Sometime in 1945, one Ida MELCER, born ca. 1921 in Kleck, then Poland now
Belarus, and Alexander KARPOV (may or may not be his real name), born in
1917 in Minsk, Belarus, met and got married in Baranovichi, Belarus.

KARPOV was a WWII veteran. As the story goes, he was "an engineer", blowing
up bridges. He worked in a Baranovichi passport office in 1945-46 where he,
supposedly, used his position to issue false documents to fellow Jews,
including his wife, who wanted to leave the USSR. His wife left in the
summer of 1946. KARPOV, along with his own mother and a sister, was planning
to leave at the end of 1946, but was discovered, arrested, and executed in
February of 1947. It is logical to assume that his mother and sister were
arrested and spent time in camps as well (or perhaps were executed as well).

KARPOV was, allegedly, connected with an organization named Briha, who was
helping Jews move to Palestine.

If any of this rings a bell with anybody, please drop me a note.

Boris Feldblyum
boris@...