Yom HaShoah: Remembering

I really did not anticipate this when I started my genealogical research, but the greatest benefit, by far, has been discovering and honoring the memory of those whose lives were cut short by hateful people. 

I recall asking tentative questions of my parents. They seemed fuzzy, themselves, on who had been left behind in Europe and who had succumbed during Hitler's rampage.

For some who died, all I have is names. For others, there are bits and snatches of recollections from other family members or information I have gleaned from records. For just a few, we have recollections of those who knew and loved them.* 

My relatives did not die in concentration camps. Some were removed from their homes and sent to ghettos in nearby towns. How long each lived before being shot and dumped into a ditch is unknown.

Today is Yom HaShoah. We honor their memory on this day. I have yet to find all of my family members with connections to the Holocaust. I hope my research continues to uncover their stories.

Killed in/near Labun, Ukraine (ca. July-September, 1941):

• Perl Garber Zabarsky (born about 1888, age 53 at death), daughter of Avraham Garber and Chana Mazewitsky. Sister of my grandfather Jack Garber.
• Chana Zabarsky (b. 1 August 1926, age 15) , daughter of Perl Garber and Isseck Zabarsky.
•  Shmulik Mazewitsky (b. ca. 1915, age ca. 26), son of Monia Mazewitsky and Tzipa. Monia was (likely) the brother of my great grandfather Isidore Morris. 
• Sonia Weisman Mazewitsky (b. ca. 1916, age 25), wife of Shmulik and daughter of Liba.
• Aron Mazewitsky (b. ca. 1935, ca. age 6), son of Shmulik and Sonia. 

Died during service in the Russian military:

• Leib Bebik (Ber) Zabarsky (b. 8 December 1916, d. 17 January 1941) 
• Motel (or Mark) Zabarsky (b. 19 December 1918, d. 7 June 1943)

Both men were the sons of Perl and Isseck Zabarsky.

Died near Tluste, Ukraine (July 1943):

• Jutte Ett Barath (b. 21 January 1894), daughter of Hersch Leib Ett and Perl Wenkert. Perl Wenkert was my great grandmother's sister. 
• Moshe Efraim Barath, husband of Jutte Ett.

May their souls be bound in everlasting life.

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* Records include:

• pages of testimony on the Yad Vashem website;  
• digitized documents (accessed via the Steve Morse One-Step webpage) for Russia's Fallen website; and
•  Kniha Skorboty Ukraine, Khmel'nyt︠s′ka oblast, volume 2, 2002.