Morris Berlind’s Memories of the 1919
Borshchagovka Pogrom and His Family's Escape
(Courtesy of Allan Berlind)
July 14, 1999
Memories of Borshchagovka - Boorshifka as it was known to the Jewish community.
I was born there on January 8, 1908. I am a survivor of many pogroms that occurred there during the 2 or 3 years after the overthrow of the czarist regime.
Remnants of the defeated czarist army who were armed, banded together and raged through the town and surrounding areas, shouting repeatedly “Kill the Jews and save Russia.” They robbed, and they raped and they put the torch to houses and they killed Jews.
Massive destruction resulted from three days of ravaging. Many Jews were killed then. The entire row of stores alongside the only cobblestones street was burned, as were many houses and the three synagogues.
Our family together with our grandmother hoping to avoid disaster, crawled into a deep earthen cellar where we lingered for 3 days. When we thought the murderous gang left our area, we emerged from the cellar and scattered.
And we were wrong, so wrong. The murderers were still doing their work. Soon our grandmother was spotted and she was shot. Later in the evening in my wandering, in search of food, I was spotted. But this time, the hooligan, apparently wanting to save bullets, began to strike my head with the butt of his gun causing a deep gash and crack in the skull. I was thrust to the ground bleeding profusely, and must have appeared lifeless. I say that I am alive today because the murderer thought I was dead.
I must have lain on the ground in a pool of blood for about 8 hours. In the morning a relative lifted me and covered the wounds with some kind of cloth.
Soon I was reunited with my family and joined the entire community in the exodus from Borshchagovka. We survived the last pogrom.
The first town we reached was Djinkov [Dzyunkov/Zhinkov] 7 viorst [verst = 0.7 mile] from Borshchagovka. My wounds were dressed and the head was bandaged not professionally, but better than before. We did not stay there long.
Then my long wandering began. The next town we reached was Novofastov, 12 viorst from Borshchagovka. There my uncle Motel and Aunt Golda ran a mill extracting oil from polyseeds.
Three months afterward we reached Skvira - 30 viorst. After a few months we were on the way to Kief. After 6 months we crossed the river Dniester illegally and in total darkness and reached the border town Sgoritsa [Zguritsa], in Romania. Then to Britchev [Bricheva] and then Kishiniev [Kishinev/Chisinau]. After a few months there we started on the long journey to Antwerp, Belgium.
Our uncle Moishe, who had immigrated to New York before World War I, through the efforts of relief agencies and HIAS, established contact with us and made it possible for us to board ship - the Finland - Red Star Line, in the middle of December, 1921 and after a stormy crossing arrived in New York - Ellis Island on January 2, 1922.
Morris Berlind
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