My Grandfather Survived the Killing Fields of Ukraine
Yankel Wiesenfeld miraculously emerged from the Ukrainian hell with his life and faith intact.
In August 1941, Hitler granted a huge swath of conquered Ukrainian land to his close ally, Romanian dictator and raging anti-Semite, Ion Antonescu. The purpose of this little-known region was to serve as a dumping and killing ground for Romania’s Jewish population.
The area encompassed 16,000 square miles of freezing Ukrainian countryside bordered by the River Bug to the north and the River Dniester to the south. To access this vast land from Romania required crossing the Dniester, from where the area drew its name;