- 4 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:08EMI award-winning actress Lisa Kudro first shot to fame in 1994 playing the
00:14eccentric Phoebe Buffay on the hit sitcom Friends. She lives in Los Angeles
00:19with her husband Michelle and her son Julian. Family is the most important thing
00:24to me. My parents brother, sister and I are very close and still live within a
00:29a few miles of each other.
00:31My father, Lee, grew up in Brooklyn, New York,
00:35in very poor conditions.
00:38The world I grew up in is a completely different world
00:42from the world he grew up in.
00:44Completely different.
00:45I grew up in a nice suburb of Los Angeles.
00:50He grew up in poverty.
00:53They just worked so hard.
00:55And he finally became a doctor.
00:56And he is the one who pulled the family out of hard times.
01:06Hi, babe.
01:07Hi.
01:07How are you?
01:08Hi, Mom.
01:08Hi, sweetheart.
01:10Hi, sweet.
01:11My dad's parents were both Eastern European Jews.
01:15Most American Jews from Eastern Europe,
01:18you know, they have a Holocaust story.
01:20There were relatives that were left behind.
01:22I want to find out my family's story.
01:25I feel like I want some details to know what they went through.
01:29Not just for myself, for my father, for the whole family.
01:33Oh, I know these pictures.
01:34You do?
01:35Yeah.
01:36My grandmother, Gert, she came in 1921 for a better life.
01:41And, well, it's her family's history that my father and I
01:44want to look into further.
01:48When I was very young, she was babysitting me.
01:51And we were playing cards.
01:52And I asked her, you know, don't you miss your parents?
01:54Because I was little.
01:55And she started crying.
01:57It was like, you know, 40 years later, right?
02:00And she's crying.
02:00And she's saying, yes.
02:01She said, my mother was killed by Hitler with a knife in the back.
02:05And, um.
02:06Oh, oh.
02:07I know what she's talking about.
02:08I'll tell you.
02:09I'll tell you what she was talking about.
02:10It was the story that we heard from a cousin.
02:15It was 1947 or 1948.
02:18Knock on a door.
02:19And the door opens.
02:20I was there.
02:21I remembered like it was yesterday.
02:23I'm looking at the door opening.
02:25And there's this guy standing there.
02:28Young guy.
02:28In a uniform that I had never seen before.
02:32His name was Yuri Barudin.
02:34He had just come from his ship, which was the Baturi.
02:38Uh, it was a Polish ship.
02:40And, uh, Yuri told our family that he was playing in the woods near their shtetl.
02:47And the shtetl was called Ilya.
02:49And he came to the edge of the forest and he could see that there were shooting.
02:54And he was watching his family being cut down by the Nazis.
02:58They killed all the Jews in town.
02:59My grandmother was one of them.
03:01Your grandmother's mother.
03:03Your great-grandmother.
03:05Mary Mordechovic.
03:07Back.
03:07Mary Mordechovic.
03:16Mary Mordechovic.
03:17So this is tough, huh.
03:24So that's the story that Yuri told.
03:26That's the story that Yuri told.
03:27He smiled, he patted me on the head.
03:29And that was the last I ever saw of him.
03:31And then somehow we heard that he died.
03:34Died doing what?
03:36Honey, I don't. I don't remember.
03:38Oh, God.
03:40That story still haunts my father.
03:42I want to find out exactly what happened to my great-grandmother's family.
03:45And if possible, if there is a final resting place, I want to see if I can find it.
03:50And I still want to know more about Yuri.
03:53What became of him?
03:55I think that's the question.
03:59Lisa is travelling to Ilya, her great-grandmother's village near Minsk, which is now in Belarus.
04:06She's meeting Tamara Virchitskaya, a noted Jewish historian and the curator of the Museum of History and Jewish Resistance.
04:15Nice to meet you. My name is Tamara.
04:17Tamara, hi.
04:18Hi, thank you.
