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I am the man who witnessed tribulation by the staff of His wrath.
It was I whom He led to walk into darkness and not light.
To me He turned His hand against me over and over again all the day.

(From the Book of Lamentations)

I was born in 1902 in Zlotniki. I married a wife named Klara in Podhajce, and our son Munio was born there. I lived in Podhajce and earned my livelihood from my galanteria (fancy goods) store. The entire Nazi Holocaust engulfed me from 1941 until the end of the war. It is not easy to survey this terrible era with a few words; and is it even at all possible to describe in human terms the depths of suffering and despair that I endured for the entire time? This is a matter for a writer who has yet to be born, for he must stand in the company of the author of the Book of Lamentations and describe the destruction of a Jewish community with a population of 6,000 souls that was destroyed along with all the Jewish communities in sorrowful Poland.

At the outbreak of the war between Russia and Germany in June 1941, the Nazi German armies entered Podhajce. At first they did no harm to the Jews. Only with the arrival of the Gestapo did they begin to pillage and steal anything that they wanted without recompense.

The first thing that they did was to organize the Judenrat (Jewish council) whose members were appointed by the recommendation of the mayor. At first, the members of this council did not know what their task was, and what was expected of them. The members of the Judenrat were Leibish Lilienfeld, Shapira, and Dr. Margolies. Later, the Judenrat appointed the Ordenungs-Dienst (Service for the Maintenance of Order). Their first task was to collect punitive fines – money, furniture, and bedding – everything for the gendarmes and the Gestapo. The task of the Judenrat was to collect the money from the Jewish population.

Later they began to enlist Jews for labor. At first they enlisted them for work in the city, and later they established a camp in the region. The Jewish council was obligated to draft people for work. By chance, I had acquaintances in the post office who arranged the distribution of the mail of the Judenrat – only for the Jews – and through their recommendation, I began to work as a postman.

Thus did the situation continue for almost an entire year, without aktions and without any other activities. The first year went by only with forced labor, collection of fines, the removal of furniture from the Jewish homes, etc. However, the waiting was tedious, and there was great tension throughout the entire time. We knew that difficult times were awaiting us, without knowing when and how the matter would unfold. Indeed, that which we anticipated took place.

The first aktion in Podhajce was on Yom Kippur of 1942. Then, they drafted the intelligentsia for labor. They invited the young men and finest girls for “labor”. They were all sent to the Belzec death camp. Approximately 1,000 people perished during this first aktion. I saved myself and my entire family by hiding.

After the first aktion, a few people who endangered themselves and jumped from the train wagons returned. They told us the “secret” about to where they were being sent. Indeed, we knew the secret even prior to this, in accordance with the popular adage, “A secret for all the people of the group”. The people who returned had Polish acquaintances, who said that they were being sent directly to the crematoria.

The first aktion served as a paradigm for the following aktions. In the following aktions, a panic ensued in the city when people were snatched for labor. People hid and did whatever possible to evade the fate that awaited them. However, many fell into the trap, including my brother-in-law.

My hiding place was in the house. There was a cellar in the entrance near the sill. We lifted the trapdoor, entered, and closed it behind us. The snatchers passed over us and did not detect us. We heard them milling about and searching here and there. Finally they reached the conclusion that all of the people had already been taken from there. They began to erect the ghetto after the first aktion.

During the second aktion, I remained in the hiding place until 3:00 p.m. The snatchers did not find us. The second aktion was conducted on the 2^nd day of Cheshvan. (I recall the date very well, for that is the date of the yahrzeit of my father Shmuel Pushteig of blessed memory.) My father lived in Zlotniki, a town near Podhajce, whose residents were forced to leave their homes and move to Podhajce. My father was 81 years old at the time, and since he already knew why they were all been taken, he did not want to go to the roll call. Uberstormfuehrer Mueller of the Gestapo dragged him against his will. Father did not want to go and said to him: “Why are you dragging me? For what purpose do you have a gun?” Then the German shot him on the spot and murdered him. My sister and her two daughters were also taken during that aktion.

It was told to me that when they took the family members of one member of the Ordenungs-Dienst, the Gestapo man said to him: “If you give me

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such and such a quota, I will free them”. This man knew my hiding place, opened it, and took us all out during the second aktion. When I arrived, the transport was prepared to depart, and we were the last ones. I was informed that when my father saw that I was not in the gathering place, he said, “It is good that Nachum and his family are not here”. When I arrived, he was already no longer alive.

