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Recording Content:
This tape is a continuation of a formal interview with Aron (Urn) Kalmanovich Biter (b. 1918 in Popel’niki). (Part 2 of 2. See MDV 529)
The camera cuts to the research team setting up an interview at the home of David Abramovich Vider (b. 1922 in Sighetu Marmatiei) and his wife in Kolomyya. (Part 1 of 3. See MDV 531 and Accession # 09-010.41-F MDV 636)
Cities and towns mentioned on this tape: Snyatyn, Popel’niki, Kolomyya, L’viv, Zhurov.
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00:00:00
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This tape is a continuation of a formal interview with Aron (Urn) Kalmanovich Biter (b. 1918 in Popel’niki). He discusses his education and shares his knowledge of Latin and Polish. |
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00:02:46
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Biter shares his father’s stories of military service during the First World War. He also talks about Jewish religious life in his childhood home, detailing Sabbath and holiday observances and food customs. |
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00:17:57
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Biter explains the nature of local anti-Semitism, noting that it has been prevalent at times, but the situation has always been better than in Lithuania. Biter notes that there were many Zionist youth groups in the towns where he lived, but that he was not active in any of them. He was somewhat active, however, in Jewish agricultural organizations, one of which, he recalls, had a school in Kolomyya supported by funds from Baron de Hirsch. |
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00:23:09
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Biter describes his return to his village in the postwar period, noting that with the exception of a small number of former ultra-nationalists, he had generally good relations with his neighbors. |
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00:26:04
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Biter details the social, political and economic changes that occurred in 1939 when the Soviets annexed his village. He notes that the ethnic Poles were mostly displeased with these changes, while the Jews welcomed the new regime as the old government’s nationalist policies were overturned. He then tells a story of a Jewish millionaire from Snyatyn who left the country during this period for Romania and the consequences this had for his family members who stayed behind. |
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00:39:18
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Biter speaks about the early days and months of the war and describes the conditions he lived under in the ghetto from August 1941 to September 1942. |
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00:48:25
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Biter states that as a Jewish survivor, he now receives financial compensation from Germany. He also talks about the contemporary economic situation in Ukraine, his children’s economic conditions in L’viv and Israel, and describes some of his medical problems. |
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00:54:38
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Professor Katz shares information about himself and the AHEYM project with Biter. Biter gives the research team a few copies of his memoirs in Ukrainian. |
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00:58:36
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The camera briefly cuts to exterior shots, then quickly back inside where Biter autographs his book for the researchers. The camera pans around the interviewee’s home, focusing on the home decorative cookware, warming stove and Christian religious objects. |
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00:60:52
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Exterior shots of Biter’s home and neighborhood. |
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00:61:48
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The camera cuts to the research team setting up an interview at the home of David Abramovich Vider (b. 1922 in Sighetu Marmatiei) and his wife in Kolomyya. |
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