We Are Refugees
Upon the near approaching of the Germans, my parents decided to go east, further from the front. The reason was the fear of the Cossacks who treated cruelly the Jewish population when they were forced to retreat…

There were 7 of us family members wandering...

In Eastern Belarus and Ukraine
Novobeliza, a suburb of Gomel – a big city in Belarus – was the first stop.

A year later we moved to Chernigov – a big district town in Ukraine, on the banks of the Desna river. Oscar, Cila and Alexander [link to family tree] continued their high school studies there. The bank of the river was rocky and not convenient for bathing. The opposite bank was sandy, soft and pleasant…to reach it one had to go by boat. At the age of eight-and-a-half I was set on doing it and like other youngsters I volunteered to work for the boat owner in summer…We rowed the boats… I had to think up of a story to tell my mother when she asked where I was during the day. She was very concerned for my health…One day when I was rowing the boat back from the sandy shore, a strong wind foretold a rain storm and I rowed energetically to be able to reach the shore...However I could not navigate between the rocks with the storm and I was forced to jump into the water… I came home drenched…the reception I got from my mother was not pleasant…