Conclusion

Prior to 1989, our views of the Jewish experience in the Soviet Union were derived primarily from the memoirs of ⅛migres and published writings that came out of the Soviet Union.

280

a detailed bookish knowledge of Jewish history and Judaic faith, but they retain an intimacy with many informal modes of Jewish expres­sion, including the Yiddish language, Jewish food customs, and a sense of the Jewish calendar cycle. Jewishness remains an important part of their everyday life.

This book has shown how oral histories contribute to the historical record by offering remembered details of the everyday. Oral histories illuminate the rhythms and textures of daily life, and highlight the ha­bitual. They refocus our emphasis onto what ordinary folk considered important—family, food, stability, recognition, and community.

In many cases, the oral histories provide testimony, filling in details about traumatic moments of violence or other crimes against human­ity. These memories, seared into the witnesses' consciousness, are more stable than everyday memories and retrievable even seventy years after the events they describe. In these cases, the oral histories add factual data to the historical record. In many cases, the only written evidence we have of major massacres committed by the Nazis and their accomplices in Ukraine are the records of the Soviet Extraordinary Commissions, which themselves were based on oral testimonies taken in the spring of 1945. These terrifying testimonies are usually no more than a paragraph or two in length and often tell little about the sources for the incidents they describe. The witnesses who provide the sworn testimony are of­ten local officials who are recounting information they have learned during the course of the war, but of which they themselves were not eyewitnesses. Many of the commission reports present compilations of testimony or summaries of incidents with little explanation. One typical report “about the murder and torture by Germans of people in Dankivka” includes only a brief statement testifying to the murder of an entire innocent family: “Losinsky, Ben, born in 1909, was shot in a field in the village of Dankivka. Losinska, Tsima Plotyivna, born in 1910, and her son, Losinsky, Anatoly Benovich, born in 1930, were shot in a field near the village of Paryivko."² The oral histories help supplement these vital records, providing coordinating evidence and at times additional details. For the thousands of massacres about which we have only the names of victims, oral testimony—even recorded decades later—can help fill in important missing information.

There are certainly some individual episodes that have remained in human memory but are otherwise inaccessible. But oral history is not about mining the human mind for untainted facts. Rather, its primary goal is to understand how individuals and communities construct their pasts and understand their history. The oral histories we have collected provide context and color for the written record. They remind us that decisions made by officials have an impact on individuals, and that the impact is not always direct or as intended. Further, they show us the long-term impact of governmental policies, how the subjects of official campaigns were faring twenty, thirty, or forty years later.

Whereas the names of common folk occasionally pop up in the ar­chival record, they tend to appear only when the lives of individuals intersect with the state machinery—when they are involved in court cases, when they are the subjects of police reports, or when they are recognized for extraordinary achievements. In other words, they are mentioned when they have experiences that are out of the ordinary. These moments of contact provide just one snapshot. A worker may appear in the historical record when she outperforms her quota and is featured in the local paper, but we are unlikely to hear what became of her twenty years later. Life histories allow us to discover the wider con­text of life, to explore what these experiences meant to the individuals who lived through them and to hear what role these stories played in their life trajectories. They tell us about the ordinary lives that people lived in the midst of extraordinary times.

One of the themes that emerged in our interviews was the disor­ganized and haphazard way that government orders—whether Soviet, German, or Romanian—were carried out. Whereas the archival record tends to show a plan, albeit a plan that may not have been fully imple­mented as originally imagined, the oral histories portray the impact of government officials as largely haphazard.

In oral histories, the state structure, “the Soviet state,” comes across not as a totalitarian entity that infiltrates every aspect of life, atom­izing individuals, but rather as an ineffective bureaucracy sporadically interfering with regular activity. It is only in references to the early 1930s, around the time of the famine, that people speak of the advent of Soviet power, seeing the earlier decade as a continuation of the revo­lutionary and war violence. Occupational structures are presented as having remained the same and religious customs are believed to have continued unabated. Those who grew up during this period imagine the households in which they were reared as similar to the households in which their parents were reared. There is a strong sense of time having been uninterrupted: people lived as they had always lived.

The generation we interviewed was educated in the late 1920s and 1930s and most attended one of the new state-sponsored Yiddish schools. They are proud of having received a Yiddish education and view it as an integral part of their Jewish identity, but report remembering few details of the school curriculum. Only those, mostly men, who had their educa­tion supplemented with a religious heder can isolate specific knowledge they retained from childhood. They remember childhoods full of reli­gious life, albeit focused in the home rather than the synagogue. Only the elderly went to the synagogue, they explain. As children, they stayed away, knowing it wasn't safe. Ironically, when we interview these people today, who as children were warned to stay away from the synagogue, we often find them in the synagogue, where they gather with other elderly folk to worship and to socialize. As was the case in their childhood, there are no children in the synagogues today.

The absence of talk about communism in the oral histories is strik­ing. Few people weave the experience of living under communism into their life stories. Even officially organized leisure clubs, like Pioneers and Young Communists, appear only sporadically and with little comment. There are few movies or books that are presented as being particularly influential, perhaps because theaters came late to the shtetl and few resi­dents had time or inclination to read. Instead, those we have interviewed highlight their informal leisure activities with friends, sitting around with drink and a balalaika. This could be a function of selective remem­bering, but is also an important indicator of how, looking back, those we have interviewed believe communism had an impact upon them.

Many recall how the war interrupted larger plans and activities— school, vacations, love affairs, and job opportunities. Those on the ground had no notion of what the future held or of what plans external actors had in store for them. In some cases, this allows them to ascribe greater agency to officialdom, as reflected in Dovid Geller's belief that the Soviet government had planned the evacuation of Jewish residents from the war zone. More often, though, the picture that emerges is one of total chaos, as families travel from station to station in the hopes of boarding a train heading east. The chaos of the war years is further elu­cidated in the testimonies of people like Shloyme Skliarskii and Moyshe Kupershmidt, both of whom emphasize the role of sheer luck in their survival, but also frame their narratives in such a way that their own actions saved them on multiple occasions. The Jews of the Tulchyn and Bershad ghettos also focus on the proactive moves each of them made

in order to survive, hiding in a chimney or escaping to neighboring vil­lages in search of food.

Rarely have we heard references to the Holocaust as a distinct event. The survivers we interviewed do not view their wartime experiences within the context of the Holocaust as it is written about in the West. They do not share many of the iconic experiences of that genocide—de­portations in sealed railway cars, death camps, and murder by gassings. Instead, they call the mass killings “pogroms,” thereby associating these horrific atrocities with the anti-Jewish mob violence that had periodi­cally erupted in these towns for generations. German euphemisms for these mass roundups and killings, like Aktion, have also not infiltrated their vocabulary. They understand genocide within a local context.

Those we have interviewed also embed the victorious narrative of the Great Patriotic War into their life stories. Veterans of the Red Army view themselves as victors, and not just victims. Yosl Kogan's story of how he escaped from the chimney and managed to join up with the Red Army to fight in the battle for the Reichstag is emblematic of this triumphalism. The cult of the war resonated with Soviet Jews, who prided themselves on their role in the victory. Emphasizing their victimhood, on the other hand, brought no material advantage from the state or sympathy from the community. On the contrary, it brought them under suspicion for having lived under German occupation. Survivors struggled to mourn for the dead and took measures to commemorate their losses, but they were more likely to emphasize the disproportionate number of Jews who fought than the disproportionate number of Jews who were murdered.

