identify the names of all inmates of the ghetto, who perished here, but we had the names of all Yaryshev residents inscribed on it. The crypt was installed beside the pit. We arrive there on 21 August to honor the memory of our dear ones.
