"Families, large and small." "Faces, cheerful and sad." "Beautiful and simple." "Someone's mother, father, grandmother." "They lived, worked, raised their children.. ." "wishing happiness for them.. ." "just like everyone else in the world." "The only distinction was that they were Jewish." "They did not know that because of their identity.. ." "a terrible tragedy awaited them." "Pogroms, humiliation and murder had happened before." "But this was the Shoah, the Holocaust." "This is the word given to describe.. ." "what happened to the Jewish people during the Second World War." "Six million were killed." "When Hitler came into power, outlawed the Jews.. ." "and made them targets for persecution and violence.. ." "the world did not protest much." "It was someone else's problem." "Even when the Nazis conquered half of Europe.. ." "many thought that repressions against them.. ." "would effect mainly the Jews." "And indeed this is how it was at first." "One needs an enemy to make a nation fight." "If there is no real enemy, one has to be invented." "That's how Hitler united Germany with the common hatred." "These are photographs of Jewish pogroms." "Everyone knows now what happened afterward." "Millions were shot, burned in the ovens.. ." "killed in the gas chambers." "The Jews were not the only victims." "For the first victim is never the last." "Shoah, the Holocaust." "The Nazis called it " the final solution.' '" "Everyone in this film was a child during the war." "They are children from the abyss, remnants of once large families.. ." "children who survived by pure chance." "They come to us from the smoke which took away.. ." "their beloved parents, grandparents, sisters and brothers." "They are among the very few.. ." "who miraculously survived out of so many." "They came from the inferno alone, often naked.. ." "with no families or even pictures to remember them." "Thus we sometimes show photos of other children.. ." "someone else's brother or sister.. ." "but they come from the same smoke." "We hope they will understand if we remember them all together." "Everything had started so cheerful for them." "They were growing up in a large country, feeling protected." "To them the country seemed strong and kind.. ." "just like their parents.. ." "strong, and kind, and beautiful." "childhood" "I was born in Kiev." "I was the oldest of three children." "I had a little brother, Abrasha." "He was eight years old." "My sister Paulina was four years old." "In every apartment building.. ." "there were Jews, Ukrainians, Russians." "My father worked... as a blacksmith at a factory." "My mother was a housewife." "Father was at work all day... so I went there to bring him home." "He'd get so tired." "Maria Grinberg, 12 years old in 194 1." "I was born in Nemirovo... a small town in the Ukraine." "I was the youngest in the family." "I had an older sister, Mera." "Galina Aizensharf, 5 years old in 194 1." "My father loved me and I loved him." "We were very close." "He was tall, handsome, and strong." "He cured people with the gift of hypnosis." "My mom was a caregiver at the Jewish orphanage." "And grandma was always there." "I used to sit in her lap... and paint her face with Mom's lipstick." "She would let me do anything." "Life was very simple... the life of a shtetl." "People observed the Sabbath." "They sewed all week." "There were small houses." "The tailors lived on one side." "Their whole family lived in one house." "Across from us lived a tinsmith." "He also had children, boys." "We'd often go to their place." "Everyone lived together." "The Moshkovich family across the street... had a few daughters and two sons." "There was Menachem." "Ilia Kelmanovich 10 years old in 1941" "He sold whitewash and bluing." "When we were very little, we were bathed at home." "They'd warm up the water." "I remember... I hated it when they used to wash my head." "My mother worked in a kindergarten." "Galina Davydova 1 1 years old in 1941" "My father was a bookbinder." "He played the trumpet." "My friends and I would run... to where he was marching with the trumpet." "I was so proud of him." "We had a tree for the New Year." "My favorite thing was the candy." "New Year's Eve... was probably the most joyous children's holiday." "Before the war... the relationships between different people were fairly normal." "There were some incidents.. ." "where drunkards on the streets.. ." "would call us kikes." "But they were drunks... so we did not pay too much attention to them." "And as for decent people..." "Raisa Dashkevich ...we had many Russian friends, without discrimination." "This is how they lived their lives in