Those we interviewed were among the minority who moved back to their native towns rather than migrate into one of the large cities after the war. Most don't speak of this decision as a conscious choice: they returned because it was their home, or they followed spouses or work opportunities. Within their new communities they sought to recreate a Jewish communal life, but were hampered now by government intru­sion. It is only in the postwar period that they admit to having been afraid. Fear permeated many expressions of Jewish life, and there are numerous stories of authorities getting in the way. But still they perse­vered. Indeed, the perseverance of those we have interviewed and their continued commitment to retaining some aspect of their Jewish identity in spite of all the hurdles they have overcome is inspiring. The perfor­mance of simple acts—gathering for prayer, commemorating the dead, eating matzo for Passover—became a means of carrying on tradition and defying fate.

- ¹V-

The Jewish cemetery of Bershad is coming to life again. The few re­maining stones from the prewar era have been set upright, and new graves, now in ordered rows and properly labeled, are emerging every year. Most of the people interviewed for this book have since died and are buried in cemeteries just like this. Elizaveta Bershadskaia, Yosl Ko­gan, Khayke Gvinter, Lev Kolodenker, Chaim Skoblitsky, Naftoli Shor, Moyshe Kupershmidt, Shloyme Skliarskii, and many others have passed away since we spoke. The shtetl landscapes are also rapidly deteriorating, being replaced with more modern gentrified housing, paved roads, com­mercial development, and cell-phone towers. Although it is hard to fault the locals for wishing to see their towns enjoy the fruits and amenities of the modern world, it is, at the same time, sad to see the final architec­tural remnants of Jewish life in the region be replaced with convenience stores and cafes. That being said, in my more recent trips to the region, I have fervently enjoyed the espresso and Wi-Fi that now wafts aromati­cally through the town from the new outdoor cafes.

It is not only Wi-Fi and espresso that have changed the region in the ten years since we began our interviews. The last decade has seen revolutionary change in Ukraine, epitomized by the Orange Revolution of 2004-2005 that brought the Western-oriented Viktor Yushchenko to the presidency after a tight race marred by a poisoning attempt on Yushchenko's life that left his face pockmarked, and which was widely blamed on his opponent, the Russian-backed Viktor Yanukovych. Ironi­cally, Yanukovych succeeded in retaking power in the 2010 presidential election that reversed much of the Orange Revolution. The Jews of the region are torn between their Western orientation and the promising economic opportunities offered by European integration on the one hand, and their identification with Russian culture and apprehensions about the ultranationalism that has fueled some aspects of the Orange Revolution on the other hand. Yushchenko's rehabilitation of Stepan Bandera, for instance, was condemned by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and brought discomfort to many Ukrainian Jews, who recalled Ban-

287 dera's fascist orientation during the Second World War. But young Jews have largely embraced the change and see a future for Ukraine within a greater Europe. Many have returned from time spent abroad with business expertise, which they have used to import goods into their hometowns, or to open up small businesses in the hopes of contribut­ing to the nation's rebirth. One middle-aged man we met along the way proudly gave us a tour of the McMansion he had built on the outskirts of a Ukrainian town. He explained that he had lived in Israel for sev­eral years, but found it too difficult to make a living there. With money he had saved in Israel, though, he was able to live well in Ukraine. He planned on opening up his own business, using the business skills and connections he had obtained abroad.

At the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine hosted the sixth largest Jewish population in the world—the last Soviet census, con­ducted in 1989, counted 487,300 Jews in Ukraine. Rapid emigration to Israel, America, and Germany in the decades since depleted the Jewish population. The 2001 Ukrainian census counted 104,300 Jews, and one 2012 estimate put the “core” Jewish population at 67,000. The current Jewish population of Ukraine is also an aging population; its mean age is 56.4. Like most world Jewry, Ukrainian Jewry is concentrated in large metropolitan areas.⁴ But some continue to live in small towns.

In addition to the Jews who continue to reside permanently in Ukraine, the country has emerged as a site of pilgrimage and tourism for Jews from around the world. The brand new El Al Terminal that the Is­raeli airline opened at Ukraine's Borisopil airport in 2012 has aided these tourists, many of whom come from Israel. On Rosh Hashanah 2012, an estimated 25,000 Hasidic pilgrims visited the grave of Nahman of Bratslav in Uman, and the Pushkina neighborhood around the gravesite retains a Jewish presence—and Israeli style security—year round.

Tensions, however, are always high between the Hasidic population and the locals of Uman. Residents complain that the Jewish pilgrims fail to contribute to the local economy—they eat only imported kosher food and refuse to partake in any other activities around the city. Others cite prostitution as the only local industry that benefits from the an­nual pilgrimage.⁵ Defying a state order, about one hundred right-wing nationalists of the Svoboda (Freedom) Party protested the 2012 pilgrim­age, many of whom were arrested by riot police. There have been spo-

radic antisemitic acts of violence in Ukraine: in April 2012, Ukrainian neo-Nazis severely assaulted Aharon Alexander, a twenty-five-year-old worshipper, near Kiev's central synagogue. The assault came on the heels of vandalism at Lviv's Holocaust memorial and was followed the next month by another act of vandalism at a Jewish cemetery in Rivne. In 2007, Neo-Nazis murdered a yeshiva student, Aryeh Leib Misinzov, in Kiev on April 20th, the anniversary of Hitler's birthday. A Chabad Hasidic school in Kiev has also repeatedly been the target of Neo-Nazi vandals. Several prominent Ukrainian academics have blamed Jews for inflicting the terrors of the twentieth century on Ukraine, in accordance with the myth of “double genocide.” Among these are Serhiy Bilokin, who was honored by the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in 2012 despite the pro­tests of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine. In a 2004 article entitled “Twenty Years of Jewish Statehood in Ukraine, 1918-1938,” Bilokin referred to interwar Ukraine as the “Ju- daeo-Bolshevisk” state, and ascribed the “state terrorism” of the era to the Jews.⁶ In the parliamentary elections of October 2012, the ultrana­tionalist Svoboda Party, which has often utilized antisemitic rhetoric, won 10 percent of the vote. The future of Jewish life in Ukraine is hard to predict, but there are certainly ominous signs as I write.

Those Jews who remain in the small towns of Vinnytsya Province, many of whom are intermarried and have little connection to the wider Jewish community, generally tell us that they no longer feel as secure as they once did. Many, as nonethnic Ukrainians, have trouble identi­fying with a Ukrainian state. Only one person we interviewed—Ma­ria Yakuta—voluntarily referred to herself as a Ukrainian; most have a greater affinity to the Russian language than they do to Ukrainian, and tend to use Russian in their daily lives. They remain in Ukraine, as one person we spoke to in 2010 put it, to be buried next to their parents and grandparents. Most of the younger generation, though, has emigrated, to Israel, the United States or Germany. As a result, those who remain have developed new international ties; Brooklyn and Bat Yam have be­come part of the orbit of the shtetl. Some elderly Jews shuttle back and forth between children living in Netanya and parents buried in Bershad. Jewish life in small-town Ukraine is unlikely to recover from the cur­rent wave of emigration. Its future will be in the “Diaspora”—America, Germany, or, if one can call it a diaspora, Israel.

