Semyon (Shloyme, Solomon) Moiseyevich Sklyarskiy

The team arrives at Sklyarskiy's house and speaks to him at the door. Kerler explains that he spoke with the son the previous day, and they agree to start in ten to twelve minutes. Short exchange with others present; mostly arranging.

Sklyarskiy gives personal details: his Yiddish name was Shloyme, and his sister Khane (Khanshe) is about four years older. A sister lives in America since 1979 (?) and another is in Israel; they discuss her telephone number and how she emigrated. Kerler then asks about his birthplace Zhornyshche and its Yiddish name.

The transcript shows the sisters' emigration and telephone details and a question on the Yiddish name of Zhornyshche.

Sklyarskiy describes Zhornyshche as a small town in Lypovets district, with perhaps around fifteen hundred Jews (?). The synagogue was later made into a warehouse or kolkhoz store. He names the police chief Zavalinsky, who with a German collected the Jews in May 1942.

The transcript names the police chief Zavalinsky and the synagogue's conversion.

Sklyarskiy recounts the roundup of the Jews of Zhornyshche on 27 May 1942 to be shot at a place some eight kilometres away. A non-Jewish childhood friend, the son of a village elder, had warned him days before. He tells how a few tailors and shoemakers were left behind, how he ran and was wounded in the hand under fire from Zavalinsky and a German officer, and how he later met peasants who pitied him.

Sklyarskiy tells of being orphaned young and raised by his mother's sister, and of hiding in 1943 with relatives in a cellar and then in a pit near Ivanka, living at night on food begged from villagers. His three aunts and their children were shot there in March 1943 after being informed on, apart from one boy who was wounded and spared. Kerler and the other interviewer ask about dates and names; he also returns to Zhornyshche and meets locals who know of the killings.

The transcript shows the interviewers' questions on dates and names, and the boy who survived the shooting.

Sklyarskiy recounts how in summer 1943 a group of thirteen or fourteen escapees set out to find the partisans, carrying bread. He tells of a dream voice that warned him to run to the fields rather than the forest. Cossacks attacked in the woods; he escaped but found two of the group shot dead, and he describes the loss of his shoes and a girl who was wounded.

Kerler asks about a cousin raised as a sister who was adopted by a non-Jewish family. Sklyarskiy says she worked in a military pharmacy during the war and was shell-shocked at Stalingrad. They discuss his correspondence with her and with the sister in America, and that her daughter studied in Kaliningrad.

Sklyarskiy goes over his three escapes and his time with the partisans for several months in winter 1943, and a cousin who died. His sister found him and took him to a military hospital, where he stayed until the war ended in Germany. Kerler then returns to the Cossacks between Zhornyshche and Krasnenke and asks about the season and the hardships.

The transcript adds Kerler's recapitulation of the three escapes and the war's end in Germany.

Sklyarskiy describes the Cossacks, called bandits who sided with the Germans, in conflict with the partisans. Asked about the Zhornyshche police chief Zavalinsky, he says he had been a teacher in the school, fled and returned as police chief. He tells of how Zavalinsky had twelve Jews taken to the school and cinema and beaten.

Sklyarskiy speaks about his last months with the partisans: going on operations and the commander of his unit, a Jew. A few Jews were in the partisan group. In answer to questions he says there was no friction with Christians, and he names a partisan brigade of about two thousand men; he served some months and was armed with a carbine.

Sklyarskiy returns to the night in the fields and the dream that told him to run to the fields, not the forest. They also discuss a note where he wrote the dream down. He recounts the Cossack attack, the death of those who ran into the forest, and a thirteen-year-old girl wounded in the leg. A cousin who shared his hiding place later became a partisan hero.

The transcript adds his reading and discussion of a note written after the dream.

Sklyarskiy gives family information. His brother Mikhail, named by his son, died as a hero; his father was Moishe, so he is Moiseyevich. The cousin Yasha was Yakov Gertsovich (?) Varnavitsky (?), three months younger. He also speaks of his children, a son who lives with him and a daughter in Bershad'.

