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UNUSUAL BIOGRAPHY

Alexander Borisovich Arsentiev was born in 1933. Before the war he lived in Vitebsk with his parents.

His father originated from Liozno. Grandfather, Ivan Danilovich Ivaschenko, had a big family: five sone and two daughters. I used to spend summers in his house

Mother's family lived in Vitebsk. Her name was Stera Markovna Gadaskina. She had two sisters and two brothers. Grandmother (mother's mother) was against my mother's marriage and she did not communicate with my father. Nevertheless, they got married in the thirties.

When the war began father was mobilized. During the war he came home several times wearing civilian clothes. We remained in Vitebsk. Soon Germans arrived in town and we made a decision to leave for Liozno. We settled down in my grandfather's house. Then father came to stay with us. He said our house in Vitebsk had been burned down.

Mother did not look Jewish. Of course, our neighbors knew who she was but did not betray her.

We lived relatively quietly until April 2, 1943. Then a Nazi policeman took my father away. Mother was at home but first they did not need her. I can only assume that someone reported on the father that he had connections with partisans. He was shot on April 9. Mother was taken away later. After father's death Nazis found out she was Jewish. Someone reported on her. She was shot at the same place. After the war they were reburied in an old cemetery near a flax factory.

They were not interested in me. I left Liozno the day after the execution and went to father's brother Fedor.

Soon Liozno was liberated by the Soviet Army and I began living in a dugout with some other people. Once we were visited by major Arsentiev who offered me to join the army. Grandfather didn't mind. I was given new documents with a new name, so I became Arsentiev Alexander Borisovich.

I spent seven months at the battlefront and reached Warsaw. After the war my aunt Rosa from Vitebsk found me and I lived with her.

Recorded by Arkady Shulman

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