Boris Broder
"Don't ever let it happen again‚ never, never. Israel will keep up the Jewish faith and people."
Name at birth
Berl Broder
Date of birth
03/06/1922
Where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Berezhnitza, Poland
Name of father, occupation
Simcha Broder,
Cattle business
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Rachel Boruchin,
Grocer
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Parents and nine children-Breindel, Monish, Mayer, Bassel, Freidel, Leah, Golda, Boris, Moishe
How many in entire extended family?
30
Who survived the Holocaust?
Three sisters: Bassel, Leah and Golda, my brother Mayer and me
I had eight siblings before the war. Breindel, my sister, and her husband perished in the Holocaust but their son Mayer 13 or 14 years old, ran away to the forest and joined the Partisans. My brother Monische, who was married to Raizel, had two children, all perished. My brother Mayer married, his first wife and child perished, but he survived. Bassel and her husband Zelig survived in Soviet Union and moved to Israel after the war. My sister Freidel was killed with her husband and child. My sister Leah survived by going to Israel in 1938 just before the war started. My sister Golda her husband went to the Soviet Union and later to Israel. I ran away from Berezhnitza to Soviet Union and was taken into Russian army in 1944. My brother Moishe was killed by a Ukrainian neighbor, Karl Roschick.
My brother Mayer and my nephew Mayer joined the Partisans. I left because when the Russians came, I was 18 years old; a Ukrainian that I knew, Alex Lashock, hated me and was after me. He was a Ukrainian nationalist. He killed many, many Jews and non-Jews, so I left for the Soviet Union. He killed 38 Russian nurses. When the Russians came back, they hanged him.
After the war, I went back home and found my brother, Mayer, sister-in-law and nephew. From there we went to a DP camp in Austria, called Braunau am Inn. From there I came to the United States in 1948. I had a sister in Israel but I wanted to first go to America to visit my three aunts and two uncles living in Detroit and Chicago. While I was in Detroit, I met my first wife Dorothy and we had two children.
Where were you in the Former Soviet Union?
All over, to the Urals, Buzuluk
Occupation after the war
Builder
Children
Rochelle (Shelly), psychologist; Sidney, neurologist
Grandchildren
One grandson, Zachary
What do you think helped you to survive?
The G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
Don't ever let it happen again‚ never, never. Israel will keep up the Jewish faith and people.
Interviewer:
Charles Silow
Interview date:
08/03/2011