buaidh no bas

I recently visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C.  Upon entering I received an identification card that tells the story of a real person who lived during the Holocaust.  This is what mine said:

Name: Nina Szuster

DOB: May 18, 1929

Place of Birth: Rokitnoye, Poland

Nina was born to a Jewish family.  Her father built ovens.  Nina’s family was very diverse: her father was an Orthodox Jew, her brother was a militant Zionist, and her mother leaned towards communism.  Nina attended a Jewish school in her town. 

In September 1939 the Soviet Union invaded the eastern half of Poland.  All businesses were quickly nationalized and property was seized.  The Soviets distributed most of the town’s wealth to the poor in the area.  Nina’s mother taught a class about the Soviet constitution in her home.  The Soviets closed their Jewish school and opened a Ukrainian one.  They began learning about their new Soviet rulers.

In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and occupied Nina’s town.  The German authorities immediately gathered the local Jews into a few houses and circled the area with barbed wire.  One night, the Germans suddenly began dragging people out of their house.  Nina tried to get some clothes but a German grabbed her and yelled, “Quick or I’ll kill you!”  She tore herself away and ran to the kitchen.  Then she heard a shot: her uncle was dead.  She saw an open window and jumped out.  Fortunately, it was foggy, so now one saw her slip through the barbed wire.

After her escape, Nina joined Ukrainian partisans.  Befriended by her commander, she was sent to Moscow to study until the end of the war.  In 1947 she emigrated to America.