Sharhorodskij asks the interviewers to read a letter written by his sister in Israel. Kerler says it will be read later and will not be taken away. Lemster then turns to the topic of Yiddish theater before the war.
The transcript shows only the request to read the letter and Kerler's reply; nothing about its content, and it ends with Lemster's question about prewar Yiddish theater.
Sharhorodskij recalls Yiddish theater troupes coming to Rîbniţa from Odessa and Kyiv before the war, performing in a garden hall where tickets were hard to get. He was too young to attend, but his parents went. He mentions Sholem Aleichem and Mendele as sources of plays, and singers visiting. Asked about the postwar period, he mentions Epelbaum and the director of the Moscow Yiddish theater, Mikhoels, and a communal event. He then answers questions about Lithuanian Jews and speaks of the Warsaw ghetto survivors.
The transcript adds the Warsaw ghetto and a question about Lithuanian Jews, and the singers who visited.
Sharhorodskij addresses traditional weddings and postwar religiosity. He then recalls the Rîbniţa rebbe's charity and speaks about contemporary Jewish life.
Sharhorodskij says Jewish weddings with a huppah took place after the war, including his own, and that people became more observant after the war. Prayer was held in private houses with ten or twelve men. Asked about wedding songs and melodies, he says he cannot sing or remember any. He then speaks of the Jewish duty to help one another, praising Khaim Zanvl, the Rîbniţa rebbe, for his charity. He ends with contemporary Jewish life, the Hesed and the matzo distribution, with little Jewish observance.
Adds that he could not recall wedding songs, that private-house minyanim were held after the war, and the Hesed and matzo distribution today.
Answering Lemster, Sharhorodskij recalls one Jew in Rîbniţa who converted before the war and lived near the Jewish synagogue; he cannot recall the name. He knows of no cases of Christians becoming Jewish, says many non-Jews spoke Yiddish, and says that some Jews drank vodka heavily and others only liked it. The passage ends as Kerler asks about the word dibbuk.
Sharhorodskij answers questions about the meaning of words such as dibbuk and golem, with Russian glosses, and about other terms. Lemster then asks about children's games at the Yiddish school. He recalls reading books and playing with nuts, and mentions buttons as in Mendele's writing.
Sharhorodskij speaks about his life in the ghetto and mentions Jewish collaborators. He then speaks about the beginning of the war, when his family evacuated to Krasni Okny in 1941. Sharhorodskij describes how Romanian soldiers looted their home and beat them two weeks after the family's arrival. He continues that his family was forced to move out by Romanian soldiers and taken to the nearby mill "Napasiolok Flora" 16:25 for mass execution. Sharhorodskij explains how the community collected valuables to bribe the Romanian soldiers and his family returned to Krasni Okny. Sharhorodskij then describes how his family fled the town and hid in villages, before making it to the state farm in Ulmu.
Sharhorodskij recounts the Rîbniţa ghetto and an evacuation attempt in 1941. He and his sister left with another family and stopped some fifty kilometres from Donetsk, where Romanian soldiers searched for weapons and beat them. He tells of being driven out of Krasne Okne with others to a mill, where the community bribed the gendarmerie commander with valuables and they were turned back. They fled at night, wandered for a month in villages and forests helped by non-Jews, and reached the Ulmu state farm near Rîbniţa, while those who stayed behind were taken to Dubăsari and shot. He also touches on Jews who lived better in the ghetto, a brigadier named Shtrakhman who was a bad man, and holidays kept in secret.
Adds the secret holiday observance in the ghetto and the brigadier Shtrakhman; the transcript is unclear on the Donetsk detail.
Sharhorodskij speaks about his work and life after the war. He was trained as carpenter at the Ulmu state farm. Sharhorodskij served in the Red Army between 1944 and 1947. He then worked as tradesman for 45 years.
Sharhorodskij says he became a carpenter as a teenager but did not work at it after the war. He served in the army for three years from 1944 until 1947. He then worked in trade for 45 years, first as a salesman and later as a store manager, and says he did not get rich.
Sharhorodskij returns to his life during the war and work at the Ulmu state farm at a carpentry, where he joined a Christian, who was a wheel repair specialist. Sharhorodskij explains how he worked there for one month and then moved back to Rîbniţa, where Jews were confined to a ghetto. He then describes his family's life, including forced labor and evading mass execution, in the ghetto for two years and eight months. Sharhorodskij also describes the situation in the ghetto two months before liberation, as well as gatherings of young people.
Returning to the war, Sharhorodskij describes working at the Ulmu carpentry shop with a Christian wheelwright who was kind to him and brought him food. After a month he went back to Rîbniţa, where Jews were confined to the ghetto under the Romanians, for two years and eight months. He tells of forced labor, and of standing three times to be shot, and describes Kalmyks, who came shortly before liberation and were worse than the Germans. Asked about singing in the ghetto, he says there was little, with an occasional Jewish melody, and Kerler asks about a melody of the Rîbniţa rebbe.
Adds the Kalmyks, singing in the ghetto, and Kerler's question about the rebbe's melody.
Sharhorodskij says he cannot recall the rebbe's melodies. He asks about Kerler's residence and discusses America and politics, comparing the American slogan to the German one. He says the Jewish situation in Moldova is painful because few Jews remain. He says that belief in liberation helped him survive the ghetto, and describes working in a German hospital, where he met a Hamburg field-feldwebel who read the paper and said Germany had lost after Stalingrad. A political argument with Kerler follows over fascists in Russia and democracy.
Adds the hospital episode, the argument on politics and fascism, and his questions about the interviewers' home.
Kerler thanks Sharhorodskij for his long account, which closes the formal interview. Sharhorodskij says he has told only one percent of what they lived through and speaks of the few Jews left and the lack of Jewish births. Kerler asks whether he remembers a melody of the Rîbniţa rebbe, which he cannot give, and the talk turns to photographs and a portrait of the rebbe.
The transcript is garbled; it shows the closing exchange and a portrait of the rebbe.
The camera records photographs while Sharhorodskij identifies a picture of himself after the war and a portrait of a rebbe. He then sends a message to Jews in Moldova, Israel and America: stay Jewish, help one another, be good to non-Jews, avoid war, and support Israel. He thanks the Joint for its help and ends with greetings to the interviewers' families.
Adds a thank-you to the Joint and a wider message to Jews in Israel and America.