04:19It will be amazing if I can find any documentation.
04:24I'm worried that records were either lost or destroyed in the war.
04:29Minsk, the capital of Belarus, is about 40 miles southeast of Ilya.
04:34Before World War II, communities like Ilya had strong Jewish roots going back hundreds of years.
04:40But World War II forever changed the culture of Eastern Europe.
04:45After the war, Jewish communities were reduced to 5% were left alive from the total community.
04:5510 at most.
04:57Yeah.
04:58Oh, my gosh.
05:05Tamara has brought Lisa to the state archives outside Minsk to see if they can find out what happened to
05:10her great-grandmother, Mira Mordechovic.
05:15Hello.
05:16Trust it.
05:17Is it possible to know, are there any documents if she were killed in Ilya in that massacre?
05:24Yes, yes.
05:24Oh, there are documents?
05:25We have some documents, which we took from Moscow.
05:33It's terrible documents.
05:35The list of people who were killed, hung, and dodged during the Second World War in Ilya.
05:45And in that document, we can see your relative.
05:50Oh.
05:52In that list, you can see Mordechovic, Mira.
05:56It is stated here that she was Jewish, and she was a housewife, and she was from Ilya.
06:01And the last column is...
06:03Killed and burned.
06:08Oh, my God.
06:11I knew my great-grandmother was murdered, but to hear the words killed and burned, that's worse than I thought.
06:21I'm heading to Ilya to find out if there are any other details of the massacre missing from Yuri's story.
06:31That's the place where the Mordechovic family lived.
06:37That's where Gertie grew up.
06:45This is the view that she felt.
06:52This is what I pictured.
06:53This is exactly what I pictured.
06:56It's unbelievable.
06:59I feel connected to the smile that would come across her face when she'd say it was so beautiful.
07:07And I'm so happy that she got to grow up here.
07:10And it's so pretty.
07:11And I'm also so happy that she got out and her sisters got out.
07:19And I'm sorry for everybody else.
07:22My grandmother learned from Yuri what happened here.
07:28He must have seen the Germans take them out of the house and take them away.
07:40Lisa and Tamara are going to see a villager who lived in Ilya during the massacre and may have known
07:44Lisa's family.
07:48Thank you for talking to me.
07:50My grandmother grew up here.
07:56What was your grandmother's name?
07:59Grunia.
08:05I know Grunia.
08:06She lived near the river.
08:08She lived near the river.
08:08We went to school together.
08:11We were like one family.
08:13I must tell you, when the Germans came, we went to have a look at them.
08:18We have never seen Jesus before.
08:21We were afraid of everything.
08:24We knew what war meant.
08:25In the first days, they started to loot Jewish houses.
08:33The synagogues were burned down.
08:37And our house was burned down as well.
08:40The Jews escaped from their houses to the forest.
08:43They escaped from their houses to the forest.
08:45They collected all the Jews.
08:50I tried to hide a small girl.
08:54A policeman came in their house, searched under the bed, took the girl, pulled her from under the bed by
09:05the hand and threw into the fire.
09:08Let God nobody see it again.
09:13I pray to the gods that it never happens again.
09:20I'm sorry that she has to remember it.
09:22I feel badly coming here and asking her to remember it.
09:26Because it's got to be really hard.
09:29It's so sad.
09:39In 1941, two years after World War II began with Hitler's invasion of Poland,
09:45Nazi murder squads occupied towns like Ilya and created ghettos for the Jews all over Eastern Europe.
09:52The Nazis then embarked on the systematic murder of Jews in a program of ghetto clearances called actions.
10:03So where are we now?
10:05This is the...
10:06This is the center of Ilya.
10:08It used to be a market square before the war.
10:13And all the Jews were collected here in the market square.
10:17They were driven out of their houses, out of their homes in March 1942.
10:24And this is the place where the selection took place.
10:27Selection?
10:28Selection.
10:29I've got evidence translated into English.
