KADDISHEL
A Life Reborn
For Us, The War Ends On January 10, 1944, Ludvipol was liberated by the Red Army, although it was mostly ashes, and a civilian administration was quickly established in Matchulanka, about twelve kilometers away. The Edelmans moved to Matchulanka, where Usher became an in- surance services manager. Almost four weeks later, on February 4, 1944, the city of Rovno was liberated by the Red Army, with as- sistance from Vasily Begma’s partisan forces. The liberation of the rest of Volhynia followed during the next five months. While there were less than a few dozen Jewish survivors in the city of Rovno itself, Jews emerged from the forests and small towns and congregated there. Between forty and seventy-two Jews returned to Ludvipol after the war, but when they found it had been burned down, most went on to Rovno, where they were given permission to establish a religious community and a distri- bution center at a synagogue for refugees. Usher was involved in supplying food and clothing to survivors, and took Rubinstein to the center later for some clothes. 1 Jews were supposed to register at the Russian militia office but, afraid that they would be drafted into the army or sent away to find employment, few did so. Alex Edelman joined a battalion of the NKVD (Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennykh Del, People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs), a special unit of the Russian army and the predecessor of the KGB whose mission was to track down Ukrainian collabora- tors and Poles considered “unreformable enemies” of communist Russia, and kill them or surrender them to the Russian government. Among Jewish survivors, they were called “brothers for revenge.” Alex is thought to have led a Red Army group into the Ukrainian village of Marna, near the site where his sisters were murdered, and to have participated in burning the village and killing its residents. 2 Alter and Samuel Tiktin, who were in the Russian army, were also said to be involved in NKVD activities. Alter is believed to have been the leader of a large group of partisans for a time. He was killed in battle near Rovno, according to some stories; other
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