RelatioNet BR LY 31 GL BE
BRAUN - ABRAMSON LYDIA
Interviewer:
Lior Glazer & Hadar Shviger
Full Name/s
Email: ettiea@hotmail.com
Address: Kfar Saba ISRAEL
Survivor:
Code: RelatioNet BR LY 31 GL BE
Family Name: Braun First Name: Lydia Marital name: Abramson
Father Name: Father Name Mother Name: Mother Name
Birth Date: 1931Town In Holocaust: Globok Country In Holocaust: Belarous
Profession (Main) In Holocaust: Profession
Status (Today): Alive
Address Today: Zofit
Interview with lydia
Please tell me about your family.
My name is Itka and I am 72 years old. My Father, David, was born in Plotzek, Poland. He had four brothers and two sisters. No one knows what happened to them. My Mother's name was Circa.
Where were you born?
I was born in Globik in Eastern Europe. Around eight thousand Jews lived there. Only six hundred were left after the war. Globik is near Minsk.
Do you remember your home as a child?
The house I grew up in is till there. My Mother used to warm the blankets near the oven and then cover us with them to keep us warm because it was so cold.
We had a basement and it was filled with jams and meats my Mother made.
She also dried apples and pears in the attic.
We did not have running water, or a toilet. There was a well in the garden.
I remember the raspberry bush that grew next to our house. I also remember a wooden bench.
Did you live in the city or the countryside?
We lived in a small town. Near our home there was a river, where my family often went for picnics. We collected mushrooms and swam in the river. I remember that I was afraid of the water but I went in and pretended to swim.
What do you remember about the Town?
I remember a large house in our town which we called the White House. It was the Municipality.
Did you grow up in a religious home?
No we were not a religious family and did not keep the Jewish commandments, although my Grandfather was religious.
Is there anything left of the "Jewishness" in the Town?
There was a cemetery but it is gone now. There is a tombstone there for all the Jews who died there.
Were only the Jews killed there?
There were many Russians in our town. They were prisoners. We saw them their being shot by the Germans. There is a tombstone for them as well.
Did you go to school before the war started?
Yes! I remember when I sat with all my friends on the bench. The Nursery School teacher gave us papers and told us to play. I was so happy that day, with all my friends. My favorite meal there was hard boiled eggs and we ate them all together on the bench. Most of the children there were not Jewish, but that did not matter because we were all friends.
When did you leave your home?
When we left our house in 1941, when I was seven years old, we took nothing with us. My Mother did not want to listen to our Uncle Menahem to leave because she did not want to leave all her things there. In the end we did go and it was in a hurry and we had to leave everything in the house. I hid away because I did not want to leave. A Christian family moved into our house. Their daughter, who was fifteen, found me and sent me away. I visited my home town many years later and I saw the same daughter. She recognized me and told me she was the one who sent me away. I told her that I was not angry and do not blame her or her family for this.
Where did you all go?
We went to the Ghetto where all the Jews were.
Life there was hard. Children had to suddenly be like grown ups. We did not play and it was very crowded. We were always looking people we knew. Each morning we woke up and found people had disappeared. We did not have much food but I do not remember being hungry.
Did you stay there till the war was over?
No, we ran away to the forest where there were Ukrainians who were fighting against the Partisans. I did not understand what was going on because I was too young. Most of the Partisans there were not Jewish. I remember I was in the forest next to the city of Verzina which was a city where there were no Germans yet. I remember wild animals around us. While we were there I got sick with Typhoid Fever. The Partisans took me to the village for care. The Partisans took food from the people in the village and brought it to us. They also sometimes brought us warm clothes. We did not really feel the war but we could hear the bombings.
You lived then in the Forest?
The Germans caught us and sent us to the camps.
My Uncle Menahem was in the Russian Army. He looked for my Mother and me and found us in 1944 in the camps. My Mother stayed there but he took me with him to the Eastern Front. In 1945, Germans gave him away and he was sentenced to death.
What happened to you then?
I was sent to an orphanage in Lodz (Helnovek). I was there from the end of 1945 for a year. I had 3 friends. They are still my close friends. These friend still unhappy people. They don’t laugh and are not happy. Later I came to Israel with papers from the British. This was in 1947.
Where did you go when you came to Israel?
In Israel I went kibbutz. When I was here that I decided to marry an Israeli.
And did you finally marry an Israeli?
Yes. I met Efraim, from Zofit. We got married and we have four children: Zila, Dorit, David (after my late Father) and Yosef. I have eleven grandchildren.
What do you feel now after the Holocaust?
I do not hate the Germans. I decided that the Holocaust would not come into my home. I go to schools and give talks on the Holocaust but it is in my past and I want to go forward.
