{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/x34mk6772f/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Schneider, Tosia Szechter (2006)"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/082/original/TheBreman_SecondaryMark_Horizontal_Blue_Black.png?1713640889","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2006-02-14 (captured)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Schneider, Tosia Szecher (Interviewee)","Ghitis, Sara (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English (primary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["video"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source"]},"value":{"en":["William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum","Esther and Herbert Taylor Oral History Collection","Jewish Oral History Project of Atlanta"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eSara Ghitis interviews Tosia Szecher Schneider in Atlanta, Georgia on February 14, 2006.\u003c/p\u003e (general)","\u003cp\u003eTosia Szechter Schneider was born in Zaleszczyki, Poland on April 4, 1929. Her father, Jacob, was an accountant and her mother, Genia, was a teacher. Tosia had a brother, Julek, who was two years older. The family moved to her mother’s hometown of Horodenka, Poland when Tosia was six. Tosia’s early years were spent attending a Polish elementary school and Hebrew school and enjoying the closeness of a large, extended family. When the Germans and Russians invaded Poland in September 1939, the area around Horodenka fell under Soviet control until Germany invaded Russia in 1941. In July 1941, Hungarian forces occupied the town. Germany took over the town shortly afterward and, by December, the family had been forced into a ghetto. Tosia’s immediate family survived two major roundups and deportations by hiding in her father’s workplace. When the ghetto was finally liquidated in September of 1942, Tosia, her brother and mother briefly returned to Zaleszczyki before they were sent on to a ghetto in the nearby town of Tluste. Tosia’s father remained in Horodenka. His fate is unknown but he was likely sent to the Belzec extermination camp. Genia died from typhus in the winter of 1942-1943. Tosia and Julek were then sent to a labor camp in Lisowce. Julek was shot in the summer of 1943. Tosia survived in the labor camp until March 1944, when the Russian army liberated the area. After the war, Tosia returned home briefly to Horodenka, where only one other cousin had survived. Tosia moved first to Romania, then to the United States occupied zone of Germany before coming to the US in 1949. She studied at the Hebrew Union College and taught Hebrew for thirty years at Reform religious schools in Morristown, NJ; Augusta, GA; and Atlanta, GA. In 1950, Tosia married Dr. Alfred \"Fred\" Schneider (1926-2020). They had three sons and five grandchildren. Tosia passed away on September 6, 2020, just seventeen days after her 70th wedding anniversary and the death of her husband.\u003c/p\u003e (bioghist)","\u003cp\u003eTosia shares her early childhood memories. She remembers the invasion of Poland and life under Soviet rule. Tosia recounts the early days of German occupation. She describes life in the ghetto and the round ups and deportations of Jews in Horodenka. Tosia recounts her family’s separation. She details the Tluste ghetto and the death of her mother. Tosia witnesses the death of her brother in a labor camp.\u003c/p\u003e (scope content)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, recorded by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written consent of the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.\u003c/p\u003e"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eSara Ghitis interviews Tosia Szecher Schneider in Atlanta, Georgia on February 14, 2006.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eTosia Szechter Schneider was born in Zaleszczyki, Poland on April 4, 1929. Her father, Jacob, was an accountant and her mother, Genia, was a teacher. Tosia had a brother, Julek, who was two years older. The family moved to her mother\u0026rsquo;s hometown of Horodenka, Poland when Tosia was six. Tosia\u0026rsquo;s early years were spent attending a Polish elementary school and Hebrew school and enjoying the closeness of a large, extended family. When the Germans and Russians invaded Poland in September 1939, the area around Horodenka fell under Soviet control until Germany invaded Russia in 1941. In July 1941, Hungarian forces occupied the town. Germany took over the town shortly afterward and, by December, the family had been forced into a ghetto. Tosia\u0026rsquo;s immediate family survived two major roundups and deportations by hiding in her father\u0026rsquo;s workplace. When the ghetto was finally liquidated in September of 1942, Tosia, her brother and mother briefly returned to Zaleszczyki before they were sent on to a ghetto in the nearby town of Tluste. Tosia\u0026rsquo;s father remained in Horodenka. His fate is unknown but he was likely sent to the Belzec extermination camp. Genia died from typhus in the winter of 1942-1943. Tosia and Julek were then sent to a labor camp in Lisowce. Julek was shot in the summer of 1943. Tosia survived in the labor camp until March 1944, when the Russian army liberated the area. After the war, Tosia returned home briefly to Horodenka, where only one other cousin had survived. Tosia moved first to Romania, then to the United States occupied zone of Germany before coming to the US in 1949. She studied at the Hebrew Union College and taught Hebrew for thirty years at Reform religious schools in Morristown, NJ; Augusta, GA; and Atlanta, GA. In 1950, Tosia married Dr. Alfred \"Fred\" Schneider (1926-2020). They had three sons and five grandchildren. Tosia passed away on September 6, 2020, just seventeen days after her 70th wedding anniversary and the death of her husband.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eTosia shares her early childhood memories. She remembers the invasion of Poland and life under Soviet rule. Tosia recounts the early days of German occupation. She describes life in the ghetto and the round ups and deportations of Jews in Horodenka. Tosia recounts her family\u0026rsquo;s separation. She details the Tluste ghetto and the death of her mother. Tosia witnesses the death of her brother in a labor camp.