Volchin Town Council Office We hurried inside as it was about to pour down with rain and approached two ladies sitting at desks and another old lady wearing a head scarf, a babushka talking to them. Our driver said that we were looking for Svetlana Kuntz who worked at the office and who Ann Williams had stayed with on her first trip to Volchin in 1993. Unfortunately after much discussion it was relayed to us that Svetlana had to go away for the day and we would not be able to meet. We said via our driver that we had a letter from Ann to Svetlana, chocolates from us, and also our letter to the Town Council with the photo of the Zelcer Family Memorial Plaque we wished to place at the Jewish Memorial Monument.
At that moment the old lady came up to us and shook both our hands and said something in Russian that we could not understand but our driver translated. She was the daughter of Vera Shpagina, a lady Ann Williams had taped during one of her visits. Her mother had passed away 3 years ago. She stated, My mother was the last of the old folk that knew what happened to the Jewish families. Then Nadia (Nadezhda) one of the town office ladies who lived in the village said she would show us the Jewish sites of Volchin. Nadia spent about 2 hours with us and we could not help feeling so grateful for her kindness and her time.