10:33So you can have a look and...
10:38As soon as the Nazis arrived in Ilya, they showed extreme cruelty toward the Jewish population.
10:43They soon started going from home to home, searching for every man, woman and child.
10:50They removed them from their homes and forced them to run to the designated central locations in the market.
10:57That's where we are.
10:58Yeah.
11:00During the Soviet time, they had established a huge freezer for fruit and meat products.
11:06And next to it was a deep hole in the ground to store the ice.
11:12This ice storage area was used that day for the mass burial of 900 Jews from Ilya, men, women, children
11:21and babies alike.
11:23All the Jews selected to be killed in the market were taken to this site.
11:28On both sides of the entrance stood SS men armed with machine guns.
11:34As soon as the people arrived, they were ordered to remove their clothes and run inside, where they were shot
11:40from all sides and fell directly onto the frozen pit.
11:44This was the last walk of most of the Jews of our town on this day of slaughter.
11:49The murderers then poured oil onto the walls of the building and sent it on fire.
11:57The local Christian population later told us that for many hours they could hear from afar the screams and anguished
12:07cries of the wounded who did not die from the bullets.
12:11Thus ended Ilya, a Jewish community with centuries of a glorious history.
12:23Huh.
12:38So the Jews were marched along this street from the market.
12:43He remembers exactly that they were walking along this street.
12:47So we are going exactly the same way, the same path.
12:52And we are very close now to the place.
12:58So you see, this place is a bit higher than the rest of the area.
13:02Yeah.
13:02And that shed was standing right here.
13:05Uh-huh.
13:06Jews were driven to this place, shot here and buried.
13:15They were made to approach the edge of that pit in small groups, two or three people.
13:27And they were shot and fell down into the center.
13:30And then the next two or three.
13:32Oh.
13:33And then the next, and the next.
13:53How do you prepare for the last moment of your life knowing what's coming?
13:57You watch the people before you and know that's your fate while you're naked and humiliated and
14:04waiting for your turn to get shot.
14:08But those poor parents with their children or, you know, my great-grandmother, if she had grandchildren
14:13around.
14:16I mean, these people were no threat.
14:19They were nothing.
14:20It's just the ravings of a madman who decided that Jews didn't fit into the way he saw the
14:26human race.
14:32That's what fear can whip people into.
14:37You make people afraid enough of something completely manufactured.
14:43And you can drive them to become murderers, cold-blooded murderers.
14:53I'm glad that I got to see, witness, acknowledge what happened to my family here and pay my respects
15:03at their final resting place.
15:05I am glad that I got to do that.
15:09And that moment is worthwhile.
15:15Okay.
15:21Lisa still wants to solve the mystery of Yuri Berudin, the man who brought the news of
15:27the massacre to her family in New York after World War II.
15:31I've come to the state archives in Gdynia to see if they have any information on Yuri Berudin.
15:38Good morning.
15:39Hello.
15:40My name is Chris.
15:41Oh, hi.
15:41I'm Krzysztof Dzińczewowski in Polish, but tell me Chris.
15:43It's going to be easier.
15:44Thank you, I'm Lisa.
15:45Follow me.
15:46Okay.
15:48I mean, what we have found here, this is a registry card for the people who were coming
15:55to Gdynia and settling down.
15:58So, as we can see, this is his surname, Berudin.
16:02This is his name, Bolesław.
16:04Why change it to Bolesław from Yuri?
16:07Or why did he, why did his family in Brooklyn know him as Yuri?
16:11When living in Poland, you wouldn't like to be...
16:13Yuri.
16:14Yuri.
16:15Okay, he needs his name to be Polish if he's living in Poland.
16:18Yes.
16:19Then we can read this document further on and it says that he's married and...
16:26Where, where?
16:27This is, this is the name of his wife.
16:30Stephanie?
16:30And we know that they had a son, Andrzej, who was born May the 16th of 1949, here in Gdynia.
