Cape Breton's Magazine

Anna Blufarb's Second World War WE ALL HAVE A ROAD TO CAPE BRETON, and it helps define who we are • 'and it helps define this place. Anna (Zuckerman) Biufarb lives in North Syd? ney. She came here from Poland after World War Two, via Halifax, Montreal, and Newfound? land. What follows is only a portion of her sto? ry. At the Start of the war, 1939, there were 18,000 Jews living in her home town of Tarno- pol. At the end of the war there were less than 400. There are very few photographs left to il? lustrate her Story. Anna Blufarb. North Sydney: Survivors are not so many left. And nobody knows how long you'll have them around to tell the story. And sometimes I think, like when I was in the ghetto and they made us work in camps, and people (knew) I'm going to try to escape and (they'd) just say, "Well, I hope you succeed, and if you do, tell the people how we suffered, tell them what happened to us." And I think maybe that's why God let me live, so I can tell this story. Only I never had very much chance to tell this story. Here, there's not too many people who were interested. When I started to talk about it, they'd say there was plenty al? ready said about the Holocaust. And I hear, "Oh, when you start to talk about it, I get a headache." And my husband used to say, "Don't. Keep it to yourself." But it comes to a point now when you get older and my health is not the best, I think I have to tell the story. So it won't be said it never happened. That's what hurts the most, when people tell you it couldn't be, it never happened. And here. I lived through it. I witnessed. I'm a survivor who can tell. The thing is, my story is different from the people in concentration camps (be? cause) I was in a ghetto. And a ghetto was where I come from, from the city of Tarno- pol--it's now part of Russia--and there's not too many survivors there.... So anyway, I lived in the ghetto practi? cally till the end. So I lived through all the atrocities they committed through the two years. There's so much to be said, I don't know where to start. To start, well, my parents, my family was upper-middle class I would say, because we were comfortable. My father had (a barber? shop) - -mens ' , ladies'. But he was also starting to be a (kind of healer) which is not very well known here. I hear they're teaching it now in Canada. (What is it?) It's a special skill--how to use leeches. You know, when people have infections. They can (go in) a place so small that you can't operate. There's a special leech, not every leech that you find in the water. But he used to get those leeches from Germany. There were a few drug stores that kept You don't have to go far to find the best investment climate in Canada. INOl'SCOTIA. Lets get dawn to business. Drop by our office at 338 Charlotte Street, or 've us a call Business can blossom anywhere, and there's no better place than Cape Breton, fust look at our assets: • One of the best tax environments in Canada, and our personal taxes are going down too. • Community-focused investment incentives. Our Equity Tax Credit makes it pay to invest in home grown enterprise. • Harmonized sales tax. It costs less to do business in our province. • Stable fiscal environment. We've balanced the provincial budget for the second year in a row. • Canada's best educated workforce. Nova Scotia has the highest proportion of post- secondary graduates in the country. • People to lend a hand. Our Business Service Centre in Sydney is there to help you start a business, expand your operation or open new export markets. Economic Development and Tourism Department of Finance at 1-800-880-6661 http://www.gov.ns.ca/fina/ http://vnvw.gov.n. op #807 ca/ fina econ ced/ 59