Dov Bar: My grandmother Mindl's family, on my mother's side, included --in addition to Abraham Kupershmit and his family-- two brothers of Abraham: Azriel and Israel and their families. The three of them inherited the Shenk, the Volchin pub. They also traded in crops and grains that were provided to the flour mills in the neighborhood. My grandmother died before the war. Her brothers and their families were murdered in the pit of death in the northern part of the village.

My grandfather on my mother's side, Yerachmiel-Rachmil Stavsky, was a public figure. He traded in iron products and had a franchise from the Polish authorities to issue identity cards and other governmental certificates to the Jews of the neighborhood. All were registered in the books that he managed; these were apparently confiscated by the Soviets when they gained control over Volchin. His property, like the property of the rest of Volchin's Jewish residents, was confiscated and nationalized under the Soviet authority. My grandfather's son, Berl, was sent with his new bride to the ghetto of Brest with the rest of the young Jewish males. His two married daughters and their family members were probably lodged in the Volchin ghetto.

My grandfather's house that was rebuilt of white Silikat bricks was robbed and destroyed. Today in its place stands the house of the Local Council -- also built with silikat bricks. My grandfather owned a wooden house, as well. It was dismantled and removed to the village of Dubuvovye and was reassembled there. The Shenk that belonged to the Kupershmit family was robbed and pillaged. Today, the Shenk house, with some additional extension, serves as a village store of Volchin. Volchin today is empty of Jews and Poles. Its inhabitants are Belarusians.

My grandfather, his daughters and their families were murdered by the Nazis in Volchin. One of the murderers was mentioned above – a German from the German Republic on the Volga.

None of the Jews who were in Volchin under the Nazi rule survived. All were murdered in Volchin or in Brona-Gora, or where they did their hard labor. Volchin turned a village of the Belarusians. The lives of the Jews were erased from it.

Soon after the annihilation of the Jews of Volchin, Brenzon, the Judenrat man, was sent to the Brest ghetto, apparently to supervise the young Jews of Volchin -- who were sent to their death in the fields of slaughter of Brona-Gora with the rest of the Brest ghetto inhabitants, three weeks later.