MDV 396 · Sofia Abramovna Geller; David Grigoryevich Geller; Mikhail Kupershmidt

David Geller tells about his own circumcision, held when he was eight days old, with his mother and grandmother carrying him to the synagogue. His father, a Communist, was excluded from the Party over it. Kerler comments on his fine Yiddish and asks about his brother.

The catalogue gives no detail on the Party expulsion beyond a short mention; the transcript also shows Kerler asking about the brother's burial or death.

Sofia Geller describes the special small cakes baked before the war for the night before a bris, when the children came to a Krishme-leyenen (Kriyat Shema) gathering. Kerler asks how they looked and when they were baked. The passage ends with toasts and a joke about drinking, in which Kerler says he drinks only symbolically.

The transcript also shows toasts and a short exchange about who drinks.

The hosts and Kerler chat over the family photographs, with wishes for good health. They thank the visitors for coming and talk about Jews and about speaking Yiddish.

The Gellers drink toasts and sing together, including a wedding-related song. Kerler explains that he can speak Russian but does not understand it. The passage includes a Russian song and a Yiddish folk song about a peasant and a balalaika, with Kerler's thanks. Singing is mixed with chat.

The transcript shows toasts and chat about languages around the songs; the nigunim named in the catalogue are not clear.

The team goes by car to the next visit. After a short exchange about a deceased wife, Kerler and Kupershmidt greet each other. They recall their earlier meeting in Bratslav and the cemetery, and Kupershmidt asks where they come from. They explain how many travelled and that the car came from Kyiv.

The transcript shows greetings and reminiscence of an earlier visit as well as the drive.

Kupershmidt begins the interview by describing prewar Jewish Bratslav, including its prayer houses and the synagogue and the Hasidim there. He lists the trades (smiths, carpenters, shoemakers, tailors, hatmakers), says the Jews were poor and helped each other, and mentions the town's charity. Kerler also asks him about the Yiddish word for the pack frames used for carrying loads.

Kupershmidt's birth year is given, and Kerler asks for a Yiddish term for a carrying tool.

Kupershmidt speaks about his parents and siblings: his father Aharon, a Bratslav native with a horse and cart who carried loads to the mill, and his mother, from a village about twelve kilometers away. He says his mother's father, a miller there, and the grandparents were observant. The family later bought a cow, and he tells how the milk was kosher.

The names of the grandfather and parents are given in the transcript, along with the kosher milk.

Kupershmidt describes the melamed, called rebbe in Bratslav, and recalls a rabbi named Chaim and the Hasidim, perhaps eight, who were poor tinsmiths and shoemakers. He tells of the Sukkot gathering with dancing, of the honesty of the poor, and of his father selling a horse and how the sale was done. He also mentions his mother's home practices.

Kupershmidt talks about Sabbath preparations before the war, including how food was kept warm in the oven (the shunt, and pechor), and the poverty alongside honesty. In answer to Kerler he names the Sabbath fish as chopped fish. The passage ends with a comment on the Soviet Union and an exchange about where the team has come from.

The transcript includes the exchange about the team's origins in Moscow, Israel and America.

Kupershmidt talks about his wartime experiences. He trained as a driver and worked for a Soviet official, and says he was exempted from army service when the war started. He describes his plan to flee with his wife and child, and the false name he took under the Germans. He mentions earlier service in Finland and time in Zhytomyr (?) and Rivne ghetto, though many details are garbled.

The transcript shows Kupershmidt's earlier army service in Finland and a name change, but the catalogue's order of imprisonments is not clear.

Kupershmidt recalls working as a driver for a German in Nemyriv for about a year, and travelling on a pass between the ghettos of Nemyriv and Bratslav to see his wife and child. He found houses emptied and learned that people had been taken to the camp at Pechora. A benevolent German officer helped him, and he explains Russian and German terms for the permit. The passage ends with local families, including Dardik (?).

The transcript includes the pass terminology and a mention of the Pechora camp.

Kupershmidt recalls local families who perished and continues with his driving work for Germans and Romanians. He tells how he wore a Star of David, of a German officer living with a Jewish woman, and of a letter about him that he offers to show. He also recounts a trip to Mohyliv-Podilskyy, where he made a delivery, and the car trouble on the road.

The transcript names the German officer's circle and the road trip, and mentions a letter.

Kupershmidt continues the war narrative with his brother in Mohyliv-Podilskyy, where the family lived in the ghetto, and a labor levy of three hundred people for building a bridge. Kerler asks how the brother was called, and about seeing Jews drowned in the Bug.