\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, recorded by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written consent of the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/082/original/TheBreman_SecondaryMark_Horizontal_Blue_Black.png?1713640889","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/277/077/small/Schneider_Tosia.m4v_1749662863.jpg?1749662864","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - Schneider_Tosia.m4v"]},"duration":1819.264,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/277/077/small/Schneider_Tosia.m4v_1749662863.jpg?1749662864","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-thebreman.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/277/077/original/Schneider_Tosia.m4v?1749662862","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":1819.264,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/transcript/81024","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Schneider, Tosia Szechter_2006 [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/transcript/81024/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=0.0,3.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/transcript/81024/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Ghitis: Interviewee: Tosia Schneider; location, Atlanta, Georgia, the USA; February 14, 2006; interviewer: Sara Ghitis; camera and sound: Tim Averitt; language: English.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=3.0,29.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/transcript/81024/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Averitt: Okay.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=29.0,34.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/transcript/81024/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Ghitis: Today is February 14, 2006. My name is Sara Ghitis. I am conducting an interview with Mrs. Tosia Schneider. We are in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States. The language is English.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=34.0,64.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/transcript/81024/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Schneider: My name is Tosia Schneider. I was born in Poland in a small little resort town of Zaleszczyki in 1929. This town was on a border with Romania. I recall summers on the beaches of the Dniester River. In the town lived my uncle, cousins, and my grandmother. It seems like a perfect childhood. At the age of four, I think, we traveled to my mother's hometown of Horodenka [Poland] for my first Passover seder. There, the whole family was assembled, [including] my grandfather in a white robe and a white kittel. I recall the beautiful feeling of the whole family together. My grandfather gave every child a little glass wine goblet for the Passover and mine had inscribed in it, 'Pesach' [Yiddish: Passover]. I was so proud that I had my own cup. Long before the evening whittled down, I fell asleep, but a memory of that seder still remains with me very clearly. At the age of six, we moved to my hometown of Horodenka. I was very pleased. I had there cousins, the Rosenbaum family, a sister of my mother's with her three children, my grandmother, my other aunt, Meltzer. It was a large and lovely family. I recall many Sabbath afternoons being spent in my grandmother's house, as the adults sat and sipped tea. The conversation usually went to the World War I days in Vienna [Austria]. They spoke with such love for the city and yet with all the difficulties that entailed. They returned back to my hometown of Horodenka. The town was mostly burned down. My grandfather had to start from the beginning, building the house again. I started elementary school in that town. Me and my girlfriends were great admirers of Shirley Temple. I remember playing with Shirley Temple cut out dolls, Shirley Temple rings, and spending every penny we could going to see yet another movie. My brother played soccer. Life seemed good and simple. My father was an avid stamp collector. I remember learning the first time about a great country across the ocean from my father's stamp collection. Both my brother and my father played the flute, and I remember falling asleep many an evening listening to their playing. I attended, every afternoon, Hebrew school. There, the foundations for my Jewish education and my deep attachment and love for the Hebrew language was established. In the summer of 1939, our family vacationed in the Carpathian Mountains. I remember splashing in the little stream and feeling that life was full of promise and beautiful. Sometime middle of August 1939, we received a telegram from my father to return home immediately, that war was imminent. As we ... My mother woke us up and she woke up a little grocery store around the corner to try to get some food for the journey. All she was able to get are some cookies and sweets and I thought to myself, \"If that's the way the war starts, it couldn't be bad.\" I sat on a train, and munched on my sweets, and couldn't understand the serious and worried faces of my grandmother, and my aunt, and my mother. On the way there, we saw already troops at every station going towards the west, toward the German border. When we came home, there was a full mobilization. My father was too old, my brother was too young, but they were in civil defense. They would walk around with their helmets and make sure that all the windows are tightly closed, that there is no light peeping out. I recall one strange incident where the Polish government told us that we needed to prepare ourselves for possible gas attacks by the Germans. They issued some kind of a fluid, liquid that we were supposed to dip our cotton in it and breathe through it. The first alarm sounded. My mother tried to darken the windows. She spilled that little concoction. And when all clear sounded, she sat on the floor and cried and laughed, perhaps realizing the first time the impossibility