And when the war began, I was only two two years and half.

My my mom at those time was 27 years old.

And my father, he was 35 years old.

I have one sister.

At time she was born April 7th, 1941, and so she had only two months old.

And my memories about those times, of course not clearly.

And I can tell you about because I just have discussion with my mom a l My mom taught me about everything.

So when the war began and Germans bombed Mozyr every day and every night and a lot, a lot of refugees came from Brest and the city absolutely changed and looking terrible.

I don't remember my father because I was small, and after that, my father was at the front from the first days when the war began to 1944.

The July 1st, all the family, my mom, me, and my baby sister, we needed to be evacuated.

And I remember this moment myself.

I was only two-and-a-half years old, but I really remember this.

It was make a lot of people gathered and cried and screamed and listen to the man who stood on a three-ton truck and tried to explain something for these people.

And he wave his arms and tried to speak loudly through megaphone and I remember this moment.

And my mom could take for evacuation only two suit[cases].

One suit[case] was with cloth diapers and that and some clothes for children, something, and other suit[case] was some clothes for her.

Nothing more.

Everything was left.

And my mom taken upper seat and okay.

An d she could not wash cloth diapers.

She needed to dry them and it's nowhere place.

And during our moving, couple times our train was bombed and one cart was burned and people needed to came up from this cart and scattered like this and terrible moment.

She was looking absolutely Jewish woman.

And never never somebody told her, no, we don't have.

And we did not go to Moscow.

We went to Stalingrad region and was Chernyshka region.

And eventually we got special village, Baskino, and they given us some room to live.

And the landlord was Cossack woman.

And she asked my mom many times.

My mom, Fira, her name Fira.

But almost all people called her Vera, not Fira.

And, Vera, Vera leave this baby here, Because you will not save her.

It is terrible time.

But of course, like any Jewish mother, she refused to leave her baby and taken.

And when the German offensive Stalingrad, we need to move from this area.

Tractor stopped and we stood, my mom and two small children stood on the side of road and nobody don't could not not help us.

She stood, stood, stood and eventually some cattle from collective farm it was called kolkhoz.

Kolkhoz if you know what is it.

And eventually the man taken Mom and us and given to Mom special wagon.

And my mom needed to drive this [Russian word] this ox and this wagon with ox.

And it was very very, very hot time.

The sun rays was terrible hot and because we follow the cattle, herd, you understand me, and dust was so, so thick and we could not breathe and it was almost dark.

And we our face, our eyes were swollen and we were absolutely dirty.

And lice around all body, and no very very bad location.

Absolutely nothing.

And eventually we reach Volga and it was one side, one shore of river.

I'm correct?

Shore of the river and we need to go to other side of river.

River is very very big.

Volga is very big river.

Very big and very, very wide.

And we need to maybe at those place it was like almost one kilometer.

Very wide.

It is like Mississippi for America.

It is Volga for Russia.

It is biggest river in European part of Soviet Union.

And this river was bombed every every day and during night, and during day.

Day it was like a hell.

And a lot, a lot of people were killed.

And the boat, not only my mom with children, but a lot of boat and Germans bombed special on the river on the river a lot a lot people could not to reach to other shore and drowned a lot.

Maybe our God helped my mom and we transfer to other side of river and there a lot a lot of people who needed to be evacuated again.

Again it was train for I forgot, freight?

Yes.

And a lot of people in eve was terrible over crowded, crowded, thank you very much, very cr And it was terrible and it was very very long way from Stalingrad.

And we moved to Ural.

It is through all Russia.

And we got to the city Zlatoust in Chelyabinsk region in Urals.

Zlatoust was terrible, terrible place.

I now I understand.

I could not blame these people in Zlatoust because it was terrible time for them, too.

So many people refugees and they asked to help but people who live in Zlatoust could not help everybody.

But they were at those time very angry, very mean.

And when somebody knock knock knock at their gate, they put dogs at him.

You understand me?

And eventually my mom yes, my mom met her mother, my great mother [grandmother].

Lyubov Lyubova Isaka, Lyuba.

And they, oh in Zlatoust m babushka, great mother, were robbed.

And when my mom got the place, it was small, not real village, but very small town, Chesna.

We had nothing.

Only cloth diapers.

No more.

No nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Just small suit[case] with Mila.

For Mila.

And we came to this not, this small town, Chesna.

We were without clothes.

We were dirty.

We were terrible hungry and but they given us special place where my mom could live.

