Semyon Semyonovich Krotsh was born in 1922 in Ştefăneşti into a poor family with many children.
Krotsh was educated in a "kheyder" (traditional religious boys' school), a Romanian-Modern Hebrew Jewish school, and a yeshiva, where he studied Talmud and other traditional texts. Although Krotsh was an excellent student, he also studied to be a tailor.
During the war years, Krotsh went to the Soviet Union and was evacuated from the town of Rîbnita to the Caucasus region of Russia, where he worked in a kolkhoz (collective farm). From there, he was evacuated further into Azerbaijan, and then drafted into the Red Army from 1942 to 1947. Krotsh went to Kolomyya after the war in 1949 with the intention to move to Romania. However, by the time he got there, the border was closed and Krotsh settled in the town, got married, and had three sons.
Photographer: Artur Frątczak |
