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Volume 26 Abraham Zylbering Translated from the Yiddish by A SURVIVOR REMEMBERS: THE GULAG AND CENTRAL ASIA A publication of Copyright © Abraham Zylbering, 2002 Editorial Note This manuscript was originally written in Yiddish by Abraham Zylbering and it records his wartime experiences in the Siberian Gulags and later in the Soviet regions of Central Asia. It has been translated into English by his wife Eva and his son Hymie. His grand-daughter Leah prepared the manuscript including the word-processing and the compiling of additional materials Abstract The author was born in 1920 in Bodsanov, a small town near Warsaw. He describes the social and economic life, including the 1937 typhus epidemic that infected him also. The German occupation brought a curfew and forced labour. He was excepted because he was working for a tailor who was making pants for the German army. Police disappeared and thieves looted undisturbed. Fleeing across the border to Russia resulted in being put on a train to Northern Siberia and working in a labour camp on very little food. Boat trip west on the Vela Morski canal to Rybinsk and on to Saratov, Angurus, Stalingrad, Astrakhan, and to Makhachkala and Derbent where he worked making hats for the army. Then to KavKas on the Caspian Sea and work on a kolchoz making wine and getting plenty to eat. Then back to Derbent to work in a restaurant and enjoying bathing in the sea and having a love affair with a Georgian girl, Because of German army advances, Polish Jews were told to leave. Went to Baku to cross the Caspian Sea to Krasnovosk and Samarkand and Kamibadam with many adventures and selling goods in the market, esp. apricots. Then had to go by train to Valtooz in Siberia to work on rail lines that had been bombed. Volunteered for the Polish army and was put into a "sanitary batallion" which meant working in field hospitals. Frequent moves with the advancing army. Visit from the "Police Bureau"who made them sign a document blaming the Katyn Forest massacre of Polish officers on the Germans. There were many wounded on the Warsaw front. Advances to Coburg and deep into Germany. When the war was over he wanted to take the train back to Tashkent to look for his father and brother. Stop-over in Kielce. Visit to Bodsanov to look for survivors. Release from the army. On return from Russia he married and settled in Vrotzlov where he bought a house and started a tailoring business. In October 1950 they finally received their papers to emigrate and left by boat from Dansk to Haifa, Israel and in 1954 they moved to Canada. Key Words Bodsanov, near Warsaw Table of Contents 1 1920 |
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