The member of the Ordenungs-Dienst who revealed our hiding place was a Jew by the name of Lutner, who remained to the end. He made a great deal of money. After the final aktion, he went out to hide with his family. The gentile with whom he went to hide murdered him and took his money.

My brother David and my sister Rivka with her two daughters were also taken during the second aktion. My brother fled immediately and was not sent with the transport. I went with my entire family to the train. Next to the train there were already people who began to think about how to jump from it. They took along tools for that purpose. I wanted to place myself near people who had initiative, but suddenly I was dragged from behind. A Gestapo man approached me with a big stick, dealt me a blow on the head, and blood began to drip from all sides. I still had a sum of money. I gave it to my wife and told her that if she could flee, she should flee.

The Nazis acted with deceit. They said that the men would be taken in a separate train wagon to work. They loaded 120 of us men onto one wagon, and the women and children onto other wagons. I do not know how I found the energy to board the wagon. I grabbed my hat with my two hands and the blood clotted. I boarded the wagon, and it was stifling and foul smelling. Aside from this, we had not eaten or drunk all day. My fortune was that as soon as I entered, the train began to move. I looked for a place near the wall so that I could lean. Suddenly, I heard “Shma Yisrael”, and they began to open the small window of the train; I heard how one person jumped; the second person jumped… I was the fifth one to jump. I jumped from the train as the train was moving fast. I felt that the station was close, and I jumped with all my energy.

I fell on my hands. To my fortune, I did not fall under the cars. I was tossed, and the blood began once again to fall. I do not know how long I lay there. Suddenly I woke up and I saw that I was alone there, and the train was gone. I began to walk back beside the tracks, and there I met other people who had jumped. There were people who had acquaintances in the area. There were “feld shtiber” (field rooms) in the fields. We went to someone's house, and remained there all night and all day. We returned to the ghetto in the evening. I returned to the house, and the only one I found there was my brother. When we met, I wept the entire time and asked, “Where is all the family? Where is my wife? Where is my son?” He was a five-year-old child, and was so delicate that it was difficult to cross the street with him… When they took my brother-in-law, my wife told the child that she was going to bring him something. However the child said to her, “Mother, come home, I am afraid here, we will go out when the Russians will arrive.”

I then went to live in the ghetto with my brother. Nothing was left for us in the house. After they removed the people from the house, the Volksdeutschen (local Germans) came and took everything, without leaving a thing.

Before Passover, rumor had it that there would be another aktion. My relative Yisrael Silber began to organize people to go out into the forest. He was a firewood merchant, and knew his way around the forest. At first, he took his family to his acquaintance in the forest. I went there with my brother, and we spent ten days with that man, a Ukrainian named Zacharechki. Later, it became clear that nothing happened, and we returned. In the interim, my brother David and Yisrael Silber began to arrange provisions of necessities and weapons.

We remained in the ghetto until before the festival of Shavuot. My brother, Silber, and his family already went out to the forest, and were supposed to come on Sunday to take us to the forest. The third aktion took place that Sunday – the liquidation aktion – and I was still in the ghetto. On the Sabbath there were rumors that there was going to be an aktion. We fled in the middle of the day – through some passageway from the ghetto – into the fields. We remained for the entire day among the stalks, which were still green. Later, it became clear that there had not been an aktion, and we returned to the ghetto at 10:00 p.m.

I began to get undressed to go to bed – when they came and told us that the ghetto was already closed and the Kovanchiks (in Russia there was a colony of Germans) had arrived to assist with the carrying out of the aktions. It was said that the entire ghetto was surrounded by the Kovanchiks. I jumped and went to the place where the family of the Ordenungs-Dienst Lutner was located. He prepared a hiding place for them, and I entered with them. We were approximately 50 people. There was also a cellar, but the O.D. had closed it and placed things upon it so that it would not be recognizable. It was terribly stifling there. There was a passageway from the cellar to another hiding place, so that if someone opened up at night and asked, “Are you still alive?”, they would think that we had suffocated there and they would say, “You can come out if you are still alive”.

We went out and everything was empty… This was not an aktion for Belzec. They had taken people to dig pits in Zahajce near Podhajce. They put planks over the pits. People were supposed to strip and walk onto the planks. They shot with machine guns and the people fell into the pit – alive or dead.

It was night. The conscience of O.D. Lutner bothered him that he had taken out my family. He knew that my brother was in the forest and he said, “Don't worry, I will arrange for you to go”…

People remained in the ghetto after the aktion, and the Germans said that whoever remained would be taken to work. There were also people who had prepared

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poison for themselves. The head of the Judenrat, Lilienfeld, prepared poison for himself as well. He and his wife poisoned themselves during the liquidation aktion.

