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Memories of Alexander Haimovich Gelfond

Alexander Gelfond.
Pre-war photo.

Sholom Gelfond. 1944.

I was born on June 9th 1920 in Slaven, Tolochin district. There were 9 children in our family. One of my brothers was killed at the battlefront. My parents and two sisters were shot; their bodies were burnt by fascists.

My father, Haim-Mendel Gelfond, was a rabbi. Our village had a big two-storey synagogue. There was a church as well. Later the church was turned into a club and the synagogue burnt down by fascists.

I spent the whole war in the Army. After the war I found out that my family was killed in Slaveni on March 16th 1942. The village had a ghetto. Among the fascists’ victims there were the Axerolds, the Rubinchiks, the Aronins, the Gureviches, the Cogans, the Itkins and others. According to the stories I have heard, the execution was carried out by Germans. Anatoly Kovalev, a son of a local priest, and a man with last name Koran were also actively involved in the execution.

Alexander Haimovich Gelfond.

P.S.: Anyone, who has any information about Slaveni and the people, who lived here during the war, about the days of Nazi occupation, please share your stories with us.

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