pdf available - Multiple Choices

124 LUBOML
Shpayzman, with the veterinary doctor Lacks,
and others.
The few years in the shtetl passed very quickly.
War clouds were gathering over Libivne. But
even before the war came to Libivne, the Soviets
occupied the entire region. I was ordered to
organize a polyclinic. We had 15 doctors working
in it, as well as two dentists, one of whom was my
brother-in-law, Martin Glasman.
The Soviet authorities also gave me the task
of organizing a women's hospital and I carried
out the assignment. I worked in that hospital
almost two years, until the Germans occupied us.
In 1939-40, Luboml had many Jewish refugees
from Poland: the Dunyets family from Chelm,
Dr. Lipnovsky from Lodz, Dr. Rozentzvayg
Tanenboym from the glass factory in Chelm, etc.
All settled in temporarily. They were waiting for
the war to end so as to be able to return home.
Under the Soviet regime, people could not
make a living. They worked but hardly earned
enough for bread, and they lived in poverty, without
a future. Their only hope was that the war
would end and the Russians would leave. We
thought often about the Land of Israel as an independent
state. We talked about it only in secret, for
such talk smacked of counter-revolution.
The following will illustrate how the Russians
enslaved the population: The NKVD [Soviet secret
police] would summon people to its chambers,
instill tremendous fear in them, and force
them to spy on their neighbors.
I do not wish to reveal any names, but honor-
able people have told me that they were forced to
do so or be deported to Siberia.
When the German-Soviet war broke out, and
Libivne was in danger of being occupied by the
Nazis, I, Dr. Glasman, Dr. Lipnovsky, and some
others went on foot to [the nearby town of] Kovel,
because trains had stopped running. There we
went to the Voyenkom [war committee], wishing
to enlist. They told us, "Go home. We will send
for you when we need you."
After spending some time under the Nazis
in Kovel and later in Trisk, where Dr. Lipnovsky
helped me, I returned to Libivne. I again began
to organize the Jewish hospital. I bought medicines
wherever I could, desiring mainly to
prevent an epidemic. When I discovered a
patient had developed typhoid, I isolated him
in the hospital. There were no more cases of
typhoid in Libivne!
I often spoke with Kopelzon, head of the
Judenrat, about organizing defense groups in the
woods, but he really believed that if we obeyed the
Nazis, we would survive.
I talked about running into the woods with
the lawyer Zatz, who was appointed by the
Germans to head the Jewish militia in the Ghetto.
He proposed that we hide out for one or two days
during the slaughter, then go into the woods with
guns and there organize a group.
I disagreed. But when I saw there was no way
out, I forged some Aryan documents for myself
and my brother-in-law and we fled Libivne.