People ran about not knowing what to do with themselves. Among them were people who had prepared to go out to the forest but had not had the chance. They knew where to go, and took me with them. The O.D. man took money and a gold watch from us, and gave it to one of the Kovachniks so that he would not be present at the time of the passage. At 10:00 p.m. approximately ten of us set out for the forest.

We wandered around in the forest all night and all day, until my brother and Silber came during the second night and took us to the rest of the people who had fled to the forest. We were more than 100 people there.

We had a small amount of arms, but this was not a forest that was able to sustain partisans. In addition, there were also families with children, etc. They prepared a pit in which to hide temporarily. This was already the 3^rd of Sivan, three days before Shavuot. I recall that there were people who took tallises with them and still recited Akdamut (a Shavuot prayer). People put up some sort of tents made of trees and leaves, but this did not help at all, and the rain fell upon us…

At first, we were all together in the forest, and later we organized into groups. We remained in contact with the Ukrainians, from whom we purchased food.

I was so despondent after I had lost my family. I arrived in the rain, and sat down to rest. I fell into a deep sleep and dreamt the following dream. I went to worship in the Beis Midrash of my city. There was a Torah scholar there by the name of Yaakov Rellis who went around all day in the Beis Midrash wearing his tallis and tefillin until 11:00 or noon. Youths studied there, and when they had questions, they approached him. He knew how to answer their questions. He came to me in a dream as he was in the synagogue, with his tallis and white beard, and said to me, “Blessed is G-d day by day” – thus did I have the strength to persevere. To this day, when I pray, I recall the elderly Yaakov Rellis of blessed memory.        

Afterward they formed groups, and I remained in a group with my brother and Silber and his family. Thus things went until the 20^th of Tammuz. These Ukrainians were Benderovches. They knew about our places and wanted to take our money. They attacked us at night on the 20^th of Tammuz. I was not in this group, but Silber was there. First they searched him since he was a man of initiative, and they wished to get rid of him. This was a group of 39 people. They came at night and told everyone to take their things and stand in a line, for they wished to take them to the partisans. With this pretext, they then murdered them with axes. Silber was among them, but his family was not in this group. His wife, brother-in-law and three children were in our group.

My brother, I, and Silber's family were in Zacharechki's group. He told us that he would make a special hiding place at his home for us. However, when we heard what had happened to Silber and the rest of the group, fear overtook him and he told us to leave him for he was afraid. He did not tell us anything about what had happened. At night, my brother, Silber's family, and I went out to search for the people. There was still a third group that remained. Thus did we go at night. My brother already knew a little about the paths. Suddenly he heard someone approaching us. He feared that we had fallen into the hands of a band of bandits, but it became obvious that this was the third group. They thought the same about us, and one of them had a grenade in his hand to throw at us. However, my brother suddenly went out and shouted “Shma Yisrael”. When they heard “Shma Yisrael”, they knew that we were Jews, and we united. Then the question arose, what to do now. We said that one group would return to Zacharechki, and the second would remain in the forest and make some arrangements to be able to remain. The lot fell upon the Silber family and I to go to Zacharechki. They wanted my brother to go with them, but since I had to go, my brother went together with me. One group remained in the forest, and I, my brother, Silber's children, and Mrs. Feldberg with her husband and two children all went to Zacharechki.

Zacharechki agreed to take us in. He knew that we still had money – dollars – gold – and he was a businessman. He told us that he also had a son-in-law in the forest, and he promised that he would bring us to him, that he would make a hiding place for us, and we could remain there. We went to him and remained in that situation until the 20^th of Av.

Apparently, someone had informed on us, and on the 20^th of Av, a Ukrainian militia with Volksdeutschen attacked us. Some of us had to remain alive nevertheless… I, Silber's three children, and the mother and two children – went into some hole and hid. My brother, Mrs. Feldberg, Silber's wife and brother in-law all remained, and the Ukrainians took them. My brother attempted to flee, but they shot and killed him. I heard the groans from my hiding place, without knowing from whom they were coming. Later, they told me what happened. They shot Silber's wife on the spot as well. His brother-in-law and Feldberg were taken to the area of Zawalow. They dug a pit for themselves, and then they were shot.

