Mikhail Kupershmidt was born in Bratslav in 1914. His father was a coachman and his mother stayed home and looked after the children and the cow. His parents had six children, two of whom died in infancy. He attended a Yiddish school in Bratslav for four years. He served in the military in the Finnish War, and was working as a chauffeur when the war began. He survived under Nazi occupation in Reichkommissariat Ukraine, and ended the war serving in the Red Army. After the war, he returned to Bratslav, where he continued working as a driver. His first wife died in 1947. He soon remarried and has a son, who lives in Israel.
Other Interviews:
The Orchard and the Mass GraveThe Southern Bug River
“our children’s children’s children’s children must know”
Bratslav, Ukraine
The experiences of Soviet Jewish Holocaust survivors has been silenced for many years. They were marginalized in Holocaust historiography, which largely neglected the Soviet experience, and they were marginalized in Soviet history, which suppressed the unique experiences of Jews.
It is for this reason that so many of those who have survived feel a need--a compulsion--to tell their stories and to ensure that their stories are heard for generations to come.