RelatioNet GI TU 26 MI RO
Gitl
Turku
RelatioNet GI TU 26 MI RO
Gitl
Turku
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.
Gitl and Shmuel |
Gitl and her family |