The tape is a continuation of a formal interview with Maria Isaakovna Liberzon. (Part 2 of 4. See MDV 668, MDV 670, and MDV 671) She continues to show and discuss historical documents, such as high school evaluations from the Yiddish school in Slavuta from 1939/40. Her family fled on July 10, 1941. Liberzon describes the early days of evacuation, when the Germans already dropped bombs onto Slavuta. They walked to Shepetivka, after rushing out of their home without having properly packed up. They arrived in Kozyatyn in order to catch a train, headed toward evacuation. Her family hid underneath the train cars and their valuables were eventually stolen. She then continues to show different documents. After a brief informal chat with the team, Liberzon talks about the Yiddish press and using the Yiddish language. She briefly discusses early childhood memories and Yiddish culture.

Liberzon then talks about postwar religious life and different rabbis. People from several regions came to Slavuta to attend services. She remembers how rabbis would meet at their home. The conversation turns to her family’s life, in particular about her father’s brother who was the leader of a Jewish community; she then discusses life in the post-Soviet period. The conversation then moves to her Yiddish school education, specifically about her teachers of literature, arithmetic, and history. Liberzon had finished five grades in 1941. She remembers a proverb the director would tell the pupils in order to get them to study.

They then discuss several familiar interviewees and the teacher Dov Berlman. After a brief interruption of the interview, Liberzon briefly talks about her father, who was the last rabbi in her family. They then set up a tape recorder in order to hear her father’s chanting. Liberzon returns to talking about prewar religious life in Slavuta. When her father attended the synagogue before the war, he was the youngest among the attendees. She also addresses the generational conflict between her, as a young pioneer, and her religious grandfather. She then talks about a Polish-speaking gentile before the war and his support of the Jewish community during holidays, as well as about Yiddish-speaking non-Jews. They then return to talking about life in Slavuta before the war. In particular, she addresses preparations for the Sabbath during the pre-revolutionary period and Yiddish-speaking gentiles. They then briefly discuss converts in prewar Slavuta, before addressing a few questions about cultural terminology. The tape concludes with a description of a Polish cemetery and talking about Sabbath celebrations at home before the war.