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DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Chaim Brandler. Full, unedited interview, 2009 ID UKR014.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4w37kx2v ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN TABLE OF CONTENTS ITEM TRANSCRIPT ENGLISH TRANSLATION 2 CITATION & RIGHTS 12 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 1/12 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Chaim Brandler. Full, unedited interview, 2009 ID UKR014.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4w37kx2v ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN TRANSCRIPT ENGLISH TRANSLATION — Today is June 28, 2009. We are in Lvov [Lviv], meeting with a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Please, introduce yourself; your name, patronymic, surname. Where and when were you born? Describe your prewar life. How did you end up in the army? How did you experience the war? Please. My name is Brandler, Chaim Samsonovich. I was born in the town Mostyska on April 20, 1921. —What is the name of the city? Mostyska. —Mostyska? Yes. In Russian, Mostyska. My initial studies took place in a cheder, from three or four years old, I do not recall exactly. I studied for ten years. Then at the age of seven, I began to study at a Polish school, a lower secondary school. After school, I needed to acquire a profession. I studied with a tinsmith, and began to work a little. The Polish-German war began on September 1, 1939. I was not old enough for the army but decided not to stay in German occupied territory. Here is how the war began for me. On the eve of September 1, a radio-loudspeaker was installed on the premises of the Zionist organization. This was a novelty for Mostyska—a loudspeaker. I heard Hitler’s "reasoned out" speech, which demanded territorial concessions from the Polish government. The next day, the Polish minister of foreign affairs, Josef Beck, replied to this speech, saying that we needed to reach an agreement and so on . The war began with a that metal thing that emitted sounds [air raid alarm]. The sounds were [to let people know] that an air raid was expected. Short-duration ones meant the end of the air raid. During the first days of the war, my mother sent me to get milk. Near . how do you say it in Russian . the building for cows. There was a dog nearby. The dog knew me; I would pet it. Suddenly, for no reason, it began to howl—howl like mad. She looked at me with innocent eyes, as though asking for forgiveness for her howling. And on this day the station at Mostyska was bombed. I remember this howl, perhaps it was a prediction that there would be victims . that six million Jews . and in general . She looked at me with such innocent eyes. My mother and sister decided to send me away because the Germans were approaching. And indeed, they soon occupied [the town]. I went with the guys in the direction of Lvov. My uncle and aunt were living in Lvov. The next day we continued further. Beyond Lvov there was a chalutz, where Jewish youth learned physical labor in order to 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 2/12 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Chaim Brandler. Full, unedited interview, 2009 ID UKR014.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4w37kx2v ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN go to Israel. —Chalutzim—pioneers. Yes. This was, presumably, the property of some German, but they treated us with their products, that is milk and bread. The next day we were able to sit on the side of a car and hold on. We were checked along the way and we learned that this car belong to Polish radio. They were checking them and along with them they checked us as well. They did not mind us going with them. We reached, approximately, the road between Zolochev and Brody. They were going toward Romania, but we decided not to go there and went towards Brody. A cart with a box carrying bread caught up with us on the way. Sitting on this box, we reached the former Polish border and stopped there. We were fed a little while [traveling] on this cart. We needed to register but there was such a long line that I was unable to register with the Polish authorities. On September 17, at dawn, we heard machine-gun fire. It turned out that the Red Army had crossed the border. We spent the night in a prayer house. When we left the prayer house, we saw these new uniforms; we did not know about them. Troops marched past almost the entire day. We observed that there was a small garrison there. I do not know what they were doing there. Perhaps it was a garrison of border guards. The Red Army took them prisoner. We watched. Then a Red Army clerk began registering all the refugees. They were mostly Jews, a few Poles. Melameds made up the lion’s share of refugees. I think you know what a melamed is. —A teacher. A teacher of religion. A few days later, I decided to return home. After some time we were loaded into Red Army cars, they fed us. I remember we reached Radzivillov [Radyvyliv] . —Where? Radzivillov, there is such a place in Rovne [Rivne] Oblast. Well, it was Yom Kippur: Judgment Day. I went into a prayer house. I thought they would let me spend the night. Of course, they allowed me to spend the night. Of course, they did not give me anything to eat on Judgment Day. I spent the night and they asked me in the morning what it would be like for them, those who are rich? They were rich. Well, I tried to calm them down . What could I say? I knew just as much as they did. I reached Krasnoe [Krasne]; it's close to Lvov. One thing surprised me: there was a man walking with a red armband and a carbine. Looked like a policemen. An old woman came up—perhaps his mother or someone else—and called to him. After a few minutes, he comes out without the armband and without the carbine. 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 3/12 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Chaim Brandler. Full, unedited interview, 2009 ID UKR014.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4w37kx2v ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN I reached Lvov. At that point, I was almost in Mostyska. Nine kilometers before Mostyska there is a village, Tvirzha. We were detained there, held all night, because some part of Poland was being destroyed. I only managed to get home in the morning. As it turned out, the Germans occupied Peremyshl [Przemyśl], Mostyska, Sudova Vishnya [Sudova Vyshnya]. I do not remember whether they took Gorodok [Horodok]. They are all close to Lvov. They were unable to take Lvov itself. The Germans gathered all the Jewish males and forced them to clean the streets. This physical labor did not hurt anyone. But they mistreated them. One Jew was even killed in Sudova Vishnya. So I believe evacuating was the right thing to do. To finish this story, I can say this: part of Peremyshl along the San River belonged to the Soviet Union at the time and for some reason either in the spring or fall, I do not remember exactly, I traveled to Peremyshl for some reason. When I was going back in order to return to Mostyska by train, I looked across the San River bridge, the San is a rather wide river, and the bridge is about half a kilometer, maybe more. Some people appeared [on the bridge]. When they reached the middle of the bridge, from the middle of the column they pulled out . with a hammer and sickle . they blocked the entire bridge, they did not allow these people to join our side. Those people were probably Jews coming from either Germany or rather from Poland trying to cross to the Soviet Union. These are my memories from this period of the war. Now, here is how the second war began for me, on June 22. We managed to enroll in tractor drivers’ courses. I decided to learn a new trade because there was no work. Since I studied well and graduated with honors, they kept me there as an instructor of tractor operation—practical studies. On June 22, the instructor of the district party committee, or commissioner, arrived at this mechanization school and announced that war had begun. I decided to go defend the Motherland, as they say. I called the military recruitment office . ”No, under no circumstances.” I called in another few days—no. One day the postman—there was a post office—replied to me, in a mocking "Jewish" tone—no, no . and so on. I realized that there was no point in staying there. My mother and sister were in Sudova Vishnya, it’s 45 kilometers from here. I decided to go to them and then we'd get out of there together. Along the way, I ran into a woman who asked me, in Ukrainian, where I was going. I said, to Sudova Vishnya. “Do not go there, there are troops.” I realized that the Germans had already occupied Sudova Vishnya. Along the bank of the Dniester River, I reached Khodorov [Khodoriv], where I got on a train, finding myself in a train car that contained evacuated policemen. Candy and cookies served as rations the entire way. Try to eat candy and cookies everyday . you would not want to. Thus, we eventually reached the former border.