of saving her children. September 1st, 1939, war broke out. There were some bombings in our town, a few civilian casualties. I recall a day where one of the Polish men in town came driving on a motorcycle, telling us, screaming loud, that a Russian army has come to help us, that he has seen Polish soldiers on Russian tanks. We were all sure that the Soviets are coming to the defense of Poland, only to realize that Poland was stabbed in the back, and the [Adolf] Hitler and [Joseph] Stalin pact took effect. Russian troops shortly after marched into our town. After a few weeks--I was at that time when the war started, only 11 years old--schools reopened. We children had to learn a new language, a new Cyrillic alphabet, and a great deal of Russian propaganda, communist propaganda. We were told that we live in the best of possible worlds under the watchful eye of Father Stalin. But the reality on the ground was quite different. I remember the sound of the trucks in the night when people were exiled to Siberia. Our neighbor across the street, the Spear family, was all taken away. I recall an incident which was sort of tragic comedy. In our little town there was a water carrier, Michael, who would come every Friday to get some handouts for a Sabbath meal. He came to our house, my mother told him, \"You can't go across the street to the Spear's. They took them all to Siberia.\" And this simple-minded man said, \"Well, if they took the rich man Spear to Siberia\"--he said it in Yiddish, \"Es muz dor gut tseykhn--\"must probably all be good there.\" Everybody repeated and laughed at this pronouncement. Yet, those people exiled to that frozen wasteland of Siberia were much better off than those of us who remained in our hometown. In June, I think, it was 1941 when Germany attacked the Soviet Union, and we were at war again. There were skirmishes in town. I remember going from my grandmother's house and there were bullets flying all around and we hid in a neighbor's cellar. Then, the next morning proceeded home. I recall seeing a Russian soldier lying dead on the road. I remember the shock of that sight, that he was a young boy, that somewhere his family far away doesn't know that he's lying dead. Little did I know that death will be such a close companion in the months and years to come. The first troops that entered our town were Hungarian troops who were allied with Germany. There were some anti-Jewish and antisemitic outbreaks, but nothing really of great consequence. Two months later, Germans occupied our town, and the reign of terror began. Day after day, new orders were issued, each one of them under the death penalty if not followed. Some of them were all Jews from the ages of 14 to 55 had to register for forced labor; all Jews must wear an armband, a wide band with the Star of David on it on the left arm. If you were caught without that arm and below your elbow, you could be shot or severely beaten. Jews could not go to school. We happened to live right next door to my girls' elementary school, and I remember standing at the gate and watching my colleagues go to the school. I ran to my mother, and I asked her why couldn't I go? I was a pretty good student and well-behaved child. Why couldn't I go to school? I'll never forget the pain in her eyes when she was not able to explain. Not only were her children not allowed to go to school, but she, as a teacher, was not allowed to do what she loved best. In October, an order was issued that all Jews must move to the ghetto. A few streets in a primarily Jewish section of town were bordered off with barbed wire and everybody had to move there. I recall our house was outside of the ghetto area. So, a horse-drawn wagon came to the back of our house, and we put [in] a few of our possessions, and we were moving to my grandmother's house, which was in the designated area. I recall picking up my little kitten to take her along with me. My mother said, \"You can't take her to the ghetto,\" and I said, \"Why?\" She said, \"Well, there won't be enough food to eat.\" I remember the shock. What do you mean not enough food for a tiny little kitten? Little did I know how true her words would be. As the ghetto was hermetically closed, and winter approach, starvation raged in our town. You could see children with swollen stomachs begging in the city streets. The rations that the Germans allowed were extremely small and we could not go purchase anything in stores or villages. My father worked in a mill, as before the war. Apparently, they couldn't find an Aryan to run that flour mill. He was able to get us some flour, so my grandmother opened a soup kitchen. The lines were getting longer, and the soup was getting thinner. Starvation raged in the city. Orders were issued that all Jews must hand over all gold, and silver, and fur, radios, anything valuables to the German authorities. Needless to say, if any German liked anything in your house or your house, it was his for the taking. My grandmother, who was an Orthodox lady, refused to part with her candlesticks. My father and uncle helped her build a little box, and we buried them in the garden. I still dream that someday I might be able to recover them. My father worked in a mill, but my brother was conscripted to forced labor. What he basically did was to remove the grave markers, the matzevot [Hebrew: tombstones] from the Jewish cemetery, and to pave the German commandant's courtyard. The constant terror that raged in the city is difficult to describe. If you had the misfortune of walking on your city street and running into a German, be it the civilian administration, or the SS, or the Gestapo, you had to take your hat off, get off the road, and bow. If you came [away] alive from this encounter, it was pure chance. People were beaten; dogs were sent to attack them. Initially, my mother tried to normalize our life. She assembled a few of my girlfriends and started a school for us, which, of course, was strictly forbidden under the threat of death. But today, I still wonder and admire where she had the stamina and the courage to think that we had a future, that poetry, and history, and Jewish history was important. Our school didn't last very long. One by one, my little friends disappeared and then it became too dangerous to walk the city streets. On December 4 of 1941, an order was issued that all Jews must assemble in front of the great synagogue to be inoculated against typhus. My father was somewhat skeptical. He wondered why the Germans...","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/transcript/81024/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Averitt: Can you maybe do that last thing about the lining up again, because when you are moving around like that and drinking, it is not coming out as clear as it should.