the Soviet Union:" "Children from Moscow, Kiev, and small towns.. ." "very poor and not so poor." "Many of them did not even think about.. ." "what set them apart from other children." "But there turned out to be a difference." "Their parents were Jewish." "Thus we had lived until.. ." "the most horrible day in my life... when something suddenly changed." "The adults looked worried and cried." "The planes came and one dropped something." "There was an explosion." "I fainted." "The raid was close." "This was how the war began." "war" "Dad took me by my hand... and I saw my reflection in the window pierced by bullets." "I said that those were little suns." "At 2:00 a.m. there was a horrible bombardment of Kiev... and in an hour... all our husbands received draft orders." "When my father... received his draft order... my mother cried very hard." "There was a sea of people.. ." "a sea of sorrow." "Father told Mother to pick up the kids and leave." "Then they marched away." "And we never saw them again... because they all perished." "I didn't see my husband either.. ." "because he was killed in the first few days of the war." "Yakov Sukhovolsky 13 years old in 1941" "On July 2 the Germans appeared on motorcycles." "They looked so confident." "They met hardly any resistance." "They were singing in a strange language... so loud and strong, lots of them." "That's how our city was occupied." "It was too late for us to leave." "They took our horses and we stayed behind." "My mom was very young." "She had three small children." "She did not leave on time." "No one expected.. ." "it would happen so soon." "The German army's push was overwhelming." "Thousands of Soviet soldiers.. ." "entire divisions were captured." "In a matter of just a few weeks, enormous territories were captured." "Those were exactly the regions where the bulk of the Jews lived." "The war launched against them was one of total annihilation." "Nobody could protect them." "Most men were fighting on the front." "The Nazis sought to gain support in the occupied territories." "In any nation.. ." "there are those willing to serve whatever authority is in power." "They are capable of any cruelty, of any crime." "The Nazis hastened to bond those accomplices by bloodshed.. ." "but not just any bloodshed." "The blood of neighbors, classmates and children." "BABl YAR City of Kiev" " September, 1941" "In September, the German army captured Kiev." "They posted a decree in Ukrainian... ordering all Jews to report... together with their children.. ." "and all their belongings.. ." "by 8:00 a.m ." "Those who failed to report.. ." "would be shot for not complying with the order." "Many started crying... but others told us not to be afraid... because they thought.. ." "that we were just being resettled." "Aunt Polia said, "Perhaps we're being sent to Palestine."" "Viktor Stadnik 8 years old in 1941" "" That would be good. lt's warm there."" "My mom made little knapsacks... and gave one to each of us." "It was such a peaceful, beautiful day." "There was no wind, very calm and quiet." "People were emerging from all the streets.. ." "just like little streams.. ." "emptying into a river." "No one knew." "No one could imagine what would happen to us." "A woman came out from the building across the street." "A Russian or a Ukrainian." "She said, " Don't go."" "Nothing else, just, " Don't go."" "We marched behind the German guards.. ." "and she kept walking along." "Suddenly my mom pushed me toward that woman." "She grabbed me and hid me behind her." "My older brother Tolia was carrying two bags of dry bread." "He could not just dump them... and he couldn't leave Mom behind." "We just looked at each other." "We were very close." "One brother survived.. ." "while the other perished in Babi Yar." "Luidmila Zavorotnaia Ukrainian Eyewitness" "Two girls lived nearby, Rosa and Tsilia." "They got away." "They were running toward my house." "Two young Germans caught them by the arms." "The girls were stumbling and screaming." "What could I do?" "I was scared." "The Germans dragged them away as they screamed." "Two beautiful girls." "That's when it began." "It was a wild shriek." "A wild cry." "People heard the gunshots... and realized where they were." "They kept beating everyone." "I just held my child... so only I got beaten, not him." "There were infants.. ." "lying on the ground, still alive." "The Germans would grab them... the pit was full of boulders... and they would smash their little heads... against the rocks." "I called for my mother." "I was completely scattered." "I do not remember how I got undressed." "I was completely naked." "We were near