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Vera Mikhailovna Shufel

ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED…

Before the war we used to live in Vitebsk in Zhores street. Now this is Pokrovskaya street.

I can remember our neighbors. A family lived on the second floor. Their son, Solomonchik, was a student at medical college. They also had a daughter, Esterka. Solomonchik was killed at the battlefront.

Almost all the neighbors were Jewish. There were only two Russian families in our house. We were friends with them as well. Nobody had conflicts or rows.

When the war began, our street was bombed more than the rest of the city, so father moved the family to Lenin street. We evacuated on June 3. A truck came to pick us up. Germans tried to bomb our truck, especially near Smolensk. After that bombing our driver ran off and we had to hide ourselves on a field. Somehow we managed to reach Ioshkar Ola, where we settled down.

The local people treated us really well. The local peasants were poor but helped us as much as they could. They brought us tea and milk, and some food. Nevertheless, we did not have enough food and were half-starving all the time.

Father was wounded in the war and his right arm was amputated. After the war he was awarded the Order of the Red Star and medals. In 1945, when Vitebsk was liberated, we returned home. The city had been completely destroyed. At the location of our house we just found ruins.

We settled down in Traktornaya street, with a nice Russian family, with whom we had been in evacuation. Their family was big but they found some place for us as well.

Very slowly life was coming back to its normal pace. Food was still hard to buy. Every time I put bread into my mouth I thought: what can be better than this? Can a cake really be tastier than this?

Years have passed. Vitebsk has changed its face. It has become different, new and modern. The old city is gone together with its former residents.

I feel very sorry for my relatives that have not lived to see the better time, those, who were killed in the ghetto. I feel sorry for my father, who did not live to know how nice it is to live in a separate flat. I feel sorry for my youth that was lost in the war. Life cannot be turned back…

Let us hope that the residents of modern Vitebsk will never experience the horrors of the war again.

Jewish settlements in Vitebsk region

Vitebsk • Albrehtovo • Babinovichi • Baran • Bayevo • Begoml • Beshenkovichi • Bocheikovo • Bogushevsk • Borkovichi • Braslav • Bychiha • Chashniki • Disna • Dobromysli • Dokshitsy • Druya • Dubrovno • Glubokoye • Gorodok • Kamen • Kohanovo • Kolyshki • Kopys • Krasnopolie • Kublichi • Lepel • Liady • Liozno • Lukoml • Luzhki • Lyntupy • Miory • Obol • Oboltsy • Orsha • Osintorf • Ostrovno • Parafianovo • Plissa • Polotsk • Prozorki • Senno • Sharkovshina • Shumilino • Sirotino • Slaveni• Smolyany • Surazh • Tolochin • Ulla • Verhnedvinsk • Vidzy • Volyntsy • Yanovichi • Yezerishe • Zhary • Ziabki •

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