Later, Zacharechki was also afraid to keep us. We went out and scattered. There was a valley with a small grove. We entered, and I remained there all day. The children disguised themselves, and I heard them talking. I remained the entire day in the sun without a drop of water. At night I went to the son-in-law of Zacharechki, who told me that they had shot my brother. When I heard this, I said that I had no more reason to live. My brother was strong, he had taken me out to the forest, and now I remained alone, and I did not know what happened to Silber's children. Later it became clear that they survived, and they came to us. Zacharechki's son-in-law was afraid to keep us, and he brought us back to Zacharechki.

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Once again we were all together with Zacharachki. Silber's children included a son of 8, a son of 12, and a daughter who was perhaps 14. There was also Mrs. Feldberg with her 2 children. We remained with him for one day, and then he said that he would bring us to a place in the forest where nobody ever comes. There they made for us some sort of tents between the trees. I made a tent for myself, one for the woman and two children, and one for Silber's three children. We made a sort of roof above the tents. We placed leaves upon it so that the rain would not penetrate, and it would be warm inside. My tent was like a doghouse.

At first we still had some money. The woman still had gold dollars, and Zacharechki brought us a little food each day.

It is interesting to state that I knew that I had a small Siddur (prayer book) among our belongings. I asked that they bring me this Siddur. Day to us was like night, since we could not go out. I was fortunate that I had this Siddur. I prayed every day, and recited the entire book of Psalms every day.

Later, he organized us into groups. He said that I should come each day with a different group of children to obtain something hot to eat. We suffered so much then. It was not easy for us to get there, for we only walked when it was pitch dark. I was again fortunate. Silber's 12-year-old child had a good sense of direction, and he knew the way, so I went with him each time.

If one is predetermined to remain alive, every step leads to life – even though we were already on the way to death. We once went in complete darkness. We had to hold on to each other so we would not get lost. Suddenly the child said, “Nachum, I saw someone light up like a lamp”. I told him that we need to go off from the path and walk through the fields. We walked through the fields and reached Zacharechki. He told us, “You have good fortune; this was a Ukrainian from the militia.” If the child had not seen the light, we would have fallen directly into their hands.

However, in the interim, life became quite loathsome to us. We had not changed our shirts. We had no water in which to wash. I had dropped to 38 kilo. I had grown a beard like a Nazirite. Once there was a bit of sunlight. I then went among the trees and got undressed. I sat that way, and suddenly I heard the noise of some “shkotzim”, but nothing mattered to me anymore and I was apathetic. I got up and returned. At night I went to Zacharechki and told him what I had heard. He and his wife laughed. It became clear that these were children who had gone out to gather wood to heat the house in the winter. They saw me, got afraid and fled. They came home and said that they had seen a demon. Indeed, I looked like a demon.

Zacharechki still had some hiding places. He took us to rest a bit at his home. This was on Rosh Hashanah, and he wanted to give us some festive food. At night he held us in his home, but he sent us out at night. We hid under haystacks. I recall that I had my Siddur, and I spent the entire day of Rosh Hashanah lying under the haystacks and praying.

Once, when we were all together, a group of Ukrainian and Polish partisans attacked us and snatched us. They spoke Polish. First they took Zacharechki and beat him terribly. Then they came to us and said, “All of you lie on the floor, one on top of the other, and then we will throw a grenade on you”. They indeed had a grenade in their hands. However, it became clear that they were just playing a trick on us. They went out, closed the door, and left without doing anything do us. However, they did beat Zacharachki.

We went out again to the hiding place at night, and remained there until the snow began to fall. When the snow fell, it was difficult for us to walk, since our feet sank. We also felt that Zacharechki's attitude to us was no longer as it was before, and he was already tired of us. I then said in my heart, “Would it be that a miracle would take place for us, we would find a different place, and Zacharechki would not know to where we disappeared”. Indeed, the Master of the World helped us.

We thought that the second group was already in America. We were seven souls and they were sixteen people. They were connected to the “Subbotniks”^[1] who were in our area. These were not truly Subbotniks, but like Baptists (they had many groups). They did not believe in the Pope like the Catholics, but only in Jesus. When they wanted to worship, they went together to a house of prayer. They did not worship from a prayer book, but rather each one on his own. They regarded the spreading of their faith as their mission. These sixteen Jews were from Zawalow, and were their acquaintances. They established contact with them. The guardian of the forest was also their acquaintance, and he gave them a good place to dig a pit. They entered it and hid, and he gave them food. Thus they had come into this group of Subbotniks. I knew about this already.

