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Jack Gun - August 12, 1999

Could you tell me your name please, and where you were born?

Yes, my name is Jack Gun and I was born in Rozhishche, Poland.

Um, Rozhishche is near-where?

Rozhishche is uh, in Eastern Poland. It's uh, the biggest city closest to it is Rovno. And also a city by the name of Luck, L-u-c-k, [Lutsk] which was quite a big city.

Um, Jewish population, do you have any idea what...

Yes, the Jewish population uh, was quite uh, large for a small city. The whole city had a population approximately about 15,000. And approximately ten, eleven thousand were Jews. Most of them were uh, business or uh, uh, craftsmen. And all around were villages with the Gentiles. And they used to come in to do, to do their buying and, uh.

Um, from the s...rural areas, you mean.

Right.

Tell me a little about your family. How large was your immediate family?

Okay, my family consisted of my father, my mother and a brother ten years older than myself. A sister seven years older and I was the youngest. There was three children.

And tell me the names.

Uh, my father's name uh, was uh, Shmuel, which is Sam Gun. And my mother's name was Sonia. And my uh, sister's name was Raizal, which is Rose.

And your brother?

And my brother was Anschel.

Um, what about extended family, grandparents, aunts, uncles...

Uh...

cousins?

Extended, as far as my grand...uh, I, I remember both of my grandmothers, but neither one of my grandfathers was alive. Uh, had about three, three aunts that I can remember living in Rozhishche, with uncles and they had children.

These were sisters of?

Of my father. My mother uh, all she had was one brother, which was an invalid. And they lived maybe twenty kilometers away from us in the city by the name of Torchin.

The cousins. You said you had three aunts and uncles and they had children.

Right.

How large are we talking about in terms of the extended family? First cousins.

Uh, say each one had approximately three, four children. We're talking about twelve. I would say twelve, fourteen cousins.

Fourteen cousins, plus your family, which is...

Right, five.

five more. Maybe twenty-five people?

Approximately.

Um, and how many survived the war?

Only one survived the war was my, my brother, myself and a first cousin, which, he ran, he ran with the Russian Army to, to Russia and he survived in Russia.