the edge of the pit." "When we approached it and heard the gunshots... we understood everything." "We understood that we were marching to our deaths." "There was an enormous crowd there... crazed in the face of death." "They pushed each other." "They pressed against each other." "There were so many people." "I stood nearby." "There was an interpreter there." "He was a Russian man." "I don't think he was a German." "My braids came undone." "I don't know how." "I can't tell you how." "I wasn't crying. I was howling with fear." "I was all alone." "I kept screaming, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!"" "The interpreter noticed me." "He asked me..." "" Hey, girl, how did you get here?"" "I could not talk." "I must have been in a state of shock." "Just imagine... to be there and to watch all that." "Suddenly, a politsai came up to me... and said, " Why are you standing around?" "" Why aren't you in the line?"" "He turned around... and kicked me in the stomach with his jackboot." "I fell to the ground." "Then the interpreter approached." "" Don't you see that she is one of us," he said." "" She's here by mistake." "" Why are you beating her?"" "He walked over to a heap of clothes... grabbed an overcoat and covered me." "I was shaking so much." "People started falling." "They were shooting from the other side." "They didn't shoot everyone in the back of the head." "People got shot in the chest and everywhere." "First my dad fell... and I saw how he pulled my mom with him." "Then the sisters, then I can't remember." "I still can't understand how I didn't go insane." "I saw my mother... up there being executed." "I kept screaming, " Mommy, Mommy!"" "But what could be heard there?" "It was madness, you understand?" "Mother held both of them by the hands." "I walked out of there crippled for life." "I kept regaining consciousness.. ." "and fainting." "I was holding my baby, but he was already dead." "The weight of the bodies on top of me... and my weight strangled him." "It wasn't the bullets that killed him." "I regained consciousness in the middle of the night... and I began crawling from under the bodies." "I somehow managed to crawl out." "That ravine was very steep." "It was hard to climb." "I don't know who helped me." "Perhaps it was God." "I don't know." "According to German statistics.. ." "150,000 Jews lived in Kiev before the occupation." "By January of 1942.. ." "the Nazis reported that there were twenty left." "Twenty Jews." "Seven men and thirteen women." "ghetto" "Everyone knows about Babi Yar... but in Belorussia there were more than 100 ghettos." "They were like small Babi Yars." "100,000 Jews were killed in Minsk alone during several Aktionen." "Glusk was one of those Babi Yars." "Grandma and Riva went to the square... and they never came back." "The square was surrounded." "We still lived in our house for a while." "By fall... we were forced into a ghetto." "There were some geese there... for the officers' meals." "They confiscated them in the villages nearby." "Someone had to herd the geese." "There were three of us." "My sister, a boy Yosik and me." "I liked him very much." "He had curly hair and black eyes." "He had a beautiful smile." "He'd always say to us.. ." "" Don't be afraid." "If a German walks by, just smile." "" l promise he won't touch you." "That's a sure thing." "" They won't kill you if you smile at them."" "And then one day Yosik didn't come." "There were just three geese left." "I asked my sister if he was killed." "She said, " Yes."" "I asked, " But why?" "Didn't he smile?"" "She said that he probably did." "I couldn't understand how they could kill him if he smiled." "I realized that he smiled and then started to cry." "That was how we lived in the ghetto." "My dad was already sick.. ." "and he'd lay in the bed.. ." "sick almost all the time." "It was very cold, and we had nothing to eat." "One morning, Mom put coats on us and hid us under the bed." "Dad said to Mom, " Hide!" She wanted him to hide." "As soon as she hid, the politsai came in." "Dad said out loud:" "" Goodbye, Tania and children." "I will never see you again."" "They took him away.. ." "broke everything in the house, and we just laid under the bed." "Nobody looked under the bed." "To this day, I still think... dad's hypnotic gift saved us." "In a country that has endured so much.. ." "it is difficult to empathize with another's suffering." "Many people say, "They were not the only ones." "" Look at us!" "" Look at how many we lost, how much we suffered in that war." "" Why should we feel sorry for them?"" "It's easy to answer why.. ." "but it's difficult to get through