Because there were so many refugees in Chesna and no place to live.

No place to.

I'm correct?

And no food, nothing.

And it is, I remember this.

It is not from my mother stories.

Not from discussion.

I remember this.

Every evening our landlover I am correct?

Landlover?

Landlady came back from her job and began to fix some food.

Usually it was only potatoes, nothing more.

But I taken my sister and we sat on the next to table and we sat like we glued on this bench.

And my mom was not happy and she yelled to us, go to room, go to room, not bother her landlady was her name was Klava, I remember.

And not bother Klava, not bother Klava.

But we sat, sat, and eventually Klava giving every evening a little but giving us to eat something.

And I I remember this woman.

She was so compassionate.

She was, she pitied us.

She was very sorry for us.

And she was real, real good Russian people.

And I we were starving because not enough bread.

Nothing more than bread.

Nothing.

And ever not two years old, but three y And every I remember myself, hungry, hungry, and hungry again.

Nothing to eat.

And I need to tell you one story.

My mom was a teacher at those school.

[S]he taught mathematics and physics.

And [s]he was invited for party to house of Communist leader.

The leader of Communist Party.

And he she went there and she watched how this leader of Communist Party given to his dog...chocolate.

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

And my mom was almost without conscience [passed out].

And in nine, in August 15, 1944, my mom got special paper.

I have here this paper.

My father was killed.

And my mom became widow like many, many, many women there.

Oh, my God.

All this town was full with widows, widows, widows, children, children, children, and almost all of us were all time hungry, hungry.

And I need to tell you when it is like little side.

I want to explain to you.

When we came here in Tucson, of course, it was my son, daughter-in-law, my grandson, and friends.

And I like it people and I like it when people came to me for party, for celebration, for and I fix it like, all, not all, a lot of food on the table.

And my son was, Mom, Mom, why you put on the table so much food?

And eventually my son heard about these memories through Google about story.

And at once he said me, oh Mom, now I understand.

Everybody who was in this Chesna cried from happiness.

From happiness.

And widows were very very happy, and children were all, all this small town unbelievable happy.

It was victory day.

And in 1945, my mom got again invitation to come back to Belarus.

And we came back to Minsk.

And there my mom got special school, Radoshkovichy, next to Minsk.

It was a small, small town.

And the first couple years in Radoshkovichy it was the same.

No food, no houses where we could live.

And it was very, very hard at the time.

But now I tell you about anti-Semitism at those time.

My mom needed to support two daughters and her mom.

And the salary for a teacher was very small.

She got a little, a little, small sum of money for his for her husband.

But it was very small.

Very small.

And she needs to support four persons.

And every year I could rem conversation between my mom and my grandmother.

How my mom, every year in August, was worried she will have part time or full time for teacher and maybe she needs some few more hours for more money.

And every, every year I hear.

And director of school and the other person he was not director but he was chief of study.

They were not fair to my mom.

We eventually move to other region.

It was town Postava and my mom the same began to work like a teacher.

It was much better.

It was a lot of food.

My mom could go to market.

Pastavy, it was [Russian word] in Ukraine, it was west region of Belarus, west.

And there, Zapata, yes.

And there was much better life.

Me and my sister in Pastavy finished high school.

And I began I go to, now it is not institute now it is academy, like university and I was very good for mathematics.

But I don't I did not want to be teacher.

I saw my mom, how much she suffered about it, and I refused to go to study for teacher.

And I go to Belarus State Economic for Industry.

This now it is academy.

And I I finished very well.

I got red diploma during all five years.

And they refused to take me.

And I went every day to this fabrique [factory] during two months.

No place for you, no pla And eventually character is character.

I went to City Council Hall, but it was a little upper like government, and I got the chief of human department and explained it and told him my order, ordeal, sorry.

And he asked me, Valentina, go to corridor.

He screamed and swear to this man in this factory.

And, I give you only 2 hours when Valentina will come to your department.

Immediately, immediately you need to be t Thanks this man.

I remember his name.

His last name was Boyka.

Boyka from Ukraine.

And eventually, and this same story was repeated with my children, my daughter-in-law and my son.

The nationality was written how is you and father.

For example, my daughter-in-law was born in full Jewish family.

Mother and father were Jews.

And her nationality was written, 'Jews.'

For me, my mom was real Jews and looking like Jewish woman.

My father was Orthodox.

Russian, Russian.

He was his nationality was written, 'Russian.'

And because we know what will be when me and my sister raise doubt if we will 'Jewish' in passport no, no road to.

