We received your letter. Thank you so much for the money that you sent to us.
Thank you so much for your help.
You asked about my grandmother (Yevgenia B.) in the years 1939-1946. I will write what she remembers because now she has some problems with her memory.
My grandmother was born August 4, 1928 to a Jewish family in a small village, a place called Ilynetski, close to Vinitza. Her father’s name was Boris Gregorivich Krutofsky. Her mothers name was Dina Davidovna Krutofska. Her sister’s name was Sonia (born 1925), her brother Grisha, and another brother David (born in 1931). They lived very poor. They had some cows, pigs, and my grandmother helped with the family. Her father had a small place where he fixed shoes and her older brother Grisha went into the army. When the war started, all the Jewish families were evacuated to another town, Tygorit, 10 kilometers from Gornitsa. The younger children were evacuated to a different small town. Yevgengia ran away to the small town of Kransnitska. This is 12 kilometers from Gornista. At this time in this town her Uncle and Aunt Basya with their daughters and husbands were living. A couple of weeks later she had to run away again because the German army was coming to this small town.
After a short time, some Jewish families and Yevgenia went to a special place (a ghetto) only for Jews. In this place, crowded with so many Jewish families, it was so bad, no food, they only ate once a day and they were forced to work [hard labor] everyday, all day. One day when she went to work she heard that after the day’s work all the people were to be killed. She decided to run away with a young man. And so they ran to the small forest but were separated there and never saw each other again. This is only one story. Another story I will write in another letter.
Thank you so much for the money, for everything.
G-d bless you.
Yevgenia & Sveta