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Nov 2Liked by Oren Kessler

I was born in Transdnestria. Lived there until teenage years. Cute little city. My family came from Bessarabia-Jews escaping Nazis. Ended up in a former Soviet Union and eventually ended up living in Trasdnestria. My grandfather told me a story about how he ended up in that region. When he was 13 years old my great grandfather who was his main caretaker and a doctor send him off on a train with Rusians, who at the time were helping Romanian Jewsh escape Nazi's genocide. The great grandfather staid behind, and my 13 year old grandfather that spoke zero Russian ended up in Sovet Union. When he was in his twenties he decided to relocate to Transdnestria, citing that he really loved how beautiful the city is as one of the main reasons of ending up there. I had no idea about the camps in Transdnestria until I read your article! Now it makes me wonder if one of the main reasons he ended up there was in search of his grandfather or some traces of him. Or possibly get closure. The only understanding that I got from him of what happened to my great grandfather was that he was killed by Nazis but no detail on how. Thank you for sharing this!

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Many thanks for reading — where in Transnistria are you referring to? There is also the modern breakaway republic of Transnistria — with its capital in Tiraspol — which is a slightly different area than the area by that name in WWII …

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amazing history

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Thank you for reading, Craig …

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