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1001.0,1010.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/transcript/81024/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Schneider: Oh. Where should I start?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1010.0,1011.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/transcript/81024/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Averitt: Just the order came down that you all were to line up.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1011.0,1019.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/transcript/81024/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Schneider: Oh, yes. On December 4, 1941, an order was issued that all Jews must assemble in front of the great synagogue to be inoculated against typhus. My father was skeptical. He wondered why they suddenly worried about our health. He decided to hide us in a flour mill where he worked. We stole our way out of the ghetto at night and made our way to our old house. We still had the key to the kitchen. I'll never forget. He opened the door. The kitchen was empty and dark. We lay down on the floor and tried to wait before dawn to make our way to the mill. It seemed so strange, that kitchen that was the center of our life, where the wonderful meals my mother cooked, the challah and the breads of Sabbath that she prepared was empty, and dark, and freezing cold. At dawn, we made our way to the mill, and my father hid us behind flower sacks in the mill there. We stayed there for two days and two nights. We heard all around the area shouts ringing out, \"Juden raus! [German] Jews out,\" their dogs barking, and shots heard. On the third day, when all the shooting stopped, we made our way back to the ghetto. Every house we passed, there was crying and wailing. Nobody was spared. With beating hearts, we made our way to my grandmother's house, wondering who of them was still there. We came in. My three cousins, Bella, Visha, and Masha, were sitting and crying. Their father was desperate. It seems that my Aunt Mincha was taken away. My grandmother, who was an elderly lady and quite weak and ill, was, though, the pillar of strength for us. She tried to reassure everybody. She told us that we will try to send her warm clothes, that we will try to send my aunt food, and perhaps even buy her freedom. We went to sleep somewhat reassured, only to find out the next day the terror that descended in our city. Half of the Jewish population--2,500 men, women, and children--were taken, were kept in this great synagogue for two days and two nights without food or water and then taken by truck to a forest of Siemakowce, some 12 kilometers [7.5 miles] away. They were forced to disrobe in a barn, and a group of five run toward the ravine, where they were machine gunned. The music was playing, the vodka was flowing, and our people met their deaths. We know the details because one woman, actually a daughter of our rabbi, was only slightly wounded. She survived and came to the town to tell us what had happened. So, the first casualty in our family was the most beautiful, tall redhead, Aunt Mincha. It seems that with great desperation in the city, we realized the intentions of the Germans to murder us all. Everybody tried to build some kind of a bunker, a hiding place in their home. My father built one in the attic. It was a room hidden behind a bookshelf, not unlike the one I saw in Amsterdam [Netherlands] a few years ago, where the family of Anne Frank was hidden. I remember being carried half asleep on my father's arm before dawn to this hiding place. If the Gestapo didn't show up at town at daybreak, we would come downstairs and another day in the ghetto began. On April, Passover, April 1942, the second Akcja [Polish: Action; German: Aktion] occurred in our town. One more time, my father took my brother, my mother, and me to the flour mill where he worked and hid us behind the flour sacks. I recall waking up the second day to the most plaintive whistle of a locomotive. I didn't know then but found out later that on the train bound for Belzec extermination camp was my dearest childhood friend, Genia Rice. Genia, with beautiful brown curls, who always insisted that someday she will be a great singer in America, in New York no less. Genia was 12 years old. On that train bound for Belzec was my uncle Nathan, his son Max, 14, my cousin Visha, 18. The third and the final Akcja occurred in September of 1942. One more time, the trains were taking people to the extermination camp of Belzec. There, within a day or two, they were all murdered. This was not a labor camp; it was strictly a death camp. After that, our city was declared Judenrein, [German] free of Jews. Only a few V-Juden or Wertvolle Juden, [German] valuable Jews, could remain. One of them was my father. I remember meeting for the last time at my grandmother's house. The whole family was assembled. My Uncle Jacob, who was a chemist, gave each one of us, including the children, one of the most precious gifts at the time, which was a poison pill. We had to promise that we will never use it except in extremities. The old and the weak, like my grandmother, were put on horse-drawn wagon and taken to the next ghetto in Kolomyja [Poland]. My father remained in the city. My mother, my brother, and I wound up in the ghetto of Tluste [Poland]. If there ever was a hell on earth, that surely was the place. Thousands of people were crowded in the few narrow streets of the Jewish ghetto. There was terrible