The Second World War and the Nazi genocide against the Jews evis­cerated Jewish life in the shtetl, but it did not immediately eliminate it. In contrast to the common perception, Jewish life continued for another generation in some small towns in Ukraine. In Vinnytsya Province, in particular, sizable Jewish communities continued to exist into the twenty-first century. These communities present a powerful counterim­age to the stereotype of the Soviet Jewish intellectual in the large urban centers. The ways they construct their collective memories pose an al­ternative to the mainstream interpretation of the history of Soviet Jews and world Jewry writ large. Despite Soviet efforts to assimilate them and Nazi efforts to annihilate them, Jewish communities persevered into the twenty-first century in the small towns of Ukraine, living in the shadow of the shtetl.

The Archives of Historical and Ethnographic Memories (AHEYM) team con­ducted ninety-five full life-story interviews with forty-three men and fifty-two women born in the region covered by this book, as part of a larger project that interviewed nearly four hundred people across Eastern Europe, mostly in Ukraine. Sixteen were born before 1920, twenty were born between 1920 and r924, thirty-two were born between r925 and r929, twenty-one were born in the 1930s, and one was born in the r940s. Not everyone we interviewed was mentioned by name in this book, but each of their stories informed the content. The brief biographies below provide a guide to the reader in identifying the individuals named in this book. The biographies tell only a snippet of their lives. Each individual lived a life that was too varied and too full to faithfully summarize in a short paragraph.

Recordings of all the interviews we conducted have been deposited at In­diana University’s Archives of Traditional Music, and portions of those in­terviews are available for viewing online at www.aheym.org. I have provided accession and shelf numbers for each interview at the end of the brief biogra­phy. In cases where individuals have also been interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archives, I have provided a reference to their in­terview number as well.

Barstheyn, Asya Konstantinovna (Ita Kolmanovna) was born in Sharhorod in r928, where her parents were also born. Her father was a purveyor and her mother was a homemaker. She attended a Yiddish school for six years, until her schooling was interrupted by the war. She survived the war in the Shar- horod ghetto. After the war, she completed her schooling by correspondence. She worked as a telegraph dispatcher and a switchboard operator at the post office, and later as a cashier at a barber shop. In 1983 she moved to Vinnytsya, where she is one of the leaders of the Vinnytsya Jewish Women’s Choir. We interviewed her on June 28, 2005 in Vinnytsya and on December 12, 2005 in Vinnytsya and Sharhorod. [AHEYM 09-010.56-F MDV 753, 760-763]

Bershadskaia, Elizaveta Konstantinovna was born in Chernyatka in 1927, where her father, who was also born in Chernyatka, worked as a barber. Her mother was born in Bershad and worked as a seamstress. She had two brothers and a sister. She moved to Bershad at the age of thirteen, and spent much of the war in the Bershad ghetto. We interviewed her on July 18, 2002 in Bershad. [AHEYM 09-010.06-F MDV 369-372] She was also interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive. [37797]

Burshtein, Arkadii Lvovich was born in Sobolivka in 1928. His father was a tailor. He attended a Yiddish school for four years, and then finished his education in a Ukrainian school. He survived in labor camps in Reichskom- missariat Ukraine before making his way into Transnistria. After the war he returned to Haysyn, where he worked as chief engineer in a garment factory. We interviewed him on July 16, 2002 in Haysyn. [AHEYM 09-010.16-F MDV 439-440, 681] He was also interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive. [46564]

Chirkova, Bella Simkhovna (Beyle Kleyman) was born in Krosne in 1912. Her father was a rabbi and her grandfather was a cantor. During the war, she served at the front as a nurse. After the war she moved to Vinnytsya to study at a pedagogical institute, and then worked as a teacher. We met her at the Vinnytsya Jewish Women's Choir, where she was dancing and singing at the age of ninety. We interviewed her the next day, on July 13, 2002 in Vinnytsya. [AHEYM 09-010.56-F MDV 753-757]

Chuk, Raisa Iosifovna (Rukhl Rozenblat) was born in Berdichev in 1919. Her father, who was born in Poland, made and sold colanders, and her mother was the manager of an artel. She trained as a nurse before the war, but was not sent to the front because she had a toddler to care for, and instead evacuated to the Caucasus, where she worked as a surgeon's assistant. After the war, she con­tinued working as a nurse until the age of seventy-three. She was head nurse at her hospital for forty years. We interviewed her on July 11, 2002 and May 21, 2003 in Berdichev. [AHEYM 09.010.04-F MDV 344-346]

Derbaremdiker, Motl Levi-Isaakovich (Mordke-Oyzer) was born in 1920 in Berdichev. He traces his ancestry to the Hasidic tsadik Levi Yitzhak of Berdi- chev. Motl's father was a soap maker and later became the manager of a soap and soda shop. His mother worked as a seamstress. Motl studied at a heder and then at a Yiddish school for seven years. In 1936, he moved to Kiev to study chemistry at the Institute of Leather Industry. During the war, he was evacuated to Samara (Kuibyshev). He settled in Kiev in 1945, where he studied at the Kiev Light Industry University, before working as a research engineer in a factory. We interviewed him on May 3, 2003 and June 23, 2005 in Kiev. [AHEYM 09.010.04-F MDV 507-509, 513]. In 2002, he was also interviewed by Centropa, and the interview is available at http://www.berdichev.org/mark _derbaremdiker.htm.

Feldman, Brukhe was born in 1938 or 1939 in Bershad. Her father died fighting in the war when she was three years old, and she was brought up by her mother. She spent much of her life working in a furniture factory. We interviewed her on May 14, 2008 in Bershad. [AHEYM 09-010.06-F MDV 379-380] She was also interviewed by the Shoah Foundation [VHA 37736].

Furer, Avrom (Arkadii) Samoilovich was born in Kryzhopil in 1920. Both his parents were also natives of the town. His father was a tailor. He had two broth­ers, one of whom was killed fighting during the Second World War. He studied in a Yiddish school for four years, before finishing his education in a Russian school. In 1940, Furer was drafted into the army, and was in Chisinau when the war broke out. He fought first in the Caucasus, and then in Stalingrad where he was injured, but continued fighting, becoming the commander of his division and serving in Crimea. Toward the end of the war, he moved with the army through Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania, reaching Kaliningrad. He returned to Kryzhopil in 1947 and became the manager of a shop. At the age of sixty, he moved to Vinnytsya to work for the railroad company. We interviewed him on July 13, 2002 in Vinnytsya. [AHEYM 09-010.56-F MDV 757-758]

Furman, David Zelikovich was born in 1919 in Berdichev. He worked as a carpenter before the war, and was drafted into the Red Army in 1939, serving in the Far East. He lost his leg fighting at Stalingrad. He returned to Berdichev in 1945 and found that his entire family had been killed. He married a woman from Berdichev, who had been injured when the train on which she was evacu­ating was bombed. We interviewed him on July 11, 2002 and December 11, 2005. [AHEYM 09-010-04-F MDV 344, 348-349]

Futiran, Alexei Romanovich was born in Tomashpil in 1925, the son of a coachman. Both his parents were also born in Tomashpil. He was one of six children; two of his brothers died fighting in the Second World War. He at­tended a Yiddish school for four years, and then completed his education at a Ukrainian language school. At the age of fifteen he began working as a carpen­ter. During the war he evacuated to the east, from where he was drafted into the army. He served in the Far East until 1950. After the war, he worked as a leatherworker, making hats. He married his first wife in 1950. After she passed away, he remarried a Ukrainian woman. He has two sons, one in Moscow and one in Israel. We interviewed him on May 28, 2007 and May 24, 2008 in Tomashpil. [AHEYM 09-010.52-F MDV 705, 707].

