Kolomyia is a town in the “bloodlands,” the part of Eastern Europe that suffered the worst socio-political turmoil in the late 1930s and 40s. When the Soviets invaded Eastern Poland in September 1939, Kolomyia fell into their hands. Almost overnight, Jews became Soviet citizens. Among them was Jacob Sandbrand. Barely sixteen, he was forced to enlist in the Red Army and to take part in the push westward. In the summer of 1944, he helped liberate Treblinka, a name that has come to epitomize the horrors of the Holocaust. In this talk, Sandbrand shares his experience in the Red Army and relates how he ended up in the United States.