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Yuri Vynnychuk
Kholodny Yar (Cold Ravine),
and avenge the defeat, and
then return home in glory,
because the borders then
were not yet guarded so
closely. Each of us put himself
in the position of his father
and tried to imagine escape,
revenge, and a return home,
but one interesting detail
that we also learned from
the newspapers stirred our
imagination the most: that
night one of the wounded
soldiers ripped himself out
of the grave, crawled to the
peasant houses where they
treated him, and later helped
him cross over the Polish
border. Who was that Kozak
of the Kyiv 4th Division, who
managed to survive and save
himself? And what if it’s one
of our parents?
I have often asked myself the
question: If my dad died for
Ukraine, then for what did
the parents of Yas, Wolf and
Yosko die? They themselves
also did not know the reason
and that tormented us the
most.
Our mothers – Vlodzya
Barbaryka, Golda Milker,
Yadzya Bilyevych, and Rita
Yeger – got acquainted on
the tenth anniversary of the
battle of Bazar, had come
to the symbolic grave in the
Yaniv Cemetery, and since
all four were Lvivians, they
quickly became friends and
all the more began to visit
each other, and kids were
happy about that because
we had three Christmases
and three Easters – Catholic,
Greek Catholic and Jewish –
and gladly visited each other,
then regaled ourselves on
red Kozak borscht, in which
“little ear” dumplings with
mushrooms floated, and
on the surface golden fried
onions, then – stuffed fish,
which Golda decorated on
top with grated horseradish
and a wonderful cut-outs of