Asked whether there was a ghetto in Zhornyshche, Sklyarskiy says there was none. He talks of a rabbi in Jerusalem who sent money, and the attitude of non-Jews toward the Jews. Much of the passage is unclear.

Kerler asks about the medals Sklyarskiy wears; he explains they are for the war and for partisan service, and says he has others at hand to show.

Sklyarskiy shows his documents and talks about his status as a partisan and war invalid, with a utility benefit that reduces his electricity charges. Kerler asks when his sister took him, and Sklyarskiy says he recovered in the Lipovets district. His sister was an officer in a field hospital, and he travelled with the hospital. Kerler also asks about the person who shot at him.

The transcript shows the discussion of benefits and documents, and his rescue by his sister.

Sklyarskiy speaks of the German officer and the shooting after his flight, then of a dream in which a person told him to run into the field and not the forest. He tells how two men who joined the partisans hid in a secret hiding place near the pit where Jews were shot. He mentions help from local people and the driving of Jews on foot and in carts, and begins to speak about the ghetto. Parts of this are unclear.

The transcript shows the hiding place near the killing pit and the two brothers who helped, rather than only the shooting.

Sklyarskiy speaks in Russian and Yiddish about the Bershad' ghetto, the Romanian zone, and the killings elsewhere. He recalls working on roads from 1941 with the police chief named Zavalinskiy (?), and the way the forced labourers were treated. Kerler asks when the Germans entered; he answers that it was at the start of the war. Kerler then asks him to talk about life after the war.

Sklyarskiy says that after the war he studied accounting for six months in Vinnytsya and was then sent to work in bookkeeping, in Bershad' among other places. Kerler asks whether someone had asked him to record what he went through, and then asks about the best times of his life.

Sklyarskiy speaks of the better years after the war, his marriage and the birth of his children. He tells of his daughter, who lived in the Donbas, and her sudden death after a visit to a doctor, and of how he and his sons learned of it by phone. He also mentions her husband, a worker, and his father-in-law, who died at about fifty-four.

The transcript shows details of the daughter's death and of her husband and his father.

Answering Kerler's questions about postwar Bershad', Sklyarskiy says the synagogue was used and many Jews attended, and that Yiddish was spoken in the streets. He says he was married in Bershad' with Jewish music and klezmer, and that kosher meat could be bought. Kerler then asks about his granddaughter Lena in Israel and begins asking for an address for correspondence.

The transcript also shows his granddaughter in Israel and Kerler's request for an address.

Sklyarskiy and Kerler, with S2's help, go through letters and addresses, a postal code and a house number. Kerler asks whether Veidlinger, a historian, may write about him in English and he in Yiddish, and Sklyarskiy agrees. Kerler asks where the toilet is. Sklyarskiy mentions Ivanky as a village in the Lipovets district.

Sklyarskiy speaks about the village of Ivanky, where people were shot, and about a visit there about ten years earlier. He shows letters and talks about his granddaughter Lena, who recorded an interview with his wife. Kerler asks about Lena's surname and city in Israel, where she studied at a university, and about a number abroad.

The transcript shows the Ivanky killing site and the granddaughter's interview with his wife.

Sklyarskiy speaks about his family and again about the dream in which he was told to run to the field. He mentions his wife's fasting and illness near the end of her life and the interview his granddaughter made with her. Kerler arranges to photograph him with those present, and there is talk of his writing. A garbled recogniser loop appears in this part.

The transcript shows his wife's fasting and the arrangements for a photograph.

Sklyarskiy and Kerler finish the formal interview and he speaks of today's life, the market and the neighbours. He recalls a Jewish couple, and a pious man who prayed, and says that few Jews and some non-Jews still speak Yiddish in Bershad'. They discuss the cost of dental care and the polyclinic. He returns to the story of the two hiding places and to the geography of Ivanky and Lipovets. Kerler thanks him and offers blessings.

The transcript shows talk of Yiddish speakers today, medical costs and the Lipovets district, and the return to the hiding story.

Sklyarskiy speaks in Russian about his father, who before his death wanted to see his son, and about walking from Lipovets to Ivanky, with a mention of a stepmother or an aunt (?). Kerler and the others then thank him and the interview ends.