Re: [Cz-L] June 22, 1941

Dear all,
I well remember that day. My step-father Max Gelband after having been
hiding in fields and I with friendly families from the beginning of the
deportations gave himself up. My mother had been under GPU observation in
the Jewish Hospital after an accident. When my Gelband gave himself up he
was taken to the "sammelstelle" (concentration centre) of al those to be
transported. Someone who slept near him the night he was brought in and
heard him cry asked for his plight.He told him his story and the man
voluteered to write an application on toilette paper with a Tintenstift in
Russian asking to be released and as my mother was in their hands he assured
them that I and the whole family will be ready for deportation with the next
tansport. He was in the train already when his name was called out a moment
before the doors were shut. The Russians who had housed in our home left and
we were united. Mother was brought home from hospital that very night by
ambulance. Thus we escaped Russian occupation and deportation. That very
night there were the explosions. Mother, still very ill, said to me: There
will be German culture and newspapers anything is better than what we had
gone through. She still believed that the Germans were human beings, naive?
hope? incredibility??
Anyway, no one knew, how terrible the future will be but, the past Russian
year was too greater nightmare for us personally, so I suppose one had to
hope? - the rest is history or as Mimi said "daca n'ar fi nu s'ar povesti"
anny

On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 9:48 AM, Dov Glaobek <berti_at_netvision.net.il> wrote:

>
> The timing of the attack was a surprise, but...
>
> there was definitely no surprize about the outbreak of the war between
> Germany and the USSR.
> Both regimes had concentrated each about 180 divisions along the common
> border
> starting from around end of April 1941. Of course the general public
> was not informed at all by Russian newspapers or radio, you could know
> about
> that only by listening to the BBC - at that time a very difficult thing to
> do-
> only later in 1942 the power of that radio station was increased to reach
> through
> Europe to the East. Also the JPA (Jewish Plotke Agency) was active and news
> about Soviet
> army movements and more important nobody had any doubts about Hitler's
> general intentions.
>
> But I clearly remember discussions in our family about the pros and contras
> of
> receding with the Russians- and that before the 22 of June. Czernowitz
> Jewry was divided
> (like Caesars Galia) into 3. Those with passport 39 (or similar) endangered
> to be
> deported to Siberia who would remain, those who had in the past been
> connected somehow
> to the communist party and would not hesit to leave with the Red Army in
> order not
> to be caught by the Rumanian police and last the majority that considered
> both alternatives like a preference between Scilla and Karibdis. Because of
> the
> inertia factor this majority stayed, for good or bad.
>
> We had representants of both sides in our family. Discussions started
> before the 22/6
> because although there existed admirers of the strength of the Red Army,
> most thought
> that at least at the start the German thrust would be overwhelming and we
> would be involved.
> Mind you there was never,at that time or later,at least for the majority
> any doubt about
> the general outcome of the war. Not only was that a convenient wish
> fulfillment but also an
> induction from the WWI result to the present situation.Nearly same nations
> on each side as before,
> and that generation knew with what opponents the Austrian/German army had
> had to deal.
>
> So the 22 of JUne was an "expected surprise", at least as I remember it in
> our family.
>
> Berti.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject of
 Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and Genealogy. The opinions expressed
 in these posts are the opinions of the original poster only and not necessarily
 the opinions of the List Owner, the Webmaster or any other members
 or entities connected with this mailing list. The Czernowitz-L list has
 an associated web site at http://czernowitz.ehpes.com that includes a
 searchable archive of all messages posted to this list. Please post in "Plain
 Text" if possible (help available at:
<http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/PlainText.html>).

To remove your address from this e-list follow the directions at
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/elist/lyris/leave.html

To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to:
owner-Czernowitz-L_at_list.cornell.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on 2010-06-26 05:00:16