to those.. ." "who won't care about a child, or an old man's suffering.. ." "just because they're of a different blood." "Mom was not at home." "They took her and my little brother." "That guy, Sergey.. ." "son of the politsai's chief took them there." "People said... that Mom hid in the attic." "And the boy, he was just two years old." "He was two." "Mom put him under the table... and put the tablecloth over him, to hide him." "But when they came... they asked if anyone was at home." "She had told him to be quiet... but the little boy started crying and she came down." "They led them both away." "Every little town had its own ghetto." "And every ghetto had its time.. ." "Emma Murchenko 16 years old in 1941 ...for the Jews to be killed and burned." "But they all had one thing in common." "Not a single ghetto in Belorussia remained." "All ghettos were liquidated." "One morning at dawn... around 5:00 a.m. the German killing squads... stormed into town." "The politsai were walking through the streets.. ." "and the kids followed them." "Both the politsai and the boys were Ukrainian." "They were searching for the Jews." "Panic began." "People were beaten." "People fell, people fainted... and we were herded into the middle of a field." "There were no Germans involved in that Aktion." "Perhaps they were given the orders... but I didn't see a single German." "There were just the politsai." "They were all drunk." "They were cursing terribly." "My little sister asked Mom where they were taking us." "" To the woods," Mom said." "" Can I take my doll?" my sister asked." "We took the doll, but the politsai took it away and said to my sister:" "" No doll for you!" "" You are going to be killed!"" "But when the politsai rounded us up.. ." "our men started a fight with them." "They broke the politsai cordons... and people started running away." "My sister knocked on a woman's door." "The woman opened a window instead." "She saw and recognized the three of us... and started shouting as loud as she could..." "" Politsai!" "Jewish children!"" "We were shocked and ran away farther down the street." "The Goldberg boys were running, too." "She yelled, " There!" "Jewish children!"" "The boys were killed." "Many children who ran, were killed on the spot." "Basia's and Ida's children were running." "They were all shot." "We were led down the street." "People stood on both sides.. ." "and threw stones, rocks and mud at us." "They were shouting:" "" Look!" "Look at her, look at him!" "Look at them!"" "And yet the Jews did so much good for those people." "There were doctors, teachers, obstetricians among the Jews." "Klara, the obstetrician, aided births in the entire village." "When local women realized we were all going to be shot... they ran after us and asked, "Give us back Klara and Khariton."" "Khariton was the dentist." "Without Klara they'd be left without anyone to deliver their children." "But no one was released." "Around 15 children were brought." "They were told to undress. lt was freezing." "At the bathhouse, they were shot." "One girl was a little older." "She was crying and hugging her brother." "Then they were shot." "And then the locals fought with each other... over dead children's clothing." "They forced us to our knees." "Behind each one stood a politsai." "When the shot was fired, I ducked... and then I was pushed into the pit." "The next group was brought..." "Vera Levitskaia 10 years old in 1941 ...and I heard my older sister among them." "She held our little brother." "He was crying." "It was very cold because everyone was naked." "He kept crying:" "" l'm cold." "My feet are freezing."" "She kept comforting him:" "" Calm down, Sioma, it'll be warm soon."" "Then there were shots again, and they fell." "I don't know how the Ukrainians felt, in general..." "Vitaly lanover 5 years old in 1941 ...but some took people's clothing... and ripped out earrings and gold teeth." "Some of them, not all of them... especially politsai, but others were taking clothes, too." "They unloaded us." "Parents started undressing." "Mom was holding my hand." "She looked at me." "Her gaze was horrible." "It wasn't dawn yet." "She said, " Run, son!" l started running." "I slipped between people's legs in the crowd... but they saw me and fired a few shots." "When we were leaving, my brother was crying." "Klara Vinokur 1 4 years old in 1941" "Mom tried to comfort him, "Don't cry, I'm with you."" "Everyone realized where we were going." "I had two thoughts at that moment." "One was:" "" lf it's true that there is an afterlife..." "" then I'm going to see Dad now."" "The other thought I had, which may seem strange, was:" "" lf