Gaiviker, Naum (Nekhemye) Samoilovich was born in 1912 in Khmelnytskyy (Proskurov). The son of a barber, Naum also became a barber. In 1930 he de­cided to move to Moscow, but had to return to Khmelnytskyy during the famine of 1932-1933. He was drafted into the Red Army in 1941 and fought on multiple fronts, including Stalingrad, until the end of the war. We interviewed him together with his wife, Sonia, on May 29, 2007 in Khmelnytskyy. They have a daughter, who was living in Israel. [AHEYM 09-010.21-F MDV 465-466]

Gammer (nee Goldis), Brukhe Fayveshevna was born in Khmilnyk in 1924. Her parents were born in Khmilnyk as well. Her father worked as a tailor in the neighboring villages and her mother worked as a cashier in a shop. She studied at a Yiddish school for seven years, until her school was converted into a Russian-language school. She graduated tenth grade from the Russian-lan­guage school. During the war, she lived in evacuation in Central Asia. She re­turned to Khmilnyk in 1948, and worked in a bakery for thirty-seven years. Her daughter lives in Khmilnyk. We interviewed her on May 25, 2008 in Khmilnyk. [AHEYM 09-010.12-F MDV 421-422]

Geller, Binyomin (Veniamin) Iakovlevich was born in Pyatka (Velyka Py- atyhirka) in 1923. He had three siblings. Geller studied at a Ukrainian school. His father, who worked in a sugar factory, died in 1934. Two years later, Geller moved to Zhytomyr with his family. In 1941, Geller was drafted into the army, served in the cavalry, and was injured three times. He returned to Zhytomyr after the war, and married in 1949. We interviewed him on July 9, 2002; May 23, 2003; June 11, 2007; May 28, 2008; and January 4, 2009. [AHEYM 09-010.60-F MDV 451-52, 785-87,793-94, 799, and 812-13]

Geller, David (Dovid) was born in 1929 in Zhmerynka. During the war he evacuated to Central Asia, first to Tashkent and then to Shymkent. After the war, he returned to Zhmerynka, but soon moved to Kiev, where he worked in a factory. In 1950 he was drafted into the army, served for three years, and then

295 settled in Bratslav, where his brother lived, and where he met his wife. We inter­viewed him on June 27, 2005 in Bratslav. [AHEYM 09-010.09-F MDV 394-396]

Geller (nee Dikkerman), Sime (Sime-Leye) was born in 1929 in Bratslav. Her father worked as a coachman before the war. During the war, she evacuated to Central Asia, where she worked on a collective farm. When she returned to Bratslav after the war, she worked in the city council. She is married to Dovid Geller. She and Dovid have two daughters who live in Moscow. We interviewed her on June 27, 2005 and July 5, 2010 in Bratslav. [AHEYM 09-010.09-F MDV 394-396]

Gelman, Arkadii (Avrum) Isaakovich was born in 1921 in Kamyanets-Po- dilskyy. His father, also born in Kamyanets-Podilskyy, was a locksmith. His mother, who was born in Kitaygorod, was a homemaker. He had three siblings: two brothers and one sister. Before the war, he went to a Yiddish school and worked together with his father as a locksmith. He served in the Red Army dur­ing the Second World War, and fought in the Battle of Berlin. After the war, he worked as a cattle dealer. We interviewed him on May 18, 2003 in Kamyanets- Podilskyy. [AHEYM 09-010.20-F MDV 461-463]

Gingold, Manya (Mintse-Freyde) Izrailevna was born in 1927 in Tomasphil. She attended a Yiddish school for three years, and then completed her educa­tion in a Russian school. Her father was a laborer and her mother worked as a cleaning woman in the offices of the district executive committee. She had one brother and another sibling who died in infancy. She survived the war in the Tomashpil ghetto. After the war, she continued to live with her parents and her brother in Tomashpil. We interviewed her on May 27, 2007 and May 28, 2007 in Tomashpil. [AHEYM 09-010.52-F MDV 701-702]

Golfeld, Pinia Nukhimovich was born in Tulchyn in 1932. He was imprisoned in the Pechera concentration camp during the war. After the war, he trained at a technical institute and found work in a shoe factory, where he was employed for forty-nine years. He served for four years in the military. He married and has a son. We interviewed him on May 20, 2003 in Tulchyn. [AHEYM 09-010.53-F MDV 713-714] He was also interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive [31042].

Groysman, Tsolik (Tsadik) Naumovich was born in Tarashche in 1923. His parents were also born in Tarashche. His father was a watchmaker and his

mother was a homemaker. He grew up with two sisters. He went to a Yiddish school for seven years and then transferred to a Ukrainian school to complete ten grades. A month after the war broke out, he was drafted into the Red Army. He was injured twice in battle, once in Rostov and once in Stalingrad. Before the war, he had studied to become a dentist, but was unable to complete his studies after the war because of his injuries. After he was released from hos­pital in Tarashche, he took courses to become a massage therapist and started working in the hospital. He then moved to Almaty, where his uncle lived, and started working as a watchmaker, along with his uncle and father. He married a childhood friend from Tarashche, and moved to Korsun-Shevchenkivskyy in 1952, where he worked again as a watchmaker. We interviewed him on June 25, 2005 in Korsun Shevchenkivskyy. [AHEYM 09-010.26-F MDV 548-549]

Guzman, Dora was born in Tomashpil in 1925. She attended both a Ukrainian- and a Yiddish-language school. During the famine of 1932-1933, she moved to Pishchanka to live with her aunt and uncle. Her father, born in Tomashpil, worked as a postman. Her mother was born in the Odessa region. She had one younger brother. She survived the war in the Tomashpil ghetto. After the war, she worked as an accountant and as an inspector. We interviewed her on June 28, 2005 and May 24, 2008 in Tomashpil. [AHEYM 09-010.52-F MDV 329, 699, 706-707] She was also interviewed by the Shoah Foundation [VHA 34918].

Gvinter (nee Oistrakh), Khayke (Sura) Yankelevna was born in 1930 in Ber- shad. She is a niece of the violinist David Oistrakh. Her father, who died when she was young, was a carpenter, and her mother was a cook. During the Second World War, she was imprisoned in the Bershad ghetto and the Pechera con­centration camp. She was shot by the Germans during a mass shooting outside Pechera, but survived and pulled herself out of a mass grave. She worked for the partisans briefly in the Bershad region. She returned to Bershad after the war, married, and worked as a seamstress. We interviewed her on July 18, 2002 and June 26, 2005 in Bershad. [AHEYM 09-010.06-F MDV 602, 375-376 and 09-010.54-F MDV 733] She was also interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive. [33216]

Gvinter, Nukhim Moiseevich was born in Bershad in 1936. He is Khayke Gvinter's brother. He grew up with four siblings. He survived the war in the Bershad ghetto. After the war, he worked as a carpenter in a textile factory and then as the manager of a shoe store. He also served in the military after the war. He has three children. We interviewed him on May 14, 2008 in Bershad. [AHEYM 09-010.06-F MDV 377-378, 380] He was also interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive. [32938]

Katsman (nee Chechelniker), Klara (Khaye) was born in 1931 in Tulchyn. Her father was a brushmaker and her mother was a homemaker. She has lived in Tulchyn her entire life, other than during the war when she was imprisoned in the Pechera concentration camp. After the war, she returned to Tulchyn, where she worked as a tailor. She has a son and a daughter. We interviewed her on January 8, 2009 and June 8, 2009 in Tulchyn. [AHEYM 09-010.53-F MDV 723-724, 727] She was also interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive. [31083]

Katz, Nesye Sulimanovna was born in 1916 in Brailiv and orphaned at a young age when her parents died of typhus. Her father had worked at the mill. She was raised by her uncle, a tinsmith. She served in the Red Army as a nurse during the war and then worked in a factory for thirty-six years. She has a daughter in town and a son who lives in Europe. We interviewed her on July 13, 2002 and May 22, 2008 in Vinnytsya. [AHEYM MDV 753, 765]

Kaviner, Aba Davidovich was born in 1921 in Derazhnya, where he was able to receive a Jewish education, first in a heder and then in a clandestine yeshiva. His father worked as a cooper and his mother was a homemaker. In 1939 he was drafted into a military school in Leningrad. He remained in the army until 1946, serving in the Baltics and in Moscow. After the war he returned to Derazhnya, but soon thereafter moved to Khmelnytskyy, where he eventu­ally found work as the director of a carpentry workshop. We interviewed him on May 30, 2007; May 26, 2008; and January 5 and 6, 2009 in Khmelnytskyy. [AHEYM 09-010.21-F MDV 469-473, 478-479, 482-483]

Khaiut, Tsilia (Tsilye bas Ber) Borisovna was born in 1917 in Mohyliv-Po- dilskyy. Her father, also from Mohyliv-Podilskyy, was a cobbler. Her mother came from the Bessarabian region, near Mykolaiv. She attended two Yiddish schools and finished her education in 1934. She had two sisters and a brother. She has two sons. She survived the war in the Mohyliv-Podilskyy ghetto and a concentration camp in Transnistria. We interviewed her on May 19, 2003 in Mohyliv-Podilskyy. [AHEYM MDV 582- 583]

Kiselman, Nisen (Mikhail) Mikhailovich was born in Tomashpil in 1927. He is a cousin of Pesia, Sasha, and Lev Kolodenker, as well as the husband of Pesia Kolodenker. His father was a coachman, and his mother was a homemaker. His father died during the famine in 1933, leaving his mother to care for Nisen, his sister, and his four brothers. During the war, he was confined to the Tomash- pil ghetto, where his mother and sister were both killed by the Germans in a massacre. After the war, he joined the Red Army and served for seven years.

Kislinskaia, Tseytl (Tsilia) Davidovna was born in Korsun-Shevchenkivskyy in 1924. She attended a Yiddish school for seven years. Her father was a cob­bler; her mother was a homemaker, and she had two brothers. After she fin­ished school, she helped her mother, who worked in a button factory. During the war, she evacuated to the Rostov region and worked in a collective farm, before evacuating further to Shkalov, where she worked in a military factory. After the war, she returned to Korsun-Shevchenkivskyy and worked in a sugar factory. She has one daughter. We interviewed her on June 25, 2005 in Korsun- Shevchenkivskyy. [AHEYM 09-010.26-F MDV 546-548]

Kogan, Iosif (Yosl) Abramovich was born in 1927 in Bershad. His father, a soap-maker, died during the 1932-1933 famine. He was brought up by his mother, a candy-maker. He spent much of the war in the Bershad ghetto, where he wrote songs about his experiences. He served in the Red Army and partici­pated in the liberation of Berlin. He moved to Tulchyn in i960 and worked in a procurement office. We interviewed him on July 14, 2002; May 20, 2003; May 27, 2007; and January 8, 2009. [AHEYM 09-010.53-F MDV 351, 709-711, 717, 719-720, 725-726]

Kolodenker, Aleksandr (Sasha) Shaevich is the brother of Pesia and Lev Kolodenker. He was born in Tulchyn in 1929. During the war, he was impris­oned first in the Tulchyn ghetto and then in the Pechera concentration camp. We interviewed him on January 8 and June 8, 2009 and July 4, 2010 in Tulchyn. [AHEYM 09-010.53-F MDV 723-724, 728-729]

Kolodenker, Lev Shaevich is the brother of Pesia and Aleksandr Kolodenker and husband of Yente Kolodenker. He was born in Tulchyn in 1925. In 1941, at the age of sixteen, he was drafted into a military training institute, and joined the Red Army in 1944, where he rose to the rank of sergeant. We interviewed him on January 8, 2009 in Tulchyn. [AHEYM 09-010.53-F MDV 728-729]

Kolodenker, Pesia (Pesye) Shaevna was born in Tulchyn in 1927. She is the sister of Lev and Aleksandr Kolodenker. She survived the war in the Tulchyn ghetto and Pechera concentration camp. We interviewed her on January 8 and June 8, 2009 and July 4, 2010 in Tulchyn. [AHEYM 09-010.53-F MDV 723-724, 728-729] She was also interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual His­tory Archive. [34979]

Kolodenker (nee Tolkovitz), Yente Usherovna was born in Tulchyn in 1927. She is the wife of Lev Kolodenker. She has one brother and a sister. She sur­vived the war in the Pechera ghetto. She lived in Israel briefly in the 1990s, but returned to Tulchyn. Her son lives in Canada. We interviewed her on January 8 and June 8, 2009 in Tulchyn. [AHEYM 09-010.53-F MDV 723-724, 728-729]

Kozak (nee Shafir), Evgeniia (Sheyndl) Abramovna was born in 1926 in Ber- shad. She attended a Ukrainian school for eight years. Her parents, who were cousins, were both born in Bershad. Her father was a furrier. She had a younger brother and sister. She survived the war in evacuation in the Caucasus and then in Central Asia. When she returned to Bershad after the war, in April 1944, her mother worked as a baker. She married in 1958 and has two sons. Her husband died before her second son was born, when her first son was just a todller. We interviewed her on July 17 and 18, 2002 in Bershad. [AHEYM 09-010.06-F MDV 367-370, 733, 374]

Krasner, Evgeniia (Sheyndl) Isaakovna was born in 1936 in Shpykiv. She at­tended a Ukrainian school before the war. Her father worked as an accountant in a sugar factory. During the war, she was imprisoned in the Pechera con­centration camp. After the war she was trained at a cultural institute in Kiev, from which she graduated as a librarian. We interviewed her on July 15, 2002 in Shpykiv. [AHEYM 09-010.45-F MDV 660, 664-666]

