Anatoliy Shor

(Wywiady dostępne są w językach angielskim i ukraińskim. Prosimy o wyrozumiałość.)

Bershad, Ukraine
Interview conducted in 2004 by Zhanna Litinskaya

Born and raised in Bershad, Mr. Shor gives us good insight into his hometown, where he still lives. In the 19th and 20th century the population was mainly Jewish, and, according to the interviewee, “Jews and Ukrainians respected each other’s traditions and religion.” The town boasted 14 synagogues, only one of which remains. Growing up in a religious family, Mr. Shor keeps vivid memories of the celebration of Sabbath, Pesach and other Jewish holidays. In 1937 he went to study at Medical College in Tulchin, and a few days after the Great Patriotic War began, he was sent to the front as commanding officer of a sanitary platoon. During the defense of Mariupol, he got in encirclement, was wounded, but managed to escape, while his division perished. He joined his family, who stayed on occupied territory, but feeling guilty about his involuntary desertion he joined the army again in March 1944, served as sergeant of medical service at the Southwestern Front and took part in liberating Ukraine and Moldova. Wounded toward the end of the war, he celebrated Victory Day in hospital, demobilized shortly after and returned to Bershad to pursue his career as a doctor. 15 photos illustrate his life story.

Learn more about Anatoliy Shor here on the Centropa website.

Frida Muchnik

(Wywiady dostępne są w językach angielskim i ukraińskim. Prosimy o wyrozumiałość.)

Bershad, Ukraine
Interview conducted in May 2004 by Zhanna Litinskaya

Mrs. Muchnik’s family came from Bershad, a Jewish town with a minor Ukrainian population, where she still lives today. She recalls how during the period of forced famine, “a horse-drawn wagon full of dead bodies rode along the streets” and that the family survived only thanks to her mother’s energy and hard work. When the Germans started to bomb Bershad in July 1941, they wanted to evacuate, but the roads were already blocked. It is difficult for the interviewee to recall the period of occupation, when they stayed in the ghetto and her mother made every effort to hide her or bribe policemen in order to save her from abuse. In the meantime, her two brothers were recruited at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War and they never saw them again. After the liberation of Bershad in March 1944, she finished school, went to work to support her parents and had no opportunity to found her own family. Her touching story comes with 15 photos.

Learn more about Frida Muchnik here on the Centropa website.