starvation. Continuously, the Nazis ran rampage through the ghetto, took people for forced labor, and just random killing. Typhus raged. In October of that year, we found out that the Gestapo came to the place where my father worked at the mill and took him away. The secretary told us that his German supervisor told him that he needed him to take care of the books. So, they said they will wait 24 hours while he took care of the books and then he was taken away. To this day, I do not know the last days of his life. The ghetto situation was desperate that winter. My mother fell ill with typhus. We had no medication of any kind, we didn't have any food, we were starving very badly at the time. That winter, she died at the age of 39. Somebody knocked on the door and said that the Gestapo is entering the ghetto. She had a heart attack and died. I really don't remember very much of that day, because I had a high fever myself and was delirious. I had typhus as well. The next number of weeks are sort of in a haze. I do not recall very much. My brother told me that he took my mother's remains on a wheelbarrow to the cemetery at night so the Germans would not know the size of the epidemic of typhus in our ghetto. Spring came. My brother and I were taken to a labor camp in Lisowce [Poland]. We worked in a field, and strangely enough, the situation there was better than in the ghetto as far as food was concerned. We did get some, two meals a day, and in an open field, you could find a carrot, or tomato, or something. We worked very hard from early morning to late at night, hoeing, planting. One of the things that the Germans were especially interested in was the plantation of kok-saghyz. This was a rubber plant that the Russians introduced to our area. It was supposed to be a substitute for rubber. The Germans, the commandant of our camp apparently had permission. All that area was already free of Jews, but he had special permission to keep this labor camp going because they needed for the German war industry, the rubber that they hoped to get from this plant. We worked in the summer of 1943. We worked around the clock on threshing machines. I was the youngest working person there. I told them that I was 18. At the time, I wasn't quite 15 and my brother was 17. One day--I think it was July 20, 1943--we worked around the clock on the threshing machine. My brother's group was working, and I and some other people were resting on a haystack. There was a woman with two children she was hiding in camp. Suddenly, before dawn, we heard shots all around us. When I opened my eyes, one shot hit the little girl in the foot. She was whimpering. The blood was oozing from her foot. We were told to get up, and assemble, and go to the assembly point. There, the men were ordered to dig graves. As the dawn came, we saw the carnage all around us. Suddenly, the commander of our camp came up riding on a horse and screaming that he needed us to complete the harvest, that the Gestapo should stop the shooting and leave. There was a lot of yelling and screaming and eventually the Gestapo left with the Ukrainian police. We began to collect our fallen comrades. Among them was my brother, Julek, 17, and many other young men and women perished that day.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1019.0,1809.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/transcript/81024/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Averitt: Excuse me, Sara. We need to change the tape.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1809.0,1812.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/transcript/81024/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Ghitis: Okay.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1812.0,1819.264"}]},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Annotations [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eTosia is likely referring to her grandmother’s Sabbath candle sticks. Women traditionally do the lighting of the candles on Friday evening before sundown to usher in the Sabbath. After lighting the candles the woman waves her hands over them, covers her eyes and recites a blessing: “Blessed are You, Lord, our G-d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to light Shabbat candles.”\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eOrthodox Judaism is a traditional branch of Judaism that strictly follows the written Torah and the oral law concerning prayer, dress, food, sex, family relations, social behavior, the Sabbath day, holidays, and more.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eZaleszczyki is a small town on the Dniester River, which served as a natural border between Poland and Romania prior to World War II. Today, it is known as Zalishchyky and is in Ukraine. In the 1930s, it became a popular vacation spot. Before the war, its Jewish population was 2,485.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eA kittel, sometimes spelled kitl or kitel, is a white linen or cotton robe worn on special occasions. It also serves as a burial shroud.\u003cbr\u003e \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eShabbat (Hebrew) or Shabbos/Shabbes (Yiddish) is the Jewish Sabbath and is observed on Saturdays. Shabbat observance entails refraining from work activities and engaging in restful activities to honor the day. Shabbat begins at sundown on Friday night and is ushered in by lighting candles and reciting a blessing. It is closed the following evening with the recitation of the havdalah blessing.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eHorodenka was in the southeast corner of the historical and geographical region known as Galacia. Between the two world wars, it was part of Poland, with Romania’s border to the south and the border of the Soviet Union to the east. In 1931, the Jewish population of Horodenka was 3,526. After World War II, Horodenka became part of the Ukraine.