Kupershmidt, Moyshe (Mikhail) Aronovich was born in Bratslav in 1914. His father was a coachman and his mother stayed home and looked after the children and the cow. His parents had six children, two of whom died in in­fancy. He attended a Yiddish school in Bratslav for four years. He served in the military in the Finnish War, and was working as a chauffeur when the Second World War began. He survived under Nazi occupation in Reichskom- missariat Ukraine, and ended the war serving in the Red Army. After the war, he returned to Bratslav, where he continued working as a driver. His first wife died in 1947. He soon remarried and has a son, who lives in Israel. We inter­viewed him on July 14, 2002 with his wife, Rakhil Natanovna, and then again on June 25, 2005 in Bratslav. [AHEYM MDV 09-010.09-F 392-393, 396-397; 09-010.43-F MDV 657]

Kurman, Klara Lvovna was born in 1930 in Sharhorod. Her father was born in Kamyanets-Podilskyy and worked as a physician assistant. Her mother, a homemaker, was also born in Sharhorod. She grew up with two brothers and one sister. She attended a Russian-language school. She survived the war in the Sharhorod ghetto. After the war, she worked at a printing press and at a library. We interviewed her on July 15, 2002 in Sharhorod. [AHEYM 09-010.43-F MDV 659-660]

Leiderman (nee Bronfman), Gisia Moiseevna was born in 1924 in Bershad. Her father, also from Bershad, was a leatherworker. She had a sister and a brother. After she graduated from school, she trained at a technical school. She survived the war in the Bershad ghetto. We interviewed her on July 18, 2002 in Bershad. [AHEYM 09-010.06-F MDV 369-370]

Litvak, Sonia (Sure) Shevelevna was born in 1925 in Novohrad-Volynskyy. She had four siblings. Her father, a leatherworker, was also born in Novohrad- Volynskyy. Her mother worked occasionally as a freelance seamstress. Sonia studied at a Yiddish school. After the war, she worked as a curricular adminis­trator in kindergartens, as well as in a textile factory. In the 1960s, she worked in the cultural department of the Soviet consulate in Germany. We interviewed her on May 6, 2003 in Rivne. [AHEYM 09-010.42-F MDV 645-648]

Marinina (nee Palatnikova), Tatiana (Taybele) Moiseevna is the sister of Sofia Palatnikova. She was born in 1921 in Teplyk. Her father was a butcher. In the 1930s, she moved to the Lunacharskii collective farm in Crimea. She completed three grades at a Yiddish school in Crimea, and then attended a Russian-language school in Simferopol. After finishing pedagogical training, she worked for two years in an ethnic German village. She survived the war in the Bershad and Raygorod camps. After the war, she worked procuring live­stock and later as a German teacher at an evening school. She has a daughter and a son, who lives in Germany. We interviewed her on July 17, 2002 in Teplyk. [AHEYM 09-010.50-F MDV 684-686] She was also interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive [37775]

Murovanaia, Mire Markovna was born in 1926 in Mykolaiv. Her father, a colo­nel, was born in Kublich. He was positioned in Moscow and taught at a military technical school in Babushkin. Her mother was born in Haysyn and worked as president of a tailors' collective. She had a half-sister from her father's second marriage. She attended a Russian school and finished seven grades in Haysyn.

During the war, she evacuated to Central Asia. After the war, she was trained at a pharmacy and then worked as a pharmacist technician for forty-five years. She has two daughters; they live in Moscow and in Haysyn. We interviewed her on July 16, 2002 in Haysyn. [AHEYM 09-010.16-F MDV 366 and 439; and 09-010.45-F MDV 666]

Palatnikova, Sofia (Sonia) Moiseevna was born in 1927 in Teplyk. She is the sister of Tatiana Marinina. She went to a Ukrainain school for six years, but her schooling was interrupted by the war. She was brought up mostly in the Lunacharskii collective farm in Crimea, but returned with her family to Teplyk in 1940. She survived the war in Teplyk and Bershad, and in camps in Bratslav, Haysyn, and Raygorod. After the war, she worked in an industrial complex for twenty-two years. We interviewed her on July 17, 2002 and July 2, 2010 in Teplyk. [AHEYM 09-010.50-F MDV 687-689] She was also interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive [37784].

Pecherskaia (nee Disyatnik), Frida (Freyde) Isaakovna was born in Bratslav in 1927. Her father worked as a coachman. She was one of five children. She survived the war in the Pechera concentration camp, where she witnessed the murder of her mother. Her older brother died fighting in the war, and her sisters all died at young ages. After her liberation she returned to Bratslav, where she worked as a housemaid. She later worked in a brewery. She moved to Tulchyn after she married. She has a son, who lives in Tulchyn, and a daughter in Israel. We interviewed her on January 8, 2009 and June 8, 2009 in Tulchyn. [AHEYM 09-010.53-F MDV 723-724, 731-732]

Poberevskaia, Anna (Khone) Solomonovna was born in Stanislavchyk in 1914, where her father was a rabbi and her mother worked in the market. In 1921, she moved to Dzhuryn and then later to Zhmerynka. She attended a Yiddish school for seven years and finished her schooling at a Russian school. In 1930, at the age of sixteen, she started working as a secretary for the court prosecutor. She later studied in Kalinin to be a teacher, and later at a pedagogical institute in Vinnytsya. We interviewed her on July 12, 2002 in Zhmerynka. [AHEYM 09-010.58-F MDV 752, 774-775]

Preger, Esther Khananovna was born in 1921 in Tomashpil. Her parents were also born in Tomashpil; her father was a laborer and her mother a homemaker. She attended Yiddish school for seven years and then a Ukrainian school to graduate tenth grade. After she graduated, she attended the Vinnytsya Peda­gogical Technical College. She survived the war in the Tomashpil ghetto. After the war, she worked as a teacher from first through fourth grade at a local school until she retired at age fifty-five. We interviewed her on June 28, 2005 in Tomashpil. [AHEYM 09-010.52-F MDV 697, 699]

Presler (nee Tolba), Donia Shoilevna was born in 1929 in Tulchyn. Her father was a musician. Her mother worked as a glazier. She had two sisters. She fin­ished four years of Yiddish school. During the war, she was imprisoned in the Pechera camp for four years. After the war she married and worked in a shoe store with her husband. One of their two children died in infancy. We inter­viewed her on May 19, 2003 in Tulchyn. [AHEYM 09-010.52F MDV 694 and 09-010.53-F, MDV 712, 715—716] She was also interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive [31670]

Rivelis, Feyge (Faina) Samuilovna was born in Sharhorod in 1916, the young­est of four children. Her father was a tailor. She attended a Yiddish-language school for four years. She was a Pioneer and a member of the Komsomol. She survived the war in the Sharhorod ghetto. After the war, she worked in the lo­cal municipal government for fifty years. She had lived in Germany for a year, but returned to Sharhorod. We interviewed her on July 12, 2002. [AHEYM 09-010.43-F MDV 656]

Rubin, Efim Isaakovich (Chaim ben Yitzkhak) was born in 1922 in Uman, but moved at a young age to the neighboring town of Buki. He attended a Yiddish school for four years, before finishing his education at a Ukrainian school. His father was a barber. He was drafted in 1940 and trained as an officer in Odessa. During the war, he fought at the Moscow, Leningrad, Smolensk, and Kalinin fronts. After the war, he worked as a dental technician in Uman. He was inter­viewed together with his cousin, Matvei Vladimirovich (Motl ben Velvl) Rubin, who was born in 1928 in Buki. We interviewed him on July 18 and 19, 2002 and June 26, 2005 in Uman. [AHEYM 09-010.54-F MDV 733-735, 739]

