Rachel Zolotov's Blog - Posts Tagged "journey-map"

Luba and Sofia were only 16 and 10 years old when my great-grandmother was forced to take them away from everything they knew. The girls had to grow up faster than they could ever have imagined.

They traveled 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) from Minsk, Belarus to Kokand, Uzbekistan. This would be the equivalent distance from San Diego to the tip of New York. It is hard to fathom traveling that far on foot and by train, especially while fleeing from the Nazis. The girls lived in what amounted to cattle cars with no electricity or running water and on floors of train stations. It took them months to arrive in Kokand. Their only saving grace was that the family avoided traveling during the harsh winter months where temperatures rarely average above 25 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit.