The tape begins on the street of Bershad’ with Efim Vygodner talking about Jewish life in Bershad’ before and during the war. He explains that the synagogues were closed before the war, but after the war a few synagogues were briefly permitted, and the one in Bershad’ remained. The interview team walks with Vygodner through the streets of Bershad’, as Vygodner points out important Jewish sites. The team comes to the home of Semyon Sklyarskiy. Sklyarskiy greets the team outside his house and tells of how he survived the war in his native Zhornysche. He explains how he was shot fleeing from the Germans when the Jews of Zhornysche were rounded up to be shot, and how he hid with his family in a dugout in a field. He tells of how his family was murdered when he left the dugout in search of food. He later joined the partisans and was wounded again.

The team then moves into Sklaryskiy's house and sit down for a formal interview. (Part 1 of 2. See MDV 382) Sklyarskiy was born in 1926. His parents died when he was a child and he was brought up by his uncle and aunt, who worked in the general store. He attended a Yiddish school for four years and then a Russian school. He retells the story of his survival during the war in greater detail.