Miriam Biegun - August 10, 1983
Judenrat Assistance in the Ghetto
Were there other um, Russian farmers, uh...
Yes.
Who helped--who were punished because they were discovered that you know about?
Yes. There was a family that's my mother took all the stuff to her because we had to leave the house and, you know, there was silverware and all this stuff. We couldn't take it to the ghetto, and my mother knew that sooner or later the German would get a hold of it. So she give it to the farmers. And they were very nice to us. And because they helped and, you know, sometimes one farmer, you know uh, went and told on another farmer, so the, one neighbor was scared of another neighbor. Family, they used to hide from their own family or from their own children, but the family got shot because they helped.
You were in the ghetto for fourteen months--
Yes.
Um, and you said that members of the Judenrat helped. Do you remember any of the names of people in the Judenrat?
Yes. There was one ???. I think it was, I forget all the time, so I marked it down. It was ???, Dvoretski, he was the main leader. He worked in the Germans, but he was making ready the, you know, the leader to go back to the forest.
What kinds of things would he do?
You know, he used to arrange, you know, to make it ready, where to go and how to organize, and if the Jews come, not to get lost. You know, to wait for them already in special points of the forest. And was Hershl Kaplinski.
Also a member of the Judenrat?
Yes. But they were the leaders in the partisans. They organize them.
I see. Did they go get to the woods, those three?
Yes. They were the first ones there.
Kablinski was one. Is that the man's name?
Kaplinski.
Kaplinski.
Kaplinski.
Um, were they with you throughout the war then?
Yes, the were in the partisans. They were the main leaders.
When you left, left the ghetto, fourteen months in the ghetto, what kind of condition were you in? Did you get enough food to eat in the ghetto?
In the ghetto was not too bad because this, once in a while they used to allow, you know, from the farmers to come in. The farmers used to make in the, in the wagons, you know, like double floors in the wagon. They used to smuggle stuff in. Or the, the German didn't check them quite so, you know, so the ladies used to hide stuff in the dresses because the Germans sometimes--from the beginning they never used to check so badly, so they used to smuggle in food and stuff like that.
So again, you had help from...
Yeah, everybody they shared, you know. Every family used to go one from another, and you know, used to share stuff.
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