Sally Uzvalova

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

Chernivtsi, Ukraine
Interview conducted in 2002 by Ella Levitskaya

The offspring of a religious Jewish family with roots in Poland, Moldova and Romania, Mrs. Uzvalova tells us about the fate of her relatives who were morally and physically obliterated by the Soviet power. In 1940, her father and his brother – business partners and storeowners – were arrested as “socially dangerous elements” and sent to a security camp in Solikamsk. In June 1941, many other family members were exiled to Siberia, some of them starving to death. When the Great Patriotic War began, the interviewee, her mother and brother were advised to leave Soroki (today Moldova) and decided to go where her father was kept. They never made it there, but ended up in Astrakhan, where she and her mother worked in a hospital. When part of Bessarabia was liberated in 1944, they returned to Soroki and found out that the father had committed suicide in Siberia. In 1945 they planned to leave for Romania but right before their departure the borders were closed, so they settled down in Chernovtsy. After the war, Mrs. Uzvalova worked as an accountant and was the breadwinner in the family, supporting her mother and brother even after she got married and founded her own family. 13 photos help retrace a fascinating family history.

Learn more about Sally Uzvalova here on the Centropa website.