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Recording Content:
This recording is a formal interview with Mikhail (Moyshe) Aronovich Vainshelboim, who was born in 1927. (Part 1 of 2. See MDV 358) He discusses in great detail his life and escape during World War II under German occupation. Then the conversation turns to his service in the Red Army and Jewish cultural life in Berdychiv before the war. Vainshelboim served in the army for four and a half years; he served in Latvia. The tape concludes with a discussion about food customs.
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00:00:00
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Vanshelboim briefly speaks about his life during World War II. He served in the Red Army and fought in Stalingrad. He then provides personal information. |
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00:01:56
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Vanshelboim provides personal information and talks about his family. |
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00:04:05
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Vanshelboim briefly speaks about his life during the war, before he talks about his family. His father worked as a painter. Vanshelboim also mentions his family's fate during World War II. He grew up with two sisters and two brothers. |
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00:07:03
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Vanshelboim talks about his life during the war. (See also MDV 352) In particular, he remembers the beginning of the war, when the Germans occupied Berdychiv and took the local Jewish population for forced labor. Vanshelboim also shares an episode when he watched his mother's bread in the oven, after she was taken to forced labor. Vanshelboim then talks about his family's fate during the war, as well as a mass assembly organized by one German and a few Ukrainian policemen. He describes how he escaped the assembly and reached Novosilka, where he received help from a Ukrainian family. He then continues his journey the following morning and speaks about his encounter with the brigadier Andre Tsherbatyuk who advised him to seek help with a family in the village Tirikhavaye 16:34. Vanshelboim states that he stayed with the older Christian woman Korshenyuk for one year. He then explains that four family members were recorded in Yad Vashem's registry for The Righteous Among The Nations. |
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00:20:11
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Vanshelboim talks about interviews and German restitution. He then speaks about the remaining years of the war, during which he worked odd jobs. He also briefly addresses his school education, before he describes how he got caught by the Ukrainian police and his subsequent escape in August 1942. He then received help by Ukrainian peasants in a village, before he continued his way back to the peasants' house. On the way, he received help and worked as hireling for a Ukrainian peasant, Petrivskii. |
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00:29:52
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Vanshelboim speaks about Ukrainian and German attitudes during World War II. He states that Ukrainian neighbors robbed Jewish homes. He then returns to his life when working as hireling in 1942. Upon the advice of neighbors and fearing that his boss may report him, Vanshelboim traveled to the Rozhys'k region (Ternopil province) and worked on a state farm among prisoners for one year, until March 1944, after the arrival of the Red Army. |
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00:33:25
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Vanshelboim speaks about his journey home in April 1944 and his work as a loader at a mill in Berdychiv before his military draft. He then talks about his liberation on December 31, 1943. |
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00:35:34
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Vanshelboim speaks about his military service in Latvia for four and a half years. After his military service, Vanshelboim continued to work at a mill for 25 years, before working at a brewery for five years. He then addresses his life today and mentions how he bakes kosher bread every Friday in memory of his mother. Vainshelboim then talks about the Jewish baker Yoyne in the postwar period. |
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00:38:43
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Vanshelboim addresses his family, particularly his mother's side. She was born in Ulanov. He then remembers a family encounter after the war. |
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00:40:57
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Vanshelboim speaks about his army service, which he left with the rank of first sergeant. He worked as aeroplane mechanical engineer. He then remembers how he met his wife when he lived with her family after the war for six years. They were married after his military discharge in 1954. |
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00:45:08
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Vanshelboim addresses prewar Jewish life Berdychiv, particularly occupational synagogues. He then remembers the local kosher slaughter after the war. According to Vanshelboim, 60,000 Jews lived in prewar Berdychiv out of a total population of 80,000. He then speaks about prewar synagogues, before he addresses contemporary Jewish life and charity. |
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00:50:09
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Vanshelboim talks about prewar Jewish religious life and Soviet anti-religious persecution, before addressing contemporary religious life. |
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00:52:23
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Vanshelboim answers questions about Jewish terminology, as well as contemporary Jewish religious life and charity. He also addresses his communal work in agriculture and involvement in the community. |
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00:58:37
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Vanshelboim addresses Jewish food customs, especially latkes. The team then concludes the interview with Vanshelboim. |
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