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STORY OF MY FAMILY

Grandfather Nohum Berkovich.

Grandmother Chernia Zalmanovna.

My grandfather Nohim Berkovich Vasserman was born in 1882 in a place called Kamen, Lepel region. His wife’s (my grandmother’s) name was Chernia Zalmanovna (maiden name Hodos)

My father Zima (Zimon Naumovich Vasserman) was the first child in the family. He was born in 1914. Father spent his childhood and school years in Begoml. Apart from my father, there were four children in the family – daughter Pesia, son Ziama, daughter Mira and son Motl. The photos of all the family members are attached.

Zimon Naumovich Vasserman
(1914 – 1961).

Grandfather was a shoemaker. He was sent into exile and we are not aware of his further fate. He was rehabilitated in 1988.

After school father became a meteorologist. In 1943 he volunteered to be sent to the battlefront. In 1944 he was wounded. His leg had to be amputated. Father died in 1961 at the age of 47.

At the beginning of the war grandmother Chernia attempted to evacuate the family but failed. At the beginning of October 1941 she and all her children, together with other Begoml Jews, were executed by fascists. In August 1988 Tekla Kuzminichna Demidovich, grandmother’s neighbor, told me about the place of their execution. After the war the victims were reburied at the local cemetery. A memorial, dedicated to the victims, was set up at the site of the reburial. In June 2008 my brother and I visited Begoml but we did not succeed in finding the memorial.

The book “Memory. Dokshitsy region” contains information about Jewish residents, who died during the war. The book mentions the Vasserman family: father, mother and three children. This information needs correction: in fact the victims were mother Chernia Zalmanovna and four children Pesia, Ziama, Mirra and Motl.

Leonid Vasserman,
Ukraine, Harkov

Motl.

Mira.

Ziama.

Pesia.

Memorial to Jews killed in Begoml.

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