Chapter 1

Question 1

Authors

Answer 1

Donald Chipkin Berkman
compiled by Maryann McLoughlin
contains excerpts from Donald’s mother Sara

Question 2

how many children died in holocaust

Answer 2

a million and a half

Question 3

what years did they hide in the forest

Answer 3

1942-1945 and lived in poverty for many years after

Question 4

the mother’s name

Answer 4

Sara Baron Berkman Chipkin

Question 5

when was Sara interviewed

Answer 5

1995 in Miami beach

Question 6

describe Sara’s predicament

Answer 6

alone in woods with a toddler

Question 7

where were the killing fields

Answer 7

Ponar

Question 8

how many family members were killed

Answer 8

49

Question 9

what was the holocaust

Answer 9

a genocide that began with the exclusion of a group from a community, then country, then this world

Question 10

What is NAHOS

Answer 10

National Association of Jewish Child Holocaust Survivors

Question 11

memoir is told in whose two voices?

Answer 11

mother and son

Question 12

where did sara and her family live until 1941

Answer 12

the shtetl Druysk

Question 13

where did sara live after her mother died

Answer 13

Kraslava Latvia

Question 14

where was yosel berkman from

Answer 14

also from Druysk but he and his family were taken to many ghettos including Widze (Vidzy) and Swieciany before they were murdered in Ponar (Ponary) near Vilna (wilno) … trajectory was South

Question 15

brightest comet of 20th century

Answer 15

Great Daylight Comet of 1910 (January)

Question 16

second comet was

Answer 16

Halley’s Comet April 20,1910 - legend has it brought destruction earth passed through its tail on May 18 1910

Question 17

sara born

Answer 17

May 15, 1910 birth name Chaisorel Baron in Druysk a suburb of Vilna, Lithuania part of Russian empire - robbed, devastated
born to her father’s second wife
her mother died when she was two (brother, sara, brother, sister Frumka)

Question 18

In 1930 Druysk became part of

Answer 18

Poland after being part of Russian Empire. In 1939 it became part of USSR in 1990 it became part of Belarus when Belarus and Lithuania gained independence

Question 19

what is a shtetl

Answer 19

a small town

Question 20

where was Druysk

Answer 20

11 miles southwest of Braslaw Poland and 12 miles northwest of Kraslavia Latvia

Question 21

nationality of people in Druysk

Answer 21

Jews in town - but surrounding town were Christians; orthodox Jews but not like extreme Hasidic Jews (stockings and fringes known as tzitzit)

Question 22

what did the 2 non Jews in town do?

Answer 22

light candles, stoves etc on Sabbath because it was forbidden for Jews to do so

Question 23

were the people in the Druysk wealthy?

Answer 23

a couple rich, a few middle class but mostly poor; close knit community

Question 24

people in Druysk called Mitnagdim meaning

Answer 24

opponents who followed Vilna Goan who was opposed to Hasidism

Question 25

How many synagogues in Druysk?

Answer 25

One Ashkanazi and the other Hasidic but Lithuanian Hasidic (did not wear black or ear locks known as payos)

Question 26

Describe sara’s house

Answer 26

a little house with a dirt floor and no electricity or running water; outhouse in the back and well in the front

Question 27

describe sara’s father

Answer 27

he was a businessman and also a rabbi who was in partnership with his sister’s husband. They sold geese to Germany and flax to Russia and Latvia; married 4 times! four children from his first wife, then four children from her sister, one child from his third wife

Question 28

what is flax

Answer 28

material from a plant; stronger than cotton but not as elastic. Used for making fabrics, lace and sheeting

Question 29

what happened when sara was 4?

Answer 29

in 1914 WW1 broke out, Belarus was a battlefield. Nearby Vilna was Germans. Nearby Minsk was Russians.

Question 30

What happened when Sara was 6?

Answer 30

Her father got sick with the flu and died. She was sent to live with her dad’s sister in Kraslava, Latvia.

Question 31

why was 1917 important in Druysk?

Answer 31

revolutions in Russia drove away czarist bureaucrats; Russians left Bolsheviks came in. Unstable politics. Future of Belarus uncertain. tried to stay autonomous but by 1930 was part of Poland.