16:43He'd be today, what, 59?
16:45Oh my gosh.
16:48He could still be here.
16:50Yeah, he could still be here.
16:52Aren't there censuses, or voter registration, or...
16:56Or look on a phone book.
17:00Gdynia.
17:04Hmm?
17:06Uh-oh.
17:07Berudin!
17:08What?
17:09Bolesław!
17:11It's him!
17:14Could he still be alive?
17:16That's...
17:16He's old.
17:17Oh, that's him!
17:25It's...
17:28Bolesław.
17:32It's ringing.
17:37Hello?
17:38Hello, is this Bolesław?
17:40No, it's Tomek.
17:42How can I help you?
17:43It's...
17:43It's Tomek?
17:44Yeah, it's Tomek Barudin.
17:46Tomek Barudin?
17:48Okay.
17:49Who am I speaking right now?
17:51You're speaking with...
17:52My name is Lisa Kudrow.
17:55How can I help you?
17:56Because you are looking for my...
17:58The Bolesław Barudin?
18:00Yes.
18:01Mm-hmm.
18:01Is that your...
18:02It's my grandfather.
18:05Oh, that's your grandfather.
18:07Yeah.
18:07Okay.
18:08Is he...
18:10Is he here?
18:12Uh, yes.
18:13He's in the house.
18:15He is?
18:16Yeah.
18:17In the area, yes.
18:18Because you...
18:19Right now, you are calling to his house.
18:22Yeah.
18:22That's his house.
18:23Right.
18:23And then you answered,
18:25Oh, my gosh.
18:26Oh, my gosh.
18:27Mm-hmm.
18:27Um, my father met your grandfather a long, long, long time ago.
18:33Oh, my gosh.
18:34And I think we're related.
18:37So I wanted to meet him because my father...
18:40Oh, excellent.
18:40The family wanted to know whatever happened to him.
18:43And then, uh, where do you...
18:46Where are you calling her right now?
18:47Where are you?
18:48I'm in Gdynia.
18:49In Gdynia?
18:50Yes.
18:51Oh, my gosh.
18:52So, please, you are very welcome.
18:54Let's visit us.
18:55Okay, great.
18:56All right.
18:57See you soon.
18:58All right, bye.
19:00What?
19:02Oh, my gosh.
19:03He's alive.
19:04That's...
19:04I can't believe it.
19:06I...
19:07I was actually fantasizing that.
19:10Wouldn't it be great if there was finally, like, a happy story in all of this and he were
19:14alive?
19:14But I thought it's impossible.
19:16It's so great.
19:18Now, I'm going to find him and finally give my father a survivor story that he didn't know
19:24anything about.
19:26I'm so excited to meet him.
19:28I'm so happy.
19:29I have something happy to tell my father.
19:32This is beyond my wildest dreams.
19:35It's too good to be true that we're actually going to his home.
19:39Hello.
19:40Hello.
19:42What a surprise.
19:43I'm Lisa.
19:45Hi.
19:45I'm Tommy Barodin.
19:47We're related.
19:47Nice to meet you.
19:48Yeah, come on.
19:49Hi.
19:50Let's have a seat.
19:51Okay.
19:52I'll prepare the water for you.
19:54Oh, my God.
19:57I'm a little overwhelmed.
19:59I'm excited.
20:00I have to try not to get overwhelmed.
20:03Wow.
20:17Here is the palace of Barodin.
20:28Oh, it's so nice to see you.
20:30It's so good to meet you.
20:32Oh, my gosh.
20:34I will translate because each other is looking for good English.
20:38This is my brother.
20:38Yes, I'm Andrew Barodin.
20:40Nice to see you.
20:41This is amazing.
20:42Lisa, good enough in my home?
20:44Not in my TV?
20:46I don't believe.
20:47Nice to see you.
20:48It's good to see you.
20:49My father remembers meeting you.
20:52He was about 14.
