THE SAVED BOY
In 1941 at the end of August or in September a Jewish woman was walking with two small children in a buggy on the road from Shklov to Mogilev. A third boy, aged 4-5, was walking as well. Soon she stopped to rest and feed the children. That was when they were caught by German thugs. They tortured the mother to death and shot the two kids.
The elder son ran off to the woods. After the Nazis had left we came back and wept over his dead mother. At that time he was spotted by the local boys, who fed him and took him to the village. They left the crying boy near the local school.
Several women were passing next to the school. One of them was my mother's sister, Maria Grigorievna Averchenko. She took the boy with her, gave him shelter for a night and the following day sent him to her best friend. The woman was childless and had always dreamt of having a child, so she accepted the boy willingly. The boy stayed with this woman during the whole occupation. After the war he finished school, left the town, settled down and then took the stepmother to live with him.
Victor Martinkov
"Udarny front", No. 51 (10307)
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