Martin Koby - April 20, 1999
Number of Survivors in Family
Yeah, okay. Let me ask you this. Between your aunts and uncles, cousins, you, you had grandparents um, how many do you think, perished in the war?
Well, I...
Well, how many were there total, do you think? An estimate?
Well, I didn't--didn't count, but the majority survived.
The majority survived.
Well, a good number survived. Well, I'll tell you uh, for the Kobylanski family, okay? My grandmother Kobylanski came to live--when Rovno was taken over--you know, well the first thing they--you know, slowly, they made a ghetto, right? It was--you could go in and could go out you know, it was--every time--like every month you know, it got--the ghetto got tighter. You couldn't leave.
Yeah.
You couldn't get out. So g...no--so, first thing, my grandma came to live with us, to the village.
This was in '41?
No, no--yeah, in '41. Because remember, my Uncle Chaim, my father's brother Chaim, was, was living in our village too. He came from there. He married my mother's cousin of--which I didn't know that she was a cousin. Okay. Later on, after the war, that's how I found out, my uncle's wife was my mother's cousin. I didn't know. The standard of--you know, it's farbinka farknipt. Yeah, it's like uh, and...
This--what--when the Germans invaded you were...
In our village.
...twelve years old.
Yes.
Okay.
I used to play--I used to go trade with the German soldiers. I used to give them apples for a cigarette. I smoked. I started to smoke at that time. Then I got sick and I quit. You know, I ate--eat apples and smoke cigarettes.
So did you take the cigarettes and trade them for something else?
No. With who? There was--you know, no. Just for my own private use. I mean, I lasted like two days smoking.
Before we get to the ghetto...
Yeah.
Um, I want to know a little bit more about, um...
The survivors? How many survived?
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