TKUMA HOLOCAUST MUSEUM HAS RECEIVED THE UNIQUE EXHIBITS
FROM LEON AND LADA SHERMAN FAMILY

Memorials and museums commemorating six million Jews – victims of Nazism have been erected all over the World: Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem (1953), Memorial to Holocaust Victims in Berlin (2005), Shoah Memorial in Paris (1956), Anne Frank House in Amsterdam (1958), United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington (1994), Museum commemorating 1,5 million Jewish children in Hiroshima and others.

The Holocaust Museum is also being established in Dnipropetrovsk. On June, 2007 Leon Sherman with his wife Lada arrived to Ukraine to native Dnipropetrovsk to present the unique museum exhibits to Tkuma Holocaust History Museum.

The Sherman family used to live in Dnipropetrovsk, then in 1969 immigrated to USA. Having retired they are living in Florida now.

The Tkuma Holocaust Museum has received the following exceptional exhibits from the Sherman family: the priceless genuine Torah fragment dated by XVII century, the arm-bands of the ghetto prisoners’, authentic photos of Jews mass-killing by Nazis, Nazi WW II leaflets, rare books and other materials.

The exhibits delivering ceremony has gathered in Tkuma grand hall the whole Tkuma staff as well as Alef press-center survey squad and journalists.

Soon thereafter Mr. Sherman has told the story of his family.

– My father Nuhem Sherman was born in 1909, - Mr. Sherman tells. – My mother Sofia Sherman was born in 1910. Both of them were raised in the poor family in Kyiv province. In 1930 they got married and moved to Dnipropetrovsk. In 1932 my sister was born.

My father had been working as a metalworker all his life. In 1930 when he had fallen sick with lung tuberculosis and family decided to move to Dnipropetrovsk because there was T.B. prophylactic centre on Krutogornaya Street (now Rogaliova Street – A.E.) there.

I was born in 1938. My grandfather and grandmother (mother’s parents) lived with us. My grandmother was paralyzed; she couldn’t walk, move and my mother always took care of her.

In 1941, when the war began, the question about evacuation arose, as Nazis were exterminating Jews and drove them away into concentration camps. But my mother didn’t want to evacuate because my grandmother was not transportable and couldn’t move anywhere. My mother cried and didn’t want to leave her parents, but my father insisted on evacuation, telling that they should rescue the children. My father suggested evacuating me and my sister via evacuating trains. But my mother refused, being afraid that we could be lost forever. Finally, my parents decided that they had to leave parents and escape to save children. Thinking that the war would last a month or two we left Dnipropetrovsk.

When we were departing, Dnipropetrovsk was being bombed. I was three years old and don’t remember bombing, but I was told about station full of people with suitcases, overcrowded trains – people were sitting on the train on roofs, the only thing that mattered was to leave as soon as possible, to escape from Nazis.

So we departed. The trip was long and difficult. After all we’ve arrived to Central Asia. My father was dismissed from military service, because of tuberculosis and stayed with us. We wandered along the Central Asia for a long time, living in severe conditions. Remember, when my mother had asked me about my dreams I answered that I dreamt an apple.

When in 1943 Dnipropetrovsk had been liberated we came back to the city. We were sailing through the Caspian Sea and reached Dnipropetrovsk utterly exhausted. The Dnipropetrovsk railway station has been ruined. We didn’t know what had happened with our grandparents. We didn’t know that in our flat were living unknown to us people.

Then we found out that our grandparents have been exterminated, we didn’t know where they were buried. Then we were told that neighbours buried my grandfather near the house, we reburied his remains on the cemetery. My grandmother has been never found.

We hardly managed to get back our flat. In a year I went to school, then changed it and happened to be at school #100. At the same time I began to work and received my secondary education at the evening school. After school I entered the Institute (evening courses) and graduated from it soon.

It was difficult to find work first of all because of my nationality. Anti-Semitism was strongly manifested at that time. Long ago I planned to leave USSR. In the end of 1960ies we received invitation from Israel. But it turned out that it’s hard to leave Dnipropetrovsk. We moved to the Moscow Area – we were said that it’s easier to emigrate from there.

We had been living in Moscow for two years. We wanted to leave for USA, but couldn’t receive visa. Short time later we depart to Austria (Vienna), where we had been living with support of JDC. Then we left Austria for Italy where we had been staying for six months. Finally, we were permitted to depart to the USA.

To get well-paid job I had to know English language. As I didn’t know English, I had to work on underpaid jobs. After staying in the US for 7 months I’ve learned English and found well-paid job.

In three years after arriving to America I took my parents, my sister with her husband and child there.

This life story has been narrated by Mr. Leon Sherman.

Answering the question “Why have you presented those unique exhibits to Tkuma Holocaust Museum” Leon Sherman told: “In memory of my parents…”

Artem Eremenko,

Literary Editor

“Vestnik Tkuma” Newspaper