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eWorld War I, also called First World War or Great War, was an international conflict from 1914 to 1918 that embroiled most of the nations of Europe along with Russia, the United States, the Middle East, and other regions. The war pitted the Central Powers—mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey—against the Allies—mainly France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and, from 1917, the United States. It ended with the defeat of the Central Powers.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eShirley Temple Black (1928-2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was named United States Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia and also served as Chief of Protocol of the United States.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe term “Aryan” when used in relation to the Third Reich means the Nazi vision of the blond-haired, blue-eyed physical ideal of men and women. According to the Nazis, “Aryans” belonged to the master race of perfect humans. Everyone else was racially inferior.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eGestapo [German] is an abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei, which means “Secret State Police.” It was established in 1934 and placed under Heinrich Himmler. With virtually unlimited powers, it was highly feared. The Gestapo acted to oppress and persecute Jews and other opponents of the Nazis, including rounding up Jews throughout Europe for deportation to extermination camps.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe SS or Schutzstaffel was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. It began at the end of 1920 as a small, permanent guard unit known as the “Saal-Schutz” made up of Nazi Party volunteers to provide security for party meetings in Munich. Later, in 1925, Heinrich Himmler joined the unit, which had by then been reformed and renamed the “Schutz-Staffel.” Under Himmler’s leadership, it grew from a small paramilitary formation to one of the largest and most powerful organizations in the Third Reich. Under Himmler’s command, it was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II. Among other activities, black-shirted SS men served as guards at labor and concentration camps. After World War II, like the Nazi Party, it was declared a criminal organization by the International Military Tribunal and banned in Germany.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Nazis subjected millions of people (both Jews and other victim groups) to forced, or slave labor, both inside and outside concentration camps, often under brutal conditions. Within the German Reich, prisoners of the early concentration camps were recruited for forced labor as early as 1933. From the end of 1938 on, Jews in Germany and Austria were deployed as forced laborers at a variety of municipal projects, in agriculture, mining, and industry, as well as to enlarge military infrastructure. During World War II, millions of European civilians from German-occupied areas, including concentration camp prisoners, deportees, foreign nationals, and Jews, as well as prisoners of war were involuntarily deported to serve as forced laborers in Germany. As part of the systematic persecution of Jews, forced labor was often pointless and humiliating, and imposed without proper equipment, clothing, nourishment, or rest. Forced labor also served as a method for economic gain and to meet the increasingly desperate labor shortages necessary for the war effort.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eOn November 8, 1941, the Germans ordered all of 4,500 Jews living in Horodenka (some 1,000 Jewish refugees had arrived in Horodenka following their deportation from Ukraine by the Hungarian Gendarmerie in July 1941) to move into the small Jewish quarter in the west of the town.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eSoviet forces abandoned Horodenka on July 2, 1941, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22. The Hungarian army \u003cbr\u003e(an ally of Germany) then occupied the town. The Hungarian administration established a Judenrat[German: Jewish Council], which was required to meet demands for money and produce. When the demands were not met, 1 Jew was hung in the marketplace and 20 were taken hostage to ensure compliance.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Germans took over the administration of Horodenka in September 1941. Anti-Jewish measures were quickly introduced. Property was confiscated, Jews had to wear armbands bearing the Star of David, they could not leave the town without permission, food was rationed and trading with non-Jews was prohibited.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eUnder the codename Operation “Barbarossa,” Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, in the largest German military operation of World War II. Although the Soviet Union had been Germany’s ally in the war against Poland, the destruction of the Soviet Union and conquest of territory in the East had long been one of Hitler’s proclaimed goals. The attack on the Soviet Union marked a turning point in both the history of World War II and the Holocaust.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eYiddish is the common historical language of Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. It is heavily Germanic based but uses the Hebrew alphabet. The language was spoken or understood as a common tongue for many European Jews up until the middle of the twentieth century.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1940 (one year before the Germans commenced their program of extermination), Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin ordered the arrest and deportation of \u003cbr\u003ehundreds of thousands of Polish residents—as \"unreliable elements\"—including 200,000 Polish Jews, thousands of whom were from German-occupied Poland. They were sent to Siberia, central Asia, and other locations deep in the interior of the Soviet Union. Many died in appalling conditions in Gulag labor camps in Siberia, where they were forced to work excessive hours in extreme cold and little food.