Voices. A Mosaic of Ukrainian-Jewish Life. Holocaust
“The problem was not that there was no courage to run away. But where to go?”, Janina Hescheles
On June 22nd, 1941, German troops invaded the Soviet Union. More than 1.5 million Jews and Jewesses were killed in Ukraine alone, constituting almost one-third of the total Jewish victims of the Shoah.
Most Jewish people were murdered by German task forces in mass shootings and gassings. Others were killed in pogroms committed by local people, often initiated by the Germans. Some Jewish people were hidden by non-Jews. Very few people managed to escape from camps and ghettos, many of them joined the partisans fighting against the German oppressors.
Roald Hoffmann
... was born in Zolochiv (then Poland) in 1937.
He survived the Holocaust in Zolochiv.
In 1949, he migrated to the USA.
Professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
He is a Nobel laureate in Chemistry (1981).
Interview from July 5, 2023
Roald Hoffmann and his mother in Cracow after the war (1945) by Roald Hoffmann's private archiveJewish Museum Augsburg Swabia
Roald Hoffmann and his mother Clara in Cracow
1945
Roald Hoffmann, his mother and stepfather Paul Hoffmann (1947/1948) by Roald Hoffmann's private archiveJewish Museum Augsburg Swabia
Roald Hoffmann, mother and stepfather Paul Hoffmann
1947/48
Galyna Shulyatytska
…was born in 1932 in Berdychiv, Zhytomyr region (former UkSSR).
She survived the Shoa together with her mother Raisa Nikolaevna in Berdychiv.
She lives in Berdychiv.
Interview from September 22, 2022
Halyna Shulyatytska during the recording of an interview with the NGO "After Silence" (2022-09-22) by NGO "After Silence"Jewish Museum Augsburg Swabia
Halyna Shulyatytska
during the recording of an interview with the NGO "After Silence", September 2022
Anatoly Karpovich
… was born in 1933 in the city of Ichnia (Chernihiv region).
He was saved by the Kuzmenko family.
Interview from February 15, 2021, Kyiv
Anatolii Karpovych with his mother, Agnessa Markovna by NGO "After Silence"Jewish Museum Augsburg Swabia
Anatolii Karpovych with his mother Agnessa Markovna
Anastasya Kuzmenko who saved Anatolii Karpovych by NGO "After Silence"Jewish Museum Augsburg Swabia
Anastasya Kuzmenko who saved Anatolii Karpovych
Janina Hescheles
... was born in 1931 in Lviv (then Poland).
She was saved from the Janowska concentration camp thanks to the Polish underground organization "Zhegot".
Janina Hescheles died on July 24th 2022 in Haifa, Israel.
Interview from September 1, 2018, Lviv
Janina Hescheles with her mother (1936) by NGO "After Silence"Jewish Museum Augsburg Swabia
Janina Hescheles with her mother
1936
Mykhailo Vainshelboim
… was born in 1928 in the city of Berdychiv (Zhytomyr Region).
His family was killed in Berdych. He was saved by a Ukrainian family.
Interview from August 5, 2021, Berdychiv
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