So before the war I worked at the Electrosila factory. In 1937 [10] we all quaked with fear when the personnel manager came in: we knew that he was going to get someone’s head blown off. A lot of Jews were fired only because they were Jews. But nobody paid attention to me.
- Traditions 11756
- Language spoken 3019
- Identity 7808
- Description of town 2440
- Education, school 8506
- Economics 8772
- Work 11672
- Love & romance 4929
- Leisure/Social life 4159
- Antisemitism 4822
-
Major events (political and historical)
4256
- Armenian genocide 2
- Doctor's Plot (1953) 178
- Soviet invasion of Poland 31
- Siege of Leningrad 86
- The Six Day War 4
- Yom Kippur War 2
- Ataturk's death 5
- Balkan Wars (1912-1913) 35
- First Soviet-Finnish War 37
- Occupation of Czechoslovakia 1938 83
- Invasion of France 9
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 65
- Varlik Vergisi (Wealth Tax) 36
- First World War (1914-1918) 216
- Spanish flu (1918-1920) 14
- Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920) 4
- The Great Depression (1929-1933) 20
- Hitler comes to power (1933) 127
- 151 Hospital 1
- Fire of Thessaloniki (1917) 9
- Greek Civil War (1946-49) 12
- Thessaloniki International Trade Fair 5
- Annexation of Bukovina to Romania (1918) 7
- Annexation of Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union (1940) 19
- The German invasion of Poland (1939) 94
- Kishinev Pogrom (1903) 7
- Romanian Annexation of Bessarabia (1918) 25
- Returning of the Hungarian rule in Transylvania (1940-1944) 43
- Soviet Occupation of Bessarabia (1940) 59
- Second Vienna Dictate 27
- Estonian war of independence 3
- Warsaw Uprising 2
- Soviet occupation of the Balitc states (1940) 147
- Austrian Civil War (1934) 9
- Anschluss (1938) 71
- Collapse of Habsburg empire 3
- Dollfuß Regime 3
- Emigration to Vienna before WWII 36
- Kolkhoz 131
- KuK - Königlich und Kaiserlich 40
- Mineriade 1
- Post War Allied occupation 7
- Waldheim affair 5
- Trianon Peace Treaty 12
- NEP 56
- Russian Revolution 351
- Ukrainian Famine 199
- The Great Terror 283
- Perestroika 233
- 22nd June 1941 468
- Molotov's radio speech 115
- Victory Day 147
- Stalin's death 365
- Khrushchev's speech at 20th Congress 148
- KGB 62
- NKVD 153
- German occupation of Hungary (18-19 March 1944) 45
- Józef Pilsudski (until 1935) 33
- 1956 revolution 84
- Prague Spring (1968) 73
- 1989 change of regime 174
- Gomulka campaign (1968) 81
-
Holocaust
9685
- Holocaust (in general) 2789
- Concentration camp / Work camp 1235
- Mass shooting operations 337
- Ghetto 1183
- Death / extermination camp 647
- Deportation 1063
- Forced labor 791
- Flight 1410
- Hiding 594
- Resistance 121
- 1941 evacuations 866
- Novemberpogrom / Kristallnacht 34
- Eleftherias Square 10
- Kasztner group 1
- Pogrom in Iasi and the Death Train 21
- Sammelwohnungen 9
- Strohmann system 11
- Struma ship 17
- Life under occupation 803
- Yellow star house 72
- Protected house 15
- Arrow Cross ("nyilasok") 42
- Danube bank shots 6
- Kindertransport 26
- Schutzpass / false papers 95
- Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) 24
- Warsaw Uprising (1944) 23
- Helpers 521
- Righteous Gentiles 269
- Returning home 1090
- Holocaust compensation 112
- Restitution 109
- Property (loss of property) 595
- Loss of loved ones 1724
- Trauma 1029
- Talking about what happened 1807
- Liberation 558
- Military 3322
- Politics 2640
-
Communism
4468
- Life in the Soviet Union/under Communism (in general) 2592
- Anti-communist resistance in general 63
- Nationalization under Communism 221
- Illegal communist movements 98
- Systematic demolitions under communism 45
- Communist holidays 311
- Sentiments about the communist rule 930
- Collectivization 94
- Experiences with state police 349
- Prison/Forced labor under communist/socialist rule 449
- Lack or violation of human and citizen rights 483
- Life after the change of the regime (1989) 493
- Israel / Palestine 2190
- Zionism 847
- Jewish Organizations 1200
Displaying 39241 - 39270 of 50826 results
Pessya Sorkina
![](/themes/custom/centro/flags/ru.svg)
My coworkers never asked me about my nationality. I know that many of my friends disliked Jews, but we were friends at work, visited each other at home. I guess they did not know that I was Jewish.