When I realized that our situation was hopeless, I told the children who were with us: “Now we have no choice, for we cannot remain here any longer”. For example, at night I took a bottle of water from Zacharechki that was supposed to last the entire day. If one child wanted to drink a bit more, the other would shout: “Enough!” He also gave us bread, which we divided up by lottery so that one would not suspect that the other got a larger piece. And in the winter, the water in the bottle froze…

In the group of 16 Jews there were men and women, and only one child. They did not want to take us because of the children. Nevertheless, I went with the woman and children, and we entered some small house in the forest with the risk that if there was a good gentile there, it would be good, but if there was a bad gentile there, we would suffer. He stood at the time next to the well with the cow, and he suddenly heard my footsteps coming. He said, “Yes, I already know who is coming.”

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He brought us in and received us pleasantly. His whole house was the size of our kitchen. There was a pricha^[2] there, which also served as a kitchen. The light came from a wick stuck into a bottle of oil. However, when we entered there, we felt as if we were entering a palace… The smoke covered me, and I smelled the aroma of the food that was cooking, for he was preparing dinner.

This was a small house in the middle of the forest. Afterward we were told that before the gentile joined this sect, he was one of the dangerous men. He did not have an oven for baking bread, so he baked on the stovetop. He prepared fresh bread, and mushrooms with potatoes, and gave us all of his food. I can still feel the taste of that food he gave us in my mouths today. Simchat Torah fare is no sweeter to my palate than that food.

I no longer remember the name of that man. I still had two dollars. I took them out and wanted to pay him, but he refused and said, “No thank you. You must thank the Master of the World, and I will give thanks to the Master of the World for giving me the opportunity to do this good deed. He gave us some bread for the way, and then we entered. Zacharechki no longer knew about us.

This gentile showed us the way to the guardian of the forest. We went to him. There, there was a trench that was still from the First World War. We entered it, and made ourselves a roof. We remained there for approximately two weeks. After that, we had no other options. I spoke to the guardian of the forest and told him, “If you do not want to take us into this group, I am not responsible if they catch us and I reveal something.” I asked him to take only the children, and it is not important what happens to me. I told him that this group entered the forest thanks to the father of these children, for my brother and Silber were the organizers of those who went to the forest, and now we have no other options. If they would not take us in, we had no more to do. None of this helped. However, it is interesting to note that until they took us in, they had made three hiding places that had been revealed… until they took us in. Thus was the story:

They said that there was a hiding place prepared for us, but it was difficult to be all together. They would be in one hiding place, and we would be in a second one. However, this was a trick – this was the hiding place that had been revealed. However, I had no choice and we went there. They told us that they would provide us with food.

We entered the hiding place. A few days passed and they did not come. There were potatoes inside, but there was no water. There was only snow, and we did not know how to make water from the snow, for first one had to melt the snow, and then filter it. We did not know this. We cooked them in this manner, and we were unable to eat them. We fasted for approximately 14 days. I then said to the oldest child, go see where we are. We walked and walked until we reached a path, and we more or less knew where we were.

I wanted to go out the next day, but I had no strength. I went out and fainted. The woman had a black and dirty piece of sugar. She placed it into my mouth and I came to.

Suddenly one day, on a Sunday, two Ukrainians with axes came. We were all afraid of such strong gentiles… However, they said, “Do not be afraid!” It became clear that they had been drafted for work in Germany and they had escaped – at least that is what they told us. They entered out hiding place and asked us, “How do you manage? From what do you live? And if someone attacks you, how do you defend yourselves?” We answered, “Who, the children will defend?” However, I could not speak for I was so weak. They once again said, “Do not be afraid”, and they left. I thought that they had already left us. Suddenly – after I had gone back in – they told me: “Go out! The women and the children saw that they were occupied with me, and they fled.” I still had an Omega watch. They took my watch, my coat and a few dollars – and left.

I went out the path and the children returned. I then said that we should flee, and we fled. What strength did the Holy One Blessed Be He give me, for after a fast of 14 days, I ran approximately 5 kilometers. The woman and the young children fled leftward, and I and the oldest child fled straight, not knowing to where. We wanted to reach the guardian of the forest. I thought that I had already freed myself from the two Ukrainians. Suddenly they ran after us, and saw that the child still had boots. First they said, “Why did you flee? Come, the Germans are waiting there…” The child started to cry and I said to him, “What do you want from me?” They took the boots. Suddenly we felt that a wagon was approaching. They beat me and said, “Go to hell”.

