Video produced by Bat Ami Strul. Presented with permission of the producer, 2012.
The introduction
Before the Second World War, the landscape of Bessarabia was dotted by small towns populated primarily by Jews. These “shtetls” were traditional endogenous communities that were self-governing, providing social assistance to its poor, education to its children, salaries to its employees. Generally perceived to have been uniformly pious, totally segregated from the society at large and impervious to any of the massive social changes swirling around them, these communities provided the sieve through which small doses of change could be imperceptibly administered and absorbed.
By the 1930s, these communities were diverse in their religious observance, conversant in the local language and integrated into the economy at large. Unlike their counterparts in Russia and Poland, which more closely resembled the impoverished Anatevka portrayed in “Fiddler on the Roof”, the Bessarabian shtetls were more prosperous, with a better educated, more assimilated population. The Jews in these communities thought of themselves as modern, and slowly integrated outside influences into their world view.
Lipcani, a small town on the banks of the Prut River, was typical of these Bessarabian shtetls.
Leah and Nechoma (nee Elerant) share some of the moments of their life in Lipcani, Bessarabia between the two world wars. Leah and Nechoma were the oldest of four children born to Chaim Elerant and Sheva Cremer. Leah, Nechoma and their youngest sister, Genia, survived the Holocaust. Their grandparents, parents and young brother along with 80 other family members were killed by various means.
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