Rusakovskaia, Raisa (Rokhl) Isaakovna was born in 1925 in Chernobyl. Her mother was also born in Chernobyl and her father, a carpenter, was born in Ivankovtsy. She had two sisters. She went to a Yiddish school for a few years, but finished her schooling at a Ukrainian school. She spent the war in evacuation in Central Asia. After the war, she worked as an accountant in a collective. In 1967, she moved to Kiev. We interviewed her on June 22, 2005 in Kiev. [AHEYM 09-010.23-F MDV 510-512]

Sapozhnik, Klara (Khaye) Naumovna was born in 1924 in Tomashpil as one of eight children. One of her brothers moved to Israel. Her parents worked in the “Gigant” collective farm. She never received any formal schooling. She survived the war in the Tomashpil ghetto. After the war, she moved back into her parents' house and married in 1946. After her first husband died, she mar­ried again in i960. She worked in construction and then in a furniture factory, and now earns some money selling oil from the sea-buckthorn that grows in her garden. She has one son. We interviewed her on June 28, 2005 and May 28, 2007 in Tomashpil. [AHEYM 09-010.52-F MDV 699-701]

Shames (nee Goldes), Rakhil (Rukhl) Shlemovna was born in 1915 in Ivanopil (Yanushpol). Her father was a millworker, and her mother was a homemaker. She studied in a Russian school. During the war she evacuated to the Urals, where she worked in a textile factory. Her sister and her father were killed by the Germans near Khmilnyk, but she and her mother survived. After the war, she moved to Khmilnyk, where she worked as a bookkeeper in a textile fac­tory. We interviewed her on May 25, 2008 and January 6, 2009 in Khmilnyk. [AHEYM 09-010.12-F MDV 420-421, 424]

Shor, Grigorii Iosifovich was born in Kopayhorod in 1925. His father was a butcher. He studied for seven years at a Yiddish school and finished his educa­tion in a Ukrainian school. He lived in Kopayhorod until he was drafted into the military in 1944. Her remained in the military until 1971. We interviewed him on July 11, 2002 in Vinnytsya. [AHEYM 09-010.56-F MDV 749-752]

Shor, Liudmila (Leye) Yudelevna is the wife of Grigorii Shor and was born in Kopayhorod. She attended a Ukrainian-language school. Her father owned a flower shop, but was driven out of the house and shop in the 1930s. Her fam­ily then moved to Verkhovka and her father became a barber. She has two daughters; one lives in Israel and the other in Germany. She is active in the Vinnytsya Jewish Women's Choir. We interviewed her on July 11 and 13, 2002 in Vinnytsya. [AHEYM 09-010.56-F MDV 749-753]

Shor, Naftoli (Anatolii) Petrovich (Pinhasovich) was born in Bershad in 1922. His father was the leader of a local Hasidic group in town and worked as a hatmaker. He had two brothers and a sister. He went to a Yiddish school for four years and finished his education in a Ukrainian school. He also attended a heder. We interviewed him on July 18, 2002 in Bershad. [AHEYM 09-010.06-F MDV 372-374]

Shoykhetman, Ron Davidovich was born in 1935 in Derazhnya and moved to Lutsk in 1959. His father worked as a janitor. Ron worked in a factory. We interviewed him on June 9, 2007 in Lutsk. [AHEYM 09-010.30-F MDV 580]

Shvartzbroit, Etia Kalmanova was born in Mohyliv-Podilskyy in 1928. Her grandfather was a rabbi, and her father had a textile workshop, where her mother worked as a pattern-maker. The workshop was closed in the 1920s, after which her father worked as a government purveyor until his death in 1940. Etia went to a Yiddish school for four years. In 1942, she was imprisoned together with her family in the Pechera concentration camp, where the rest of her family died. She escaped, eventually making it back to Mohyliv-Podilskyy. After the war, she settled in Lutsk. We interviewed her on May 8, 2003 in Lutsk. [AHEYM 09-010.42-F MDV 648 and 09-010.30-F MDV 575]

Shveibish, Rita (Reyzl) Davidovna was born in 1936 in Tulchyn. She grew up with two brothers. Both of her parents were born in Tulchyn. Her father delivered products for a welding shop. She survived the war in Pechera. After the war, she trained in Vinnytsya as a nurse, and worked as a nurse for fifty years in Tulchyn. Since her retirement, she has been director of the Jewish community of Tulchyn and has been active in establishing memorials for the murdered Jews of the town. We interviewed her on July 14, 2002, May 19 and 20, 2003, May 27, 2007, May 25, 2008, and January 8 and June 9, 2009 in Tulchyn. [AHEYM 09-010.53-F MDV 351, 359, 707-709, 712-713, 720-722, 725]. She was also interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive. [31019]

Skliarskii, Semen (Shloyme) Moiseevich was born in Lipovets in 1926. His father was a furniture maker. His mother died when he was three years, old and his father passed away four years later. He was brought up by his mother's sister. He began his schooling in a Yiddish school, and completed his educa­tion in a Ukrainian-language school. He survived most of the war in hiding in Reichskommissariat Ukraine. Toward the end of the war, he joined a group of partisans. After the war he worked as a bookkeeper. He married a woman from Bershad in 1951 and moved there in 1969. We interviewed him on May 14, 2008 and January 7, 2009 in Bershad. [AHEYM 09-010.06-F MDV 381-384] He was also interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive [31843].

Skoblitsky, Chaim (Efim) Gershkovich was born in 1919 in Berdichev. His father was born in Poland, near Warsaw, and worked as a metalworker. His mother raised five sons. He studied in both a Yiddish school and in a heder. During the Second World War, he served in the Red Army as the commander of a battalion of tanks. He worked in a museum and a photography studio. We interviewed him on July ro and 11, 2002 and May 21 and 22, 2003 in Berdichev. [AHEYM 09-010.04-F MDV 342-344, 346-347]

Sobol, Maria (Molke) Iosipovna was born in Mohyliv-Podilskyy in 1915. She was raised in a family of seven children. Her father worked in a factory, and her mother cared for the children. She attended Yiddish and Russian language schools, and worked most of her life as a nurse. We interviewed her in Mohyliv- Podilskyy in on December 13, 2005. [AHEYM 09-010.31-F MDV 764]

Soyfer, David (Dovid) Isaakovich was born in 1930 in Berdichev. His father, a kosher butcher, was also born in Berdichev and his mother was born in a village near Zhytomyr. He grew up with one brother. During the famine of 1932-1933, he moved in with his grandmother on a collective farm. In 1939, he returned to Berdichev to live with his father. During the war, he evacuated to the northern Caucasus, and then to Kazakhstan. In 1950, after his return to Berdichev, he was drafted into the Red Army for three and a half years. After his service, he worked as a cooper for thirty-five years. His has one daughter, who lives in Berdichev. We interviewed him on December 11, 2005 and January 9, 2009 in Berdichev. [AHEYM 09-010.04-F MDV 349, 356]