We did not know the way, and did not know where we were. We ran and ran until we reached the house of the guardian of the forest, without knowing the way, this was providence… The children and the woman saw some house in the field and entered the barn. They entered a stall that also belonged to a Subbotnik. Had they entered another place, they would have fallen into the hands of a Ukrainian who murdered Jews. We entered to the guardian of the forest and waited until night.

They guardian of the forest had a daughter who was as righteous as a rebbetzin. She saw the child and me, the child without boots, etc., and began to weep. She immediately took a dish of cold water and put his feet into the water, and gave him and old sweater. She made us food and said, “Do not leave here now until the group will take you”.

In the meantime, they put us in the barn. It was cold there, and we thought hat we would freeze. On the second night, the Pole brought the woman and children, and we were together again. This was in the winter, December 1943.

Later, the guardian of the forest went to the group and told them, “Now there is no choice, you must take them”. They came at night to take us. The 12 year old girl who was with us already had no strength to walk, so they carried her with their hands.

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We came there and entered into what looked like a palace. We were 23 people in the hiding place. When we entered there, they no longer recognized us, me certainly not… But there was already sufficient food there.

The guardian of the forest provided us food, but not only him. At all times, a group of the people of this religious sect came and brought us bread and other food. We cooked it there. We remained there until the liberation. This lasted for three months, until March 1944. Members of this sect, as well as the daughter of the guardian of the forest came at all times. We sang together, we prayed together – we were already one group.

Russian partisans came to the hiding place in March 1944. They came to tell us that the Russians had already arrived. We then went out of the hiding place and started to walk. We had no more energy to walk along the route – this was in the month of March – but we reached some village where their army was stationed, and where there was also a kitchen. When they saw us they realized that we were Jews. They took us in and gave us food. From there we returned to Podhajce.

The few survivors who remained alive gathered in Podhajce. We were 23, and there were others who returned from among the gentiles. We all went to one room. I went to my neighbor, and he asked, “Who is this Jew?” I looked in the mirror, and I also did not recognize myself.

We remained in Podhajce for a few days, and we heard that the Russians were retreating. It was snowing, and it was difficult to make connections, but we fled along with them. We fled to Skalat and passed Buchach as well. A few hundred people, perhaps a thousand, had remained in Buchach. They did not flee, and they once again fell into the hands of the Germans. We passed through Buchach and reached Skalat.

I was embarrassed to go among people when I arrived in Skalat. I had no button on my clothes anymore. I had some coat that I had received from Zacharechki after they took mine, and I turned it inside out. In Skalat there were storehouses with goods that the Germans had pillaged from the Jews. I went there and looked for something that I could change into, but I did not find anything. Shortly thereafter, I heard that they had liberated Tarnopol. I went to Tarnopol, and there I also went into the storehouse of the Germans. I found some shirts and soap. I also took a backpack. It was hard for me to remain in Tarnopol. I fled from Tarnopol to Mikulinitsy.

In Mikulinitsy I found a family that had survived. I went in to them and said, “Now something must be done…” Among the Russians, there was a Jew who was responsible for the bathhouse. This was an airforce battalion. I went to the bathhouse and cleaned myself thoroughly. I threw out everything that I had, I changed my clothes, and went to the barber to get a haircut.

There was a gentile from Kiev who knew how to speak Yiddish. He asked me, “What do you do, Jew? You need to earn a living; we buy and sell liquor…” I worked there for 3 months, and was already a different person. I had a bit of money. A Jewish doctor who was with the Russians helped me, and gave me some medicine. They gave me some money, and helped me with clothing.

About three months later, after Podhajce was liberated, I returned there. When we arrived in Podhajce, there were already about 50 people, and we lived in two houses. We had to make arrangements, and I was in charge of food distribution. This was strictly a formality, in order to receive a work permit. However, the official from Chortkov did not want to provide me with such. He said to me, “You cannot be a director here; you must open up your own store.” I told him that I was not able to, but he was stubborn and said that I would open up my store and give him a bribe. I did not open up, and he threatened to send me to Dombas. Suddenly someone from the N.K.V.D. came to take me and send me to Dombas. I said to myself, “I was saved to the Germans, and now he will send me to Dombas?"” I said to the man standing guard that I wanted to go home to get something, and I fled. I had money. I paid some gentile some money for the journey, and I reached Tarnopol. I joined the “escape” group in Krakow. We stole across the borders to Czechoslovakia and Austria. From Austria we went to Italy and from Italy to Cyprus.

I made aliya from Cyprus in the first movement. I have already been working in the post office for 16 years. I got married and have a son. I live in Kiryat Shalom, in Tel Aviv.