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Archiver > BERDICHEV > 2007-07 > 1184619704


From: "Neal Gosman" <>
Subject: Re: [BERDICHEV] 1941 in berdichev
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:01:44 -0500


Charlene,

Ironically, Berdichevers who were Red Army soldiers, both men and women, left
Berdichev prior to the Nazi occupation in Summer 1941. Although Red Army
losses were high, the odds were greater of survival in the military than
staying "behind".

Neal Gosman (Guzman-Kressin)

P.S. Family story writers: please include a name index in your book and
publicize your publication on this listserv. Good luck.

P.P.S. I was at the Berdichev cemetary last December and saw people working to
clean the area - collecting trash and burning brush. Please contact me if
aqnyone is interested in seeing pictures and helping to support the clean up
project. There have been previous postings on this listserv by Zev Gershon M.D., J.D. on February 3, 2006.


> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Charlene Finn" <>
> To:
> Subject: Re: [BERDICHEV] 1941 in berdichev
> Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:45:31 -0700
>
>
> Dear Ellen,
> Thank you so much for your response. I am so happy to hear that some
> people did get out. AFter reading Grossman's description of the mass
> slaughter I was feeling rather hopeless about ANYONE having
> survived. I am a fiction writer, so truth is achieved in a
> different way than writing non-fiction. But I do want to be
> historically accurate even though the Bredichev thread in my novel
> may be more background story, present but not the main story. And
> after reading everything I have read in my research, what an
> important story NOT TO EVER FORGET Berdichev and what happened to the
> Jews there. I feel honored that you are willing to share your story
> with me.
> Thanks.
> Charlene Finn
>
> On Jul 12, 2007, at 10:08 AM, Ellen Shindelman Kowitt wrote:
>
> To answer Charlene Finn's question about whether Jews got out of
> Berdichev
> in 1941. The answer is yes. Since I will be publishing my own
> family story
> in book form, I will give you the short story here. My great aunt fled
> Berdichev sometime during the last week of June or first week of July in
> 1941 by freight train to Kazakstan where she remained for the next 5-6
> years. She told me this and talked about the "cattle car" being totally
> packed and only getting food and water when the train stopped along
> the way
> because locals would pass bread and water into the crowd. She was
> afraid to
> get off because the train would sometimes leave people behind when it
> left.
> People died on the train. She, her infant daughter, and elderly
> mother (my
> ggm) survived.
>
> Ellen Shindelman Kowitt
> Denver
>
>
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Neal Gosman

182 Prospect Blvd, St Paul, MN 55107 USA
(612) 868-5578 cell
(651) 227-6032 home
(651) 227-5816 fax


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