English translation: "Dominoes and Freedom". The year is 1988. A young Jewish man from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) travels to the town of Bershad to get a sense of the Jewish community there. I will make a quick summary of the conversations, which were in Russian with a characteristic Yiddish inflection, as well as in Yiddish (mostly when they would speak to each other): 0:18-0:30 (presumably non-Jewish) young men say that the area around them used to be exclusively Jewish. 0:30-1:10 a (definitely Jewish) shtetl cat in its native habitat 1:10 and further: Jewish domino-players in their 50s or older. 1:35-2:20 a discussion about the news of fascist (nationalist) demonstrations in Moscow and Leningrad. Somebody asks: "why are these gatherings permitted?" A balding man in a black jacket responds: "Why? As long as we have Glastnost." He is referencing Gorbachev's freedom of speech reforms. He asks the cameraman: "how long ago did you come from Leningrad? I just read in a newspaper that they [the government] has squeezed them [the fascist demonstrators]. And forbade it completely. The neighbor just gave me the newspaper. Maybe you missed it while you were traveling." 2:21-2:26 a man asks: "to walk freely around the Soviet Union with a fascist swastika?" 2:22 the camera pans to a man who looks like a celebrity, but I can't remember who. Maybe a mix of Leonard Cohen and Woody Allen? 2:29 another man says: "they're coming out with banners that say 'Russia without Jews'" 2:34 one man says in Russian or Ukrainian: "then we need another Stalin" 2:36 a man in a dark blue jacket and hat responds in Yiddish: "nuu, Stalin darfstu nisht hobn" - well, maybe you don't need Stalin... "but someone harsher", he continues in Russian. "Too soon did they bring about this whole democracy". 2:50 the same man as before presses on, in Yiddish: "di kheyzer darfn stalin" - those pigs need Stalin. "Otherwise nothing will work", he then adds in Russian. "Nit darfn keyn ander veg" - you don't need any other way, "they require such a ruler", he keeps switching between Yiddish and Russian with a very heavy Yiddish accent. "He needs to be harsh and execute people". The camera reveals the curly man who has been saying all of this. 3:00 man in dark blue interjects: "execute, but not indiscriminately like Stalin" 3:04 the curly haired man's voice starts shaking defensively: "indiscriminately, not indiscriminately. Well he didn't kill everyone indiscriminately." People start going "meh" and "neh", as they tell him to calm down, and he retreats back to the dominoes game. 3:06 a deep bass interjects: "if he had lived another 5 years, then [unintelligible Yiddish interjection] in Birobidzhan". The camera shows a tall man with licked-back graying black hair. "Or Siberia" "Or Siberia - that's for sure" 3:15 a woman in her 50s walks through the crowd of men. From the coy glances, you can tell there is something going on between her and the man with the licked back hair. He asks her: "vi geystu", where are you going? She ignores the question and tells a burly middle aged man with a Jewrfo following her: "kim" several times - "follow me". The man with the licked-back hair responds in Yiddish: "I'm busy, take him". 3:34 the man in the dark blue jacket goes back to the issue du jour: "but I suppose that Jewish celebrities are not staying quiet on the issue. That they're writing something, complaining." The cameraman responds: "yes, Jews are always complaining over there [in the big cities], but not much comes out of it. But yes, Jews aren't sitting still, they are doing something about it." The man in the blue continues: "we sit here and we complain only in our circle, and it goes nowhere, but there [in the big cities]..." "Why? You can do the same thing. Write a..." "We wouldn't even know whom to write. How to put together a... letter, with some sense in it... But what I mean is, there are famous Jews, in science, in medicine, even that Lieutenant-General, I forgot his last name... I read his book 'Years in Armor'. He's the head of some military academy... I forget his last name. People like him." He was referring to WW2 hero David Dragunsky. He takes a break to take a puff from his cigarette, holding it like a vape for some reason. Is it even a cigarette? He continues at 4:40: "And as soon as such a crowd over there [in big cities] starts screaming 'down with the Jews', we bear the consequences here in provincial places. Then over here, these ignorant pigs, excuse my language, start screaming 'beat the Jews'." He makes an emphatic movement with his eyebrows, to signify that that's how it works, and restlessly looks away. 5:14 the shtetl cat greets her friend, the chicken, hops a fence effortlessly, and runs off into the distance.

У Міші!!!А я жила через дорогу...Да з євреями жити було добре-люди були інтелігентні,порядочні.

Да, мы - последние из могикан.

Да раньше было всё по другому сейчас всё как то не так

ГЕНЕРАЛ ДРАГУНСКИЙ.

На сегодняшний день, центр Бершади, это одни руины еврейских домов. Некоторые участки, где когда-то были еврейские дома, отдали другим жителям и уже там есть новостройки. Сейчас в Бершади осталось только пару десятков евреев. Былая слава городка, который был преимущественно еврейским, уже уходит. Большинство уехали в Израиль, Германию, США. Но все же со-временем приезжают в гости к оставшимся, и что-бы проведать могилы родных, которые покоятся на еврейском кладбище города.