Then when conditions at last seemed to be improving, the most dreadful day yet in the young life of Jim Fras left him wandering aimlessly on the streets of Cherson. German soldiers came to the Fras apartment and took his mother and two sisters away. Jim followed them part way through the city and saw them board a ship for Odessa. Jim made some discreet inquiries and was told they were being taken to Germany for "evacuation". He knew this meant they would be placed in a forced labor camp. He returned home.
The war was beginning to turn against the Germans, causing them to step up their shooting, hanging and other activities against the Russian people. Jim's two aunt's knew their days were numbered as soon as the older Maria and her daughters and grandchildren were taken away. It was several days later that the Germans ordered his aunts to evacuate to a rural area.
Jim made a tour of Cherson to find out just how serious the situation was. He saw German soldiers and civilians loading freight trains with works of art, sculpture and other cultural treasures from museums, preparing to remove these valuable items to Germany. He knew his next problem was to hide from Germans looking for men to work in hard-labor gangs. Each time he had been conscripted in the past, he had been forced to work for several hours until he could get a chance to run away.
In the heat of the battle, he made the most important decision of his life. He decided to leave Russia. He would head toward Germany, hoping to find his mother and sisters there. He would run and pray, and do his best to keep his music alive. He would stay away from soldiers as much as possible, establish and cultivate whatever friendships he found it necessary to make along the way, and fall back on playing the guitar, accordion, and piano to get out of the tightest spots.
  

In Memory Of Jim W. Fras

May 15, 1925 - September 9, 2002

      

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European Map - Jim's trail to Germany

Follow Jim's journey (the RED line) from Cherson Russia to Erlangen Germany during the World War II years. It is depicted as a straight line for us to easily spot the two cities but it is very certain that there were many twists and turns in this journey from southern Russia across Europe to Germany.

During his long journey of 1000 miles or so, Jim's music seemed to be what sustained him and kept him alive and out of harm's way for the most part. He met up with German Military factions in Rumania and all along the way it was always the officers that invariably put him in the unique position of entertaining for them during the evening hours while they ordered him to work in their military kitchens by day.

From Rumania there was the long road across the Carpathian mountains into Hungary then through Czechoslovakia and eventually into southern portions of Germany on to Erlangen. Pictures on the right show the probable modes of transportation Jim used along the way.

Amazingly this entire trip was laced with many demands on his musical talent but we said that he managed to stay out of harm's way "for the most part". He was essentially a conscripted refugee making his way to find his Mother and sisters in Germany. There was one point that the Russian troops caught up with the German battalion that had conscripted him. All that survived were three officers and a handful of soldiers and Jim himself. In another situation Jim was not as fortunate and was seriously wounded in the leg by shrapnel but once again survived to continue his search a month later for his Mother and sisters. His brother was drafted into the Russian army and Jim would never see him again.