Stalin knew what was happening, he would save me."" "He was our idol." "They started bringing people, 30 per truck." "As soon as one group was done, they brought the next." "Those who covered the bodies with soil, they were shot last." "As each row was shot.. ." "they fell into the pit and were covered with soil." "The children were brought to a small table..." "Mikhail Mervinetsky ...and were given a small piece of wet cotton... to smell or to taste." "If the child did not fall down at once... he would be kicked into the pit with a foot." "Around 1 1 :00 a.m. they brought my family, too." "Mother was always stronger." "Father cried." "Then they saw me." "And I saw them." "They took my mom and dad... to the grave." "Father screamed out... not to forget them." "They told us to take off most of our clothes and shoes." "It was very quiet." "Everyone was sitting down." "Nobody cried anymore." "We were made to walk between two lines of politsai." "We sat down, the whole family together." "Then my parents were led away." "I never saw them again." "There was a large pit there." "When all were shot... only we boys remained." "There were perhaps 10 or 15 of us." "The politsai said:" "" You kikes!" "Go to the pit!"" "And he made all of us go there." "I ran up to one politsai who was there." "I said that I was Ukrainian." "He told me to sit down." "Then I saw a German... with a four-year-old boy... and I asked him to give that child to me." "I took him... and when everything was over..." "I walked away with that boy." "I walked with him down a road.. ." "and I saw a man passing by." "I asked that man:" "" Can you take this child with you?"" "I said that the boy's parents had been killed." "He took the child and I went away." "I don't know what happened to that boy." "I was only eleven." "I had to survive somehow." "They herded everyone into a barn... poured gasoline all over and set it on fire." "Can you imagine that?" "Mothers, sisters, brothers, all burning alive!" "Some burned sooner, others later." "Children and their mothers see each other on fire... and no one can help each other." "They cry until they become ashes." "It's different when you die alone, even if you're burning alive.. ." "but when your loved ones are on fire... when you see how someone you love is dying more quickly than you... when someone's hand is burning.. ." "when your children are crying, "Mommy, it hurts!"" "In the middle of a clearing... there was a bowl on a wooden table... with a huge bottle of rum and a glass." "The politsai would go there and drink.. ." "and then they led us away naked." "Suddenly, I wanted to live so much." "I had a terrible fear of death." "I began hiding behind people's backs." "As each group was taken, I would keep hiding." "Finally, it was the last dozen." "My parents were already shot." "They took my sister by her leg and threw her against a tree." "Bullets weren't wasted on children." "They died the most horrible deaths." "I get sick talking about it." "And then a politsai shouted, "l am going mad!" "" My trigger finger is swollen." "I have already killed 50 people." "" Let my finger heal."" "When I was there with the last dozen... there was no place left to hide." "The politsai were, themselves, half-dead from the killing." "And when they saw me, a little girl in an old nightgown... they said, " All right, keep it on!"" "I was too ashamed to undress." "I already had small breasts." "In the second before he fired his gun... it must have been because of fear and shock... I fainted." "When I regained consciousness, it was already dark." "I saw stars... the moon and trees." "I thought, " My God, the afterworld looks just like ours."" "Then I heard moaning.. ." "and realized that I was under a heap of bodies." "I was sticky, covered with clinging mud." "Some of it was excrement." "A lot of it was blood." "It was an absolutely horrific sight." "The moon and stars were shining." "I saw politsai walking near the pit." "I was not alone." "Six-year-old Rita was there." "Toiba was also there." "I thought she was old... but she must have been 35 years old." "The three of us started crawling." "I motioned for Rita to be silent." "There was a second pit.. ." "and I fell into it." "Imagine what Rita was going through!" "She lost me. lt was pitch-black... so she cried out for me, " Lucia!"" "Instantly, she was shot dead." "At the same moment, Toiba was killed." "rescuers" "The survival of each of these children is a miracle." "But there were also kind people.. ." "Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Tatars.. ." "who risked their own lives.. ." "to save other people's