Skala’s storied Jewish past is already in decline by the time of Munie Epstein's birth in 1931. His spirited childhood is interrupted by the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, which snuffs out Jewish cultural and religious traditions. The brutal Nazi occupation follows in 1941, executing a program to extinguish life itself.
Called Out as a Zhulik • Skala Before the Devastation • My Relatives and Family History • Jewish Life in Old Skala • The Rise of Zionism • Living Among the Gentiles • The First Soviet Occupation
Outbreak of War • Awaiting the Inevitable • Horrible Harbinger • The German Oppression Begins • Cycle of Persecution • Forced Labor at Borki-Wielke • Uncle Eliya’s Killing Hits Home