20:55That's him.
20:57That's my grandmother, Grunia.
21:01This woman, I've seen these pictures.
21:03I am sure this is the same face with this meeting when my father was in New York.
21:09Oh, they took pictures?
21:10Yeah.
21:11This picture disappeared.
21:12Disappeared.
21:13Oh, no.
21:13But I remember these pictures.
21:16That was the same face in these pictures.
21:18Wow.
21:19He only saw them one time, right?
21:22Only one time.
21:23The contact with the West was too dangerous in Poland.
21:26Mm-hmm.
21:27You know, my father also remembers that you came and you were the one who told them what happened in
21:34Ilja to Mary and the Mordechawicz family.
21:40My father thinks that you were a witness.
21:44So, oni pamiętają, że jak ty byłeś u nich w Nowym Jorku, ja później usłyszałem, co tam się stało.
21:52He wasn't there.
21:53Oh.
21:56He just got the message from the people that German came to the Ilja and they murdered everyone or just
22:06took the people and moved them to the camp.
22:09Oh, they murdered everyone.
22:12Yeah.
22:13Yeah.
22:14And how did he escape or survive?
22:16And how did he escape or survive?
22:25And how did he escape or survive?
22:39from the let's say the old Polish territory they just told to the people
22:45you have four hours and you move with us to the Novosibiria
22:53awesome
23:01somehow he joined the Russian army and he planned to jump from the Russian
23:09army to the Polish arm wow that's risky okay he must escape that's very brave yeah
23:15that was it was very very dangerous and you have to take the fact that at that
23:21time he was 15 years old you know my father for some reason thought that he
23:29died no my father is gonna be so happy he won't stop crying I know it's finally
23:38good it's finally happy it's so such a relief mostly I'm just glad that he had
23:46a family and I got to meet him and now my father can call or email and they can be
23:52in touch
23:55this journey's been more than worth it even the hard parts even though even before I
24:00knew that he was alive and well alive and well and happy yeah it's definitely
24:08worth it yeah I can't I have to I can't wait to tell my father about it so I can't
24:18wait I'm sorry hi dad you'll have to check your email I met Yuri yeah and his whole family
24:39family it's really thrilling that I finally had something happy to deliver to my father and some
24:45details that he didn't know my father is about to see Boleslaw and speak to him since 1947 or 1948
24:57that was the last time they laid eyes on each other so this is really exciting
25:04hello hello yeah now you see me yeah hello Boleslaw
25:14tell him that I I remember him very well what a wonderful man you may not know the story but
25:22when Boleslaw came to the house and he met my mother who is his aunt he felt very sorry for
25:29her
25:30because you know we didn't have very much money and he actually left $50 for my mother
25:37Tomek look how look how a young sailor who was maybe 22 years old had such a good heart
25:52that's very good okay well this has been a very wonderful very touching for me
26:06and all the best from us as well that's right all right bye-bye
26:15how many years ago is that that you saw him and then here he is and he thought he was
26:20dead and
26:20he's not it's too good to be true it's all right it's all right yeah I'm okay I just love
26:35it
26:36they both went through so much and they're kind of they came out the other end to share their good
26:43fortune and their beautiful families and I it's it's so fulfilling it's um it's like this full circle
26:54the kind of hardship and life and death struggles that my father grandmother great-grandmother had
27:04it just never ended in some ways it changes me because I feel even more fortunate to be the the
27:12recipient of all the sacrifices that were made by everyone before me
27:28I do feel really lucky that I got to take this trip and discover Boleslaw for my father with all
27:37the
27:37tragedy and horror that I had to look at then you find Boleslaw who went through a lot himself and
27:45is
27:45smiling and enjoying his son and his grandson and his great-grandchildren and life goes on
27:54my food hurt
28:02you did good you did good
28:04you did good you did good
28:11yeah
28:11yeah
28:13yeah
28:13yeah
28:14yeah
28:16yeah