children." "War-stricken themselves.. ." "they still remained humane." "I woke up inside a house... when an old woman was pouring some water on me." "She washed me, took care of my wounds.. ." "and put some ointments on me." "Three days later she said:" "" Girl, you don't look Jewish." "" You're still young." "Your whole life is ahead of you."" "She gave me clothes and shoes and said:" "" Go, and may God help you!"" "A Ukrainian woman was passing by." "She took us with her." "Aunt Pasha gave us white scarves.. ." "so that we wouldn't be recognized as Jews." "She gave us little crosses on necklaces." "She said, " You, Mera, will now be Marusia." "" And you, Shelia, will be Galia."" "I kept this name." "She gave me food and drink." "She gave me advice and... I took her name Ekaterina." "She also called me Golubka." "Dove." "She cried a lot." "This nickname grew on me... and I became Ekaterina Golub." "I prayed to God for help." "And I still do, to this day." "choice" "Often people ask, "Why didn't the Jews resist?" "" Why didn't they escape from the ghettos?" "" There were young and strong people there, too.' '" "They tried, but such freedom had its own terrible price." "Yes, they could flee from work." "Some would be shot, and others would escape." "But for every escapee... not only the family, but all of their relatives... would be killed and burned." "What do you think?" "Who could live with such sins?" "Who could live with the blood of mothers and fathers on them?" "I talked with my brother... and we decided to escape." "Although I was thinking:" "" How can I flee if my mother stays behind?"" "Lev Gurevich 1 4 years old in 1941" "Mother was begging us to flee." "My brother didn't want to." "He was older and was making all the decisions." "He said, " No, Mom, we won't leave you."" "She fell to her knees and begged us to flee." "So we fled to the woods at night." "I still can't forgive myself." "Because of me, my parents died sooner." "When they shot my mother... I was told by a neighbor... she was holding my brother... a three-year-old boy." "She held him so tightly in her arms... they couldn't separate the child's body... from his mother's ." "And then when I joined the partisans... we started to take revenge... for our mothers and brothers." "We fought in small groups." "Our Jewish partisan force.. ." "set politsai quarters on fire.. ." "and shot the politsai." "Besides being a scout... I also went on reconnaissance missions." "We liberated.. ." "prisoners of war and Jews near Minsk." "Had it not been for the partisans... no one would have survived in ghettos." "No one." "The war was coming to an end.. ." "and like the rest of Europe, Germany was in ruins." "It was shattered by what it had started itself." "But children still had their whole lives ahead of them." "How could they live.. ." "knowing such horrors about people?" "In an instant, I lost everything." "Before, I had a home, my parents... my brother and little sister." "I am the last one from Miropol." "I had hoped someone else had survived." "But I am the only survivor, the last one, miraculously." "God helped me survive." "Maybe so I could tell you about it." "After the war, they all went away together with the Germans." "Serdiuk, the politsai's chief... was captured in Poland, tried and executed... but his son came back... and I decided to kill him." "I had a Parabellum pistol." "I took it and went to his house." "His mother opened the door." "I asked, " Where is Sergey?"" "" ln the bedroom," she said." "I went in there." "He lay on the bed, face down." "He was asleep." "I stood there with the gun, but I could not shoot him." "l turned around and went away." "Why couldn't you do it?" "I don't know." "I suppose I could have if he saw me face-to-face... or if he had resisted, but he as just asleep." "Revenge doesn't change anything.. ." "and it cannot bring anyone back." "When Jews prayed in synagogues... the prayers were sad ones." "Why do women cry as they pray... during the feast of Shavuot?" "It's not because... they worry about food." "It's because we've always been persecuted." "This is a great sin." "How could someone kill a four-year-old child... who has never harmed anyone?" "Fascism promised the Germans happiness from the blood of others." "For that purpose, Germany created the world's most powerful army.. ." "and made murderers out of thousands of people." "But it turns out that hatred does not lead to happiness." "Instead, it leads into an abyss." "Everyone must know the truth." "They must remember." "I keep thinking, " We will all die someday."" "I hope our children never know the kind of suffering we lived through."