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328 LUBOML
When we reached the village, I was told to
go to the village Soltis (head) and tell him the
partisans were demanding 20 cows. He told me
he did not have any cows.
While searching at the home of another peasant,
we (I and Trachtenberg) found a hidden cache
of clothes, including two fur coats, which we requisitioned.
The other partisans, who managed to
get drunk and came back with empty hands, were
punished.
Many times men who had been sent out to
look for things never came back; a few were Jews.
My company had three Jews; another company
had 12-15. The partisans of that group had shot a
Jew whom the leaders had sent out on a foray with
them. Most Jewish partisans were so afraid to go
that they would refuse an assignment.
On the other hand, some Jews would be anxious
to go out and fight. One in my troop, whose
name was Karlgan, had the title geroy ("the
hero") and he became our leader. His father is
now in Israel.
We received orders to take a small shtetl near
Kovel, where we would make contact with the
Red Army coming toward Kovel from the opposite
side. My daughter was supposed to go with
the fighters.
But the plan to unite with the Red Army fell
through, since the Russians had failed to take
Kovel and therefore could not come to meet us.
We had to retreat. While in retreat, our partisan
group met a big group of armed Germans and
engaged them in battle. We brought our 74
wounded people back to the base in the woods.
There was an airfield not far from our camp,
and Russian airplanes took our wounded to a hospital.
After eight days, we again received orders
to meet up with the Red Army, which was near
Kovel. By then we had received some reinforcements
from Russian soldiers from other parts of
the country. The Russians took the young partisans
into their army and made them regular soldiers.
The older partisans, as well as women and
children, stayed on in the village of Kochotska-
Vola. I remained in this village with my wife
and daughter.
The village had an outbreak of typhoid fever;
my wife succumbed to this sickness and died
after 14 days of suffering. I gave her a Jewish
burial in the town of Sotshi.
My daughter caught the disease from her
mother and became sick. Having lost my wife
and son, I feared losing the only dear person I
had left. I fed her, giving her fresh milk and
watching over her like the apple of my eye. But
as she grew steadily weaker, I hired a horse and
wagon and took her to the village of Rafalovke,
which had a pharmacist by the name of Bass. He
took my daughter into his home, gave her medicine,
and saved her. He is now in Israel.
Meanwhile, the Soviets began to draft all
men up to the age of 50 into the Red Army. I,
too, received an order to appear before the army
authorities. Since my daughter was still very
weak after her serious illness, I could not leave
her alone. Even in this matter Mr. Bass was able
to help me, and I escaped the draft, remaining
in Rafalovke.
When Kovel was liberated, I decided to
travel through Kovel back to my hometown.
When I and my daughter came to Libivne, we
hardly found a single house undamaged. My
brother's house was one that had remained intact,
but there was hardly a soul left in town besides
Moyshe Lifshitz, his wife, Chane, and a brother,
Pinie, and four boys who had saved themselves
by running into the woods [Nathan Sobel, Avrom
Getman, Moyshe Blumen and Binyomen Perkall.
There were about 20 Jews left altogether.
Moyshe Lifshitz had been in Libivne for two
weeks, working as a bookkeeper. He helped me
get a job, for the rayispolkom (government office)
needed a man to buy and sell animal skins. I was
hired and soon became a director. I then hired
three gentiles who had saved Jews. One was the
gentile who had hidden Yidl Byeges, who is now
in Israel. I also gave work to the gentile who had
saved Moyshe Lifshitz and his wife, Chane.
My staff consisted of ten peoplethree gentiles
and seven Jewsand we usually held meetings
that stretched well into the night. I, as a director,
had to participate in these meetings. Those
gentiles who had been German collaborators were
sent to work in Donbas. They never came back.
Life went on for four months until the arrival
of Denisyuk from Gor-Soviet. He was a truly evil
person. One day he called over the four Jewish