Bendit, 72, was two months old when his father
was forced to enlist into the Russian Army to fight
the German Nazi’s who were systematically taking over European countries. While en route his
father’s train was attached by German bombers. His father did not survive. Four months later,
Romanian troops entered Chernovitz.
“In October 1941, my family and I were deported to a province created by the Germans in Ukraine called Transnistria to annihilate (wipe out) the Ukrainian and Romanian Jews. Romania had become allies with Germany,” said Bendit.
“I was with my maternal grandparents, paternal grandmother, mother, four uncles and an aunt. We were put on cattle cars and taken to the ‘killing fields.’ Transistria means ‘beyond the river.’ Many people were killed going over the river and those of us who did made it endured a horrible existence. There was no food, clothing and it was brutally cold. In the concentration camps it was a quick death, but here it was a slow death,” Bendit continued.
~In a couple of weeks, Mr. Bendit will be coming by Room 71 to speak with the Apes about his experiences during WWII and the Holocaust.
“In October 1941, my family and I were deported to a province created by the Germans in Ukraine called Transnistria to annihilate (wipe out) the Ukrainian and Romanian Jews. Romania had become allies with Germany,” said Bendit.
“I was with my maternal grandparents, paternal grandmother, mother, four uncles and an aunt. We were put on cattle cars and taken to the ‘killing fields.’ Transistria means ‘beyond the river.’ Many people were killed going over the river and those of us who did made it endured a horrible existence. There was no food, clothing and it was brutally cold. In the concentration camps it was a quick death, but here it was a slow death,” Bendit continued.
~In a couple of weeks, Mr. Bendit will be coming by Room 71 to speak with the Apes about his experiences during WWII and the Holocaust.
