RelatioNet GI TU 26 MI RO: RelatioNet GI TU 26 MI RO

RelatioNet GI TU 26 MI RO

Gitl Turku

Holocaust Project Katzanelson High-school

Kfar- Saba, ISRAEL

mail: shanini1236@gmail.com

yuval.schwartz001@gmail.com

relationet2014@gmail.com

First name: Gitl

Last name: Baruch

Previous name: Turku

Date of birth: January 22nd 1926

City of birth: Mikhalin

Country of birth: Romania

Mikhalin

Mikhalin was a city on the border of Romania and The Ukraine (nearby Bucovina) founded in the 18th century. The city was an agricultural town and made up of three villages: Mihaileni, Parau Negru and Rogojesti.

Before the war, the majority of the population living there was made up of Romanian and Ukrainian Christians, however, in addition to them, there were about 2,000 Jews.

The city center was inhabited by the Jewish population. It was a lively and busy area and was considered to be the center of Jewish life in the city. In 1941, the Romanian army began to deport Jews to the camps and murder them.

As a result of the war, nothing even remotely Jewish has been left in Mikhalin except for the Jewish cemetery. In other words, the town was destroyed and no longer exists.

Gitl Turku- Baruch

Gitl’s childhood:

Gitl

Gitl was born on the 22nd of January 1926 in Mikhalin, Romania. Gitl and her family lived on a very wealthy street, near the big synagogue in the city center.

Gitl’s father Baruch was a carpenter and made horse carts. Her mother Pesia Lubovitch, worked as a housewife. Gitl had five siblings, Zvi, Leon, Hentziha, Ita (the beautiful sister) and the oldest Shela. Every Saturday Gitl’s mother took all the children to walk around the town.

At first, Gitl studied in a Jewish school using the Hebrew language. When the political situation began to worsen, the Jewish school was closed and she moved to a Romanian school even though she didn’t know Romanian very well.

Gitl's brother - Zvi

Being traditional Jews, on Saturdays and High Holidays they celebrated the Sabbath and all of the Jewish customs associated with The High Holidays. Their Christian neighbors respected them and did not come into the Jewish Quarter during these times. When the Christians celebrated the Christmas and The New Year Gitl and her family were given cakes and gifts by their Christian friends and neighbors.

Relations between Gitl's family and her Christian neighbors were so friendly that one of their Christian neighbors came once a week took their laundry washed, ironed and returned it to them as a favor.

As a child, Gitl liked to garden, plant, nurture, water the plants and the vegetables, and other Jewish neighbors came to pick her crops.

During the War:

In 1940 the Nazis arrived at the town of Mikhalin and forced all the men to assemble in the synagogue. From there they were transported to labor camps. From that moment until the end of the war, Gitl’s family had no idea what had happened to their father.

Later, all the other relatives were forcibly evicted from the house by The Nazis. Gitl’s mother hid all the family's valuables (money and documents) in their attic. They were marched all the way to the town Bucecea by The Nazis. Gitl’s grandmother took her to Botoshan and from this point Gitl was separated from her mother and her siblings who were dispatched to Transnistria. During those three years, she stayed at her aunt’s house and then they both moved to live in the cellar of the local synagogue.

During that time the Jews were forced to wear yellow stars and they were allowed to walk around the street only one hour a day. One day, while she was waiting in line to get bread, she was hit by a Nazi officer on her shoulder (to this day Gitl has a fractured shoulder). During these years from time to time she lived with a Jewish family (Rabinowitch) and went back and forth to live in the synagogue.

Immigration to Israel:

Gitl's immigration to Israel was a long journey that lasted almost two years. Gitl started her long voyage departing from the town Constanta to Israel. Gitl left Romania on the ship “Pan Crescent” with more than 8,000 people onboard. When the vessel arrived at Haifa, Israel, the British who ruled Palestine at that time forcibly sent them to Cyprus where they lived in a displaced camp for about a year and a half. During their stay in Cyprus, they suffered from starvation. In 1948 in Cyprus, Gitl married Shmuel Baruch.

Gitl in Israel:

Eventually, when Gitl and Shmuel arrived in Israel, they settled in Pardes Hana and then moved to a small shack in Binyamina. Shmuel began working picking oranges. From Binyamina, they decided to move to Moshav Gan Haim for a year and a half, and then they settled in Kfar-Saba. Shmuel began working in construction and Gitl started working at a fruit-picking and packaging factory. Later, she stopped working there and she started working in childcare , which she had done for 16 years.

Shmuel had one sister and he did not know if she was alive. After twenty years of living in Israel, he discovered through listening to a radio program that his sister was living in Ramla.

Shmuel and Gitl have two children and four grandchildren. For the past few years Gitl enjoys the company of friends at her local day club.