Teplitskaia, Raisa (Raye) Kirilovna was born in 1931 in Ternivke. She grew up with two sisters and one brother. Her father was a blacksmith and her mother was a homemaker and raised pigs. She went to a Ukrainian school. She sur­vived the war in hiding in a village. After the war, she returned to Ternivke, before settling in Uman in 1952. She has three sons, one of whom lives in Ger­many, and a daughter. We interviewed her on June 25, 2005 in Uman. [AHEYM 09-010.54-F MDV 736-737]

Tkach, Anna Borisovna was born in 1935 in Chernivtsi (Vinnytsya Province). Her father worked as a trader. She survived the war in the Chernivtsi ghetto. In 1944, she resumed her education, finishing ten grades in a Ukrainian lan­guage school in Chernivtsi. After the war, she worked as a Ukrainian language journalist for a local newspaper for forty years. In 1962 she married, and moved to Yampil in 1965. We interviewed her on June 28, 2005 in Yampil. [AHEYM MDV 696-697] She was also interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive. [VHA 36404]

Vainer-Shpak, Nekha Froimovna was born in Vinnytsya in 1921. Her Hasidic father was born in Bratslav and her mother was born in Pryluky. Her father worked as the chief supplier in a factory. She had a brother and a sister. She graduated from a Yiddish school after eight years and then worked odd jobs in a village before training as a dentist. In 1940, she finished her training and got a job working in a sugar factory in the village of Moyivka. She survived the war by hiding out in Vinnytsya and disguising herself as a non-Jew. After the war, she worked as a dentist in Vinnytsya, and had two children. We interviewed her on May 21, 2003 in Vinnytsya. [AHEYM 09-010.56-F MDV 718, 759]

Vaisman, Abram (Abrashe) was born in 1940 in Sharhorod. His father was also born in Sharhorod and was unable to work because he lost his right hand. His mother was born in Chernivtsi and worked as a seamstress. He grew up with three siblings, and attended Ukrainian-language schools. He survived the war in the Sharhorod ghetto. Before his retirement, he worked as a photo-journalist. We interviewed him together with his wife and daughter on July 12, 2002 in Sharhorod. [AHEYM 09-010.43-F MDV 776, 654-656]

Vaisman (nee Rainsdorf), Beyle (Bella) Moiseevna was born in 1925 in Berdi- chev. She is Isaak Vaisman's wife. Her father was born in Warsaw and worked as a chief accountant. She grew up in a relatively wealthy family. Days before the war began, she went to visit her cousin, as a result of which she was cut off from the rest of her family. She survived the war in evacuation in Uzbekistan, but her family was killed in Berdichev. She and Isaak have one daughter, who lives in America. We interviewed her on July 10, 2002, May 27, 2007, and January 9, 2009 in Berdichev. [AHEYM 09-010.04-F MDV 338-339, 342, 351, 354-355]

Vaisman, Isaak Iosifovich was born in 1925 in Berdichev. His father, who died in 1928, was also born in Berdichev and had worked as a tailor. Isaak attended a Yiddish school for seven years, before he was transferred to a Russian school to complete his education. He evacuated to Uzbekistan when the war began, from where he was drafted into the Red Army. He served from 1943 until 1946 in an intelligence unit. In Berdichev, he made a living selling soda water in the marketplace. We interviewed him on July 10 and 11, 2002, December 11, 2005, May 26 and 27, 2007, and January 9, 2009 in Berdychiv. [AHEYM 09-010.04-F MDV 761, 338-340, 342, 344, 348, 351, 354-355, 632]

Vanshelboim, Moyshe (Mikhail) Aronovich was born in Berdichev in 1928. His parents were both born in Berdichev, where his father worked as a painter. He studied at a Yiddish school for four years, before completing his education at a Russian school. His oldest brother died at the front, his younger brother,

ÇÎ? parents, and two sisters were murdered by the Germans. He escaped the mass shooting that killed his father and was aided in hiding by several non-Jews. After the war, he briefly worked in a mill before being drafted into the army in 1950. He served for four and a half years. After his service, he worked twenty- five years at a mill, and then at a factory. We interviewed him on May 26 and 27, 2007; January 9 and June 9, 2009; and July 5, 2010 in Berdichev. [AHEYM 09-010.04-F MDV 352-353, 359-361, 607, 632] He was also interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive [27225].

Vaynman, Klara (Khayke) Borisovna was born in 1939 in Vinnytsya. She moved to Lviv shortly thereafter. She evacuated to the Urals during the war. Her father was a director of a factory and her mother, born in Lubenets, was a teacher at a Yiddish technical institute. Her father was killed during the war. After the war, her mother worked in a sugar factory and then in the kindergar­ten in Bar. We interviewed her on June 29, 2005 in Bar. [AHEYM 09-010.02-F MDV 329-330]

Yakuta, Maria Andreevna was born in 1921 in Teplyk. She grew up with six siblings. Her parents were also born in Teplyk, and her father worked as a hat­maker. She attended a Yiddish school for seven years. Her parents and three siblings were killed in Teplyk during the war. We interviewed her on July 17, 2002 in Teplyk. [Sources: AHEYM 09-010.50-FMDV 682-684]

Yarmulnik, Sonia (Sure) Petrovna was born in 1929 in Khmelnytskyy. She studied at a Russian school. She spent the war years in evacuation in Uzbeki­stan. After the war, she worked as an economist and accountant for fifty-one years. She has a son. We interviewed her on May 28, 2007 in Khmelnytskyy. [AHEYM 09-010.21-F MDV 467-468]

Yatskova (nee Kremer), Dora (Dvoyre) Iosifovna was born in Murafa in 1924. In 1931, she moved to Kopayhorod with her family. Her father was the director of the Yiddish school in Kopayhorod, but she attended a Ukrainian-language school. She survived in the Kopayhorod ghetto for most of the war. She has a younger brother who lives in Israel. After the war she worked as a book­keeper and then at a community center. We interviewed her on May 24, 2008 in Kopayhorod. [AHEYM 09-010.09-F MDV 398, 770]

Yurkovetsky, Nisen Ovshiyevich was born in 1917 in Tulchyn. His parents were killed in a pogrom when he was less than two years old, and he was brought up

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BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES

by his grandmother. His father had been a barber. He trained as a chauffeur in Bratslav and fought in the Finnish War. He was injured fighting for the Red Army in the early days of the Second World War. After his demobilization, he ended up in the Pechera concentration camp and the Bershad ghetto. He later rejoined the Red Army. After the war, he continued his work as a chauffeur in Bratslav. He has two sons, who live in America, and a daughter, who lives in Tulchyn. We interviewed him on May 27, 2007 and January 8, 2009 in Tulchyn. [AHEYM 09-010.53-F MDV 720-721, 730-731]

Zhovtis, Mikhail was born in 1927 in Khmilnyk. During the war, he was forced to work in several forced labor battalions. He ended the war in Mohyliv-Podil- skyy. After the war, he was drafted into the army and served for seven years. When he returned from the service, he lived in Litin for two years. He then relocated to Bar, where he worked as a turner in a factory for thirty-two years. He has three children, two of whom live in Israel. We interviewed him on June 29, 2005 in Bar. [AHEYM 09-010.02-F MDV 330, 331, 690]