The tape is a continuation of a formal interview with Rakhil Shlemovna Shames, nee Goldes. (Part 2 of 2. See MDV 420)

After the team concludes the interview with Shames, they enter the apartment of Brukha Fayveshevna Gammer in order to conduct a formal interview. (Part 1 of 2. See MDV 422) She discusses her family and life before the war in Khmil'nyk, where she was born. Her father was born in 1893 and worked as a tailor. Her father’s father was a tailor as well. Her mother came from a rich family in Lithuania. Her grandfather Zalmen was a doctor.

In particular, they discuss her education in Khmil'nyk before the war. She went to a Jewish school for seven grades. Then from grade eight onward, the Soviet state turned it into a Russian school. Her family was evacuated to Central Asia during the war and lived there until 1948. Her father was a partisan and was caught by the Petlurists, together with a brother and a cousin. They were brought to a Jewish bath house and the Petlurists would force them under water in the mikveh (ritual bath).

Then the conversation turns to religious life before the war. When her mother took her to services in the synagogue, she remembers how the rich women would gather around her mother during prayers, since she was one of the few women who knew the prayers. Her father did not attend services because he was a partisan. Her husband Bore served in the army during the war; he had received his education in Vinnytsya. The conversation then moves to life after the war. She worked in a bakery (“bread shop”) for 37 years. She spoke Yiddish to her husband after the war; hence her daughter Zhenia grew up in a Yiddish-speaking household. The tape concludes with a discussion of food customs during Jewish holidays.