It will be hard to find job, to rise for your career.

Nothing, nothing.

So I wrote wrote down in passport like Russia, 'Russian,' like Russian.

But if you will wrote in passport like 'Jewish,' oh my God.

Oh, my goodness.

The first, it was hard to find jo The second, like me, I was engineer economist, and I had red diploma.

They given me position not like engineer in this factory.

They given me position low, low, low with so terrible small salary.

I could not live for this salary, so small.

I need to show for them all my ancestor.

Who is my mom?

Who is my grandmother?

Who is my aunt?

Who is.

And all around me, Jewish, you understand?

When they saw Jewish and Jewish and Jewish and Jewish, of course, no place for your working here.

You understand?

Before war in Belarus was not so terrible anti-Semitism.

It was, for example, my absolutely Russian father was married with a Jewish woman and it was usual that time.

But Belarus was occupied by Germans and everything changed after that.

Yes, anti-Semitism after war was terrible, terrible.

You understand?

Of course we know.

But it was not called at those time, Holocaust survivor.

It was not this word at those time, you understand?

And of course, we know Auschwitz.

We know Babi Yar, we know, in Ukraine.

We know about Treblinka.

Treblinka, I am correct.

We know about a lot of place where where special gas chambers were for Jewish people.

We know about it but it no called Holocaust.

We so suffered during our evacuation.

We almost died from starving, from illness.

And why?

My sister has a lot problem with health and I have a lot problem with h Because we don't have childhood.

Nothing.

Our childhood was with starving, without somethin Without something.

Of course.

Of course, We are In one moment, when we trying to go from boat from one shore to other shore it is not a Holocaust survivor?

When Germans occupied any Belarussian town, city, any, they first what they did they gathered Jewish and or killed or something.

But, in Belarus at those time before war, it was a lot there were a lot of Jewish family, a lot.

But after the war, almost nothing.

Ten percent of Jewish people was survived.

And I need to tell you, in Soviet Union, before war was good enough Jewish and J I told you, much more educated, much more talented much more scientists.

Everything, everything.

But after war, in Belarus, almost like ten percent.

And it was not only in it was around And you know about Germans plans.

Excuse me, I am upset.

When I began to talk about this, I am very, very upset.

My mom and my grandmother, they talked in Jewish language, you understand?

When Yiddish yes.

When they want to talk about something and children could not know about, they talked in Yiddish.

And I could not forgiven myself I could not know this Yiddish.

It is Yo u understand.

But I listened to and I understood what they talk about.

I had been lived in Minsk from 16 years old to 1993.

It is my city and there were no synagogue.

Never during my life there, no synagogue, no church.

In Soviet Union after the revolution, they forbid it forbid it to give.

And now sometimes I looked at, I am okay.

No, no more.

And religion was forbidden.

I could read Biblia, Bible.

I could read Bible only when I, after my surgery, I was over 45 years old.

I began to believe in God after I was sick.

I was very very sick and I needed to be died.

Yes.

But my sister, she had been living now in Moscow.

She taken me and I went to synagogue.

I went to a Russian church.

I went around around.

I have been at all church and synagogue in Moscow.

Eventually, I still alive.

I have one surgery and other surgery and third surgery.

I had three cancer surgery and I'm still alive.

When I came here, I became to go to synagogue.

Not often.

And I had here very good friend.

His [her] name is Vera.

And every she was very not very religious but his [her] father was Rabbi.

And she and me, we went to this synagogue, Temple Emanu-El.

And after every service, not very often.

Very, not often, and every time after synagogue, I feel in myself like I clean.

You understand?

My emotion was Unbelievable.

And now I stopped to go.

Because Vera died and without Vera I could not go there.

But I did.

I did.

And I believe.

And I pray And today in the morning, I did it and yesterday in the evening, I did it.

And I to help me because I was very nervous to come here.

It was it is not easy for me.

And I asked, please, please, my God, give me tomorrow, good day.

I have been living here almost 30 years and I see I've seen, I watch how the people changed.

Changed.

And when we came here in 1993, the people was much more kind, the people was, here in Tucson, the people were ready to help me.

Many times, many times, these American people helped me a lot, a lot.

Everything was much more calm, much more kind.

People were different.

Now during these 30 years, it seems to me a lot has changed.

A lot.

The time change, the world changed and country changed, I'm sorry to say, but I love I love.

I bless America every day.

And thank God, thank God you taken me here.