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (also known as the Hitler-Stalin Pact and German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact) was a non-aggression pact between Germany and Russia signed August 23, 1939. Russia, which had a treaty with Poland to defend it if it was attacked, reneged in secret. Russia agreed to stand aside if Germany attacked Poland and not declare war on Germany. The pact provided that the two countries would not attack each other, independently or in conjunction with other powers; would not support any third power that might attack the other party to the pact; would remain in consultation with each other with regard to their common interests; would not join any power or group of powers that threatened the other; and would solve all differences between them through negotiation or arbitration. The public pact was accompanied by a secret protocol, reached on the same day, which divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. Hitler, knowing that he wasn’t going to have to fight Russia if he invaded Poland, invaded Poland just one week later. On September 28, Germany and the Soviet Union reached an agreement partitioning Poland and outlining their zones of occupation. A demarcation line for the partition of German- and Russian-occupied Poland was established along the Bug River, between Krakow and Lvov. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eJoseph Vissarionovich Stalin (b. Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, 1878-1953) was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920’s until his death. He is considered one of the most powerful and murderous dictators in history.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eAdolf Hitler (1889-1945) was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party, Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and Führer (“leader”) of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. As dictator of Nazi Germany, he initiated World War II in Europe with the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and was a central figure of the Holocaust.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eOn September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland from the north, south, and west. With more than 2,000 tanks and over 1,000 planes, German units quickly broke through Polish defenses along the Poland-German border and advanced on Warsaw in a massive encirclement attack. Under heavy shelling and bombing, Warsaw soon surrendered. As the Wehrmacht advanced, Polish forces withdrew to more established lines of defense to the east and then the southeast, where they awaited support from their allies, France and the United Kingdom. Little support came. When Soviet forces invaded Poland from the east on September 17, 1939, the Polish plan of defense was rendered obsolete. The outnumbered and overwhelmed Polish army was defeated within weeks of the invasion.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. The roughly 1,500 km (932 mi) long arc stretches through the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, Romania, and Serbia. The region is dense with forested hills and fast-flowing rivers.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003ePesach [Hebrew: Passover] is the celebration of Israel’s liberation from Egyptian bondage. The holiday lasts for eight days. Unleavened bread, matzo, is eaten in memory of the unleavened bread prepared by the Israelites during their hasty flight from Egypt, when they had not time to wait for the dough to rise. On the first two nights of Passover, the seder, the central event of the holiday, is celebrated.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=64.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eAnne Frank was a German-Jewish girl whose family fled to Amsterdam in the Netherlands and eventually went into hiding with four others. After the war, Anne became world famous because of the diary she wrote while in hiding. For two years, eight people lived in a secret attic apartment behind the office of the family-owned business. The entrance to the apartment, which Anne referred to as the “Secret Annex,” was concealed behind a bookshelf. In 1944, they were discovered and deported to concentration camps, where all but Anne’s father died.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1019.0,1809.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eChallah is special Jewish braided bread eaten on Sabbath and Jewish holidays.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1019.0,1809.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eIn Ukraine, as in many German-occupied territories throughout Europe, antisemitism, nationalism, ethnic hatred, anti-Communism, and opportunism often induced collaboration with the Nazi regime. Such collaboration was a critical element in implementing the Final Solution and the mass murder of other groups whom the Nazi regime targeted. Collaborators committed some of the worst atrocities of the Holocaust era. Nationalists in western Ukraine were among the most enthusiastic, hoping their efforts would enable them to establish an independent state later.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1019.0,1809.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eAnother survivor from Tluste similarly recalls that on July 15, 1943, many Germans and Ukrainian policemen dispersed to area farms and began killing Jews (see http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Tovste/tov161.html#Page164). According to her testimony, the manager of the farm in Lisowce was a German named Frank, who stepped in and managed to save many of his workers, but those who had tried to escape were shot.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1019.0,1809.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eIn April 1943, the Germans began sending Jews from Tluste to work as forced labor at surrounding farms. Tosia and Julek were sent to a farm in Lisowce. Lisowce [today known as Lysivsti, Ukraine] is a rural village 7 kilometers (4 miles) east of Tluste. Lisowce was one of six camps—basically large agricultural estates—that surrounded Tluste. The Jews were used as forced laborers, often working on area farms that grew kok-saghyz, a plant used in synthetic rubber production. In May and June 1943, the Tluste ghetto was liquidated and by July, only a labor camp for Jewish forced laborers remained. By early 1944, about 450 Jewish laborers were in Tluste.