Memories

 

Leonid Rozenfeld

A 2003 interview with a Kiev resident Leonid Rozenfeld is at Centropa's Witness to a Jewish Century.  He recalls Boguslav in the early part of the century. Leonid describes the town physically, with a great deal of fondness, as he talks about the livelihoods of the Jews in the time of his grandparents, and remembers how his father, a soldier in the Russian Army in World War I, helped to organize the self-defense units described above.

Leonid remembered, "My father spoke at a gathering to the young Jewish people appealing to them to organize a self-defense unit to struggle against the bandits. There were about 600 people in their units. They had 250 rifles, two automatic guns, bombs and grenades. I have no idea where they managed to get these weapons. The unit raided nearby villages and towns fighting the bandits.

Boguslav became a center of self-defense in Kanev district, Kiev region. The local population sympathized with them and supported them with food and accommodation. They struggled for three years. At the third anniversary of their fighting unit my father made an ardent speech expressing his appreciation of their bravery. In summer 1923 the fighting unit of Boguslav was dismissed since there were no bandits left in the country and the country and its people were starting peaceful reconstruction work." 

Yefim Levitsky

Another interview with Boguslav native Yefim Levitsky is at the Southwest Jewish Archives website.  Interviewed May 24, 1999, he recalled many aspects of his life, including the time in Boguslav when the Jewish schools were closed by the Soviet authorities.