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| Gdud family. Leah Gdud was the daughter of Rabbi Shmuelson from Oshmiany. She passed away in Israel in 1957. Note from the guest books about the Gdud family: Dear Michael: Since you are the only person researching the Gdud family in "Jewishgen family finder" I hope you could help; I received a note from Israel via Argentina; Dear Pedro: I found this picture in the album of my mother and I thought it might interest you. It was sent to Shmuel Gdud in Argentina on 12/11/1926 if you don't know of him ask Eilat Gordin she might know. Edna. The attached picture is of Emma Alperovitz on the right and Lilian? Ema lived in the Vilna (Vilnius) district in a town named Kurenets http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/kurenets.html) She lived there until c1930. The picture had to be taken in the area of Vilna. Thank you very much, Eilat Also; Doing google search I found; Gabriel Feld Gdud gabriel@ORTARG.EDU.AR I also found your page; Page Title The Gdud Family circa 1940 (L to R) Motl, Hannah, Dov and Wowka (William) This is my son-in-law's description of the Gdud family's destiny during the dark years which followed Germany's attack on the Soviet Union on June 22nd, 1941. In Vova's own words, as told by him to his wife, my daughter Perella: The worst thing that scared me about the tales of German atrocities was that they would castrate Jewish kids - here I was still a virgin! I was seventeen. Oh my God that was terrible, terrible, I was not going to let them, I was going to run away from the Germans. I got together with another kid, we were good cyclists - we would run away. We had a family council. My mother and father decided that they would stay but they realized the gravity of the situation and if I was young, courageous and willing to run they gave me their blessings. They made packs for us, mainly clothes and things you need going into Russia even though it was summer, they gave us money. The night was terrible, there was lots of bombing. Monday we left heading east to Minsk into Byelorussia. The Soviet troops were retreating and the Lithuanians were shooting at their Soviet comrades. The Germans were bombing and machine-gunning the refugees - the casualties were incredible. My friend was killed by the German machine-gun fire as we were riding. The planes would go down low, the people would fall down and not move. They were just spraying - either you were hit or not. There were thousands and thousands of refugees - kids, cattle, women, all kinds of people - some of them got hit and killed, some not. I was one of those who survived and got to Minsk. But the German tactic (the Blitzkrieg) consisted of not going toward their objective directly but rather breaking through behind it. They were already east of Minsk and had all the Russian troops and the refugees surrounded and locked in - the Germans were already marching east. So that when I came to Minsk there were lots of Soviet troops but they were locked in. There was nothing for me to do in Minsk - I couldn't go ahead so I started to go back to Wilno. On the way the peasants robbed me, took away my bike, took away my belongings - left me barefoot with just my pants. It took me more than a week to get back home to Wilno. My way back was all under German occupation - that was what had emboldened the peasants to rob me - the Poles and the Byelorussians could recognize a Jew two miles away - they would say: you see this figure far off, is this a person or a Jew? The Germans had occupied Wilno the day after I left. A few days after my coming back home I was going to the barber's. I had to wear a "J" and walk in the gutter - these were the rules the Germans had already imposed on the Jews. I was going to the barber's on Bakshta street when I saw a German jeep driving toward me, so I accelerated and stepped into the barber shop. I took off my "J" because I thought he might have seen me. One minute later he was there shouting du! du! du! (you! you!). They took me on the jeep, then they picked up a few other young Jews and took us to the Bernardynka public park and told us that we would be taken to Molodeczno, a town in Byelorussia, to clean up the ruins of the bombardment. There were about 500 people in that park overnight. I could have walked away, we were not really guarded, we were just planted there, waiting to go to Molodeczno in the morning. Instead in the morning we were taken on trucks to Ponary, a place about 15 miles outside of Wilno, unknown at that time, now it is infamous because 100,000people had been killed and buried there, out of which 80,000 were Jews. There are only two known survivors who got out of Ponary alive, and I am one of them. When we came to Ponary there was a huge mass grave excavated, ready for us... there is much more; http://members.aol.com/michaeldg/page12.html http://members.aol.com/michaeldg/page14.html Dear Eliat, Thank you for your interesting note and the picture. As far as I can tell, I am not related to Lilian or Ema Alperovitz, but I have forwarded your letter to my parents to see if they perhaps can tell you more about them. However, I am related to Shmuel Gdud. Shmuel is the youngest of my paternal grandfather's brothers from Docszt Russia, not far from Vilna. He was born in 1907 and soon became an orphan, as his father Chone Gdud had died 3 months after his birth from an incarcerated hernia. He eventually emigrated to Argentina, where he had three children and twelve grandchildren. Here are the notes that I have about Shmuel: Samuel was 3 months old when his father died. Lived with his grandmother Bluma for a period after his father's death. At the age of 6 was sent to Dukscht to study in Heder, 5 kilometers from home. He had only 1 semester of formal heder training. Was exiled to Novogrod by the Russians with his family during WWI. He was with his mother and siblings (except Dov and Zvi) and they faced great poverty and hunger. His sister contracted TB and later died in 1920. They returned to Minsk in 1917 and were given an apartment by the Jewish community's charity. Went to public school and was the only Jewish kid in the whole school. When his mother remarried, his mother Rachel's new husband didn't want him, so he was sent to live with his older brother Dov and Dov's wife Hannah in Trilesk in 1921. He once went to Minsk and found Hannah Gduds older sister Roshka by chance in an Inn. She took him to Zavich where they were building a turpentine factory and house. He worked in his uncle's turpentine factory and learned the trade. Later he went to live with his parents but when his step father still didn't want him, was sent to live with his sister Henia brother-in law Fivel Shulman and in Poland. Fivel Shulman's cousins were spies for Russia and they were caught and executed by the Poles. He was later sent to live with Labbe and Henia Kopelovich in Baturine in Poland. He emigrated to Palistine in 1925 under false papers posing as the son of a friend. He worked with cement making gravestones and pipes in Petach Tikvah. He had trouble finding work in Palestine where the economy was bad. He returned to Poland to attend his brother Zvi's wedding to Ola Singer in 1926. Zvi got into the lumber business and delegated the work to his brother Mula who supervised the workers. Mula decided to leave Poland in 1927, but his return visa to Palestine had expired. His brother Dov advised him to go to Argentina where there were growing Jewish communities. He used his false name to purchase tickets and embarked from Sherborg to Buenos Aires in a 16 day voyage on the Alkantara (which was later converted to a war ship that helped sink the Graf Schpei during WWII). After arriving in Argentina he worked in a furniture factor 10 hours a day. For more information about our family you can go to my website which can be found at: www.hometown.aol.com/michaeldg Gabriel Feld is the grandson of Shmuel Gdud (his mother is Nechama Gdud, Shmuel's daughter). Please let me know if you have any other questions, please feel free to write again. By the way, I would be interested in knowing more about who you are and how you are connected to the Pedro and Edna who wrote you. Best Regards, Michael Good |
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