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1019.0,1809.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eIn October 1942, as the ghettos in surrounding towns and villages were liquidated, more and more Jews were transferred to Tluste and crowded into the ghetto. Officially, 1,500 people lived in the ghetto, but in reality, there were about 5,000 Jews. The winter of 1942-43 brought disease and starvation. A typhus epidemic broke out and the death rate reached 6 to 8 per day.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1019.0,1809.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eTluste [Polish: Tłuste] is a small town originally in Poland that is today known as Tovste, Ukraine. The Hungarian army (they were allies of the Germans) occupied the town on July 7, 1941, and the Germans took over on September 1, 1941. A ghetto was created in Tluste sometime in 1942. Jews in the ghetto were terrorized by deportations to the Belzec extermination camp, sporadic killings, and forced labor.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1019.0,1809.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eAfter the final Aktion, about 120 Jews were left in Horodenka to clear out the ghetto. Within a few weeks, they were also sent to Kolomyja (where they were likely then sent on to the Belzec extermination camp) and Horodenka was officially declared Judenrein [German: free of Jews].\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1019.0,1809.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eKolomyja [Polish: Kołomyea; also known as Kolomea] is a city in the southeast corner of the historical and geographical region known as Galacia. Today it is known as Kolomyja and is in western Ukraine. The Russians occupied Kolomyjauntil the Germans entered the town on August 1, 1941. When the Germans arrived, the Jewish population was about 30,000 (about 10,000 were refugees). The city was used as a central transit and extermination point for the Jews in the district. There were between 17 and 20 Aktions in Kolomyja. Out of about 70,000 Jews who lived in Kolomyja or were sent there from other villages and towns in the vicinity, 60 percent were murdered in Kolomyja and the Szeparowce Forest, while 40 percent were taken to the Belzec extermination camp and murdered. Only about 200 Jews survived in hiding in Kolomyja.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1019.0,1809.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eOn September 8-10, 1942, Jews were gathered under the pretext of registration. Between 200 and 300 were killed on the spot, 80 were sent to the Janowska labor camp outside Lvov, while another 2,000 were gathered into ten freight trains and sent to Kolomyja, where they waited for two days before being coupled with more deported Jews from the area being sent to the Belzec extermination camp. Some people fled to the woods and became partisans. Several hundred hid in bunkers. They were shot on the spot as they were discovered. After the Aktion, any surviving Jews were ordered to leave Horodenka and sent to either Kolomyja—a village 40 kilometers to the southwest, which had become the central transit and extermination point for the Jewish population of that district—or to Tluste—a small town 30 kilometers (18 miles) northeast of Horodenka. Most of the Horodenka Jews who were transferred to Kolomyja were then deported to the Belzec extermination camp.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1019.0,1809.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eBelzec was established in the Lublin district of Poland in November 1941 and began operations in February 1942. Belzecwas part of the Operation Reinhard program, which also included the death camps of Sobibor and Treblinka. All three camps were pure extermination facilities, that is, the Germans intended that any Jews who went into the camp would never come out again. All three camps had gas chambers that used diesel engine exhaust to murder the Jews. Altogether about 600,000 Jews and thousands of gypsies were murdered in Belzec. Belzec was closed in late 1942 and the bodies in the mass graves were dug up, cremated and reburied. Thereafter it was razed to the ground and a farm was set up on the land. When the Russians liberated the area in the summer of 1944 there was nothing left to find.   \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1019.0,1809.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eOn April 13, 1942, a second Aktion took place in Horodenka. 400 Jews were deported to the Belzec extermination camp. Another 60 were shot at the local cemetery. Many had found out about the Aktion ahead of time and bribed an employee at the labor exchange in Kolomyja to let them hide in bunkers they had prepared. Many others who were arrested managed to be released in return for bribes. Aktion is the German term used for any non-military campaign to further Nazi ideals of race, but most often referring to the assembly, and deportation of Jews to concentration or death camps. In many cases, the Germans planned deportations and other operations so that they would coincide with the Jewish holidays. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1019.0,1809.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077/annotation_set/1913/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eA series of three anti-Jewish Aktionen led by a German Gendarmerie unit and a Ukrainian police force took place in Horodenka. The first Aktion took place on December 4 and 5, 1942. Under the pretext of giving typhus shots, the Jews were gathered in a synagogue, where Jewish physicians were given the necessary medical instruments. Craftsmen and specialists were freed, but some 2,500 Jews from Horodenka, including the Jewish council, were taken to the Szeparowce Forest outside Siemakowce [now Semakivtsi, Ukraine], a village approximately 10 kilometers [6 miles] north of Horodenka, and shot into a pit.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/150381/file/277077#t=1019.0,1809.0"}]}]}]}