Nukhim Gvinter was born in Bershad in 1936. He is Khayke Gvinter’s brother. He grew up with four siblings. He survived the war in the Bershad ghetto. After the war, he worked as a carpenter in a textile factory and then as the manager of a shoe store. He also served in the military after the war. He has three children.
Other Interviews:
HolidaysFixing Shoes
Bershad, Ukraine
Nukhim remembers in this clip, how his father fixed shoes to support his family in prewar Bershad. Nukhim helped out his father by accompanying him to the surrounding villages or by assisting with repairs at home. This kind of service is entirely obsolete in today’s consumerism and Nukhim’s experience indeed stems from a different century.
Many Jews worked as artisans and merchants in prewar Ukraine and were thus the economic backbone of small market towns (shtetl). The poverty, in which Nukhim spent his childhood, is striking in his description about sharing a piece of bread with his four brothers.