When the war [11] burst out, I worked at the Electrosila factory. Authorities immediately sent us to dig entrenchments. We worked in the field near Ropsha [a settlement near Leningrad] when Germans arranged air attack. It was so frightful, that we ran for dear life. Authorities did not want to give us a bus to get home, they wanted us to get back to the field and go on digging. But we all refused and got back home. We were so frightened! The next day I returned to my working place at the Electrosila factory.
I remember that Mom worked her connections and placed me to the Carburetor factory which was going to be evacuated. The factory was situated in Volkova Village [a historical district of St. Petersburg in its south-east part]. We collected my clothes and left for the railway station. But that day I did not leave the city again, because that echelon did not start. We came back home. I thought the situation over once again and understood that I was going to leave without Mom and Daddy. I went to the factory and asked to take Mom with us. They agreed. We put Mom’s clothes into my suitcase and left our home. But again we did not leave the city. Then I asked myself why we were going to leave Daddy alone? I went to the factory and asked to take my father with us. I promised that we should take food and water for him with us, etc. At last they agreed. But the next day the echelon did not leave (again!). You see, we did not leave at all, because all the roads were cut by Germans. It was very difficult to bring our things back home from the factory: it took us about a month to carry them part by part, because it became extremely difficult to move around the city. We took a tram, and fifteen minutes later it stopped because of air-raid warnings... In short, we remained in the besieged Leningrad. Years of blockade [12] (1941, 1942) passed away.
They sent us a notification about evacuation, too. So we left the city in 1943 by train. The train moved across the Ladoga Lake [13].
I returned to Leningrad in 1946. I found work at the factory of aircraft instruments. I worked there as an engineer.
In Leningrad our room appeared to be occupied. So we had to rent a room and had legal proceedings for the room. We managed to evict our property from its unlawful possessor. And we lived here all together: Mom, Daddy and I.
I told you already that Daddy had got four sisters. Two of them lived in Boychekovo and I knew them. Germans dug them alive during the war. Those Daddy’s sisters decided not to leave Boychekovo for evacuation, because during the World War I (in 1914) German soldiers were billeted on Boychekovo (and in their house, too). Daddy’s sisters thought that Germans in 1941 would be analogous to those ones, but it was a mistake. We never saw them after the end of the war.
The 4th father's sister lived in Riga. Together with other Jews they were burnt in the local synagogue. I was not acquainted with her (Riga was abroad), but I know her son. We correspond with him (he is my cousin!). He was the only son of that Daddy’s sister who survived (he was evacuated). The others: brothers, sisters - all of them were burnt in that synagogue.
One of my mother's brothers lived in Sverdlovsk, another one in Mogilev, the 3rd one lived here in Leningrad and died during blockade.
We spent summer in a suburb (rented dacha [14]) together with Daddy. I remember myself running to the railway station in Vsevolozhsk to catch the electric train and get to my factory in time. In Vsevolozhsk we spent two or three seasons. At that time there were no refrigerators, and I had a special hole in the vegetable garden, where I used to put a box with food. So many interesting things surrounded us! I used to take folding beds with us to dacha: my friends often visited us on days off. I went nowhere. When I was young and Mom and Daddy were alive and fine, I often went to the South of our country. I received many permits to sanatoriums at my factory. I also often visited Riga and Riga seashore. Later I used to go on two-day tourist trips to Belarus, Ukraine (Kiev). I also liked to climb mountains.
An employee of patronage service of the Hesed Avraham Welfare Center [17] visits me sometimes (I am in the list of their program since 2000). She comes once a week, spends about 2 hours and leaves: she considers her work to be fulfilled. When I ask her to wash the floor, she says ‘I have no time.’
Hesed Center used to give us (pensioners) good food packages. They also took us to the Center by car and it was possible to wash linen there (there were many washing machines in the Center). Later they arranged washing themselves: they took linen from us and brought it back clean, but that program was closed also. I guess, a lot of their programs were closed, because now they are poor: America, Germany, Israel do not help. So the Hesed Center became very poor. Earlier they gave us food packages for holidays for sure, but this time I got nothing for Rosh Hashanah! By the way, the list of their employees is very long!
As I am in the list of the Hesed Avraham Welfare Center (patronage program), visitors from abroad often came to my place. I met a family from Baltimore, rabbis from Chicago. Last year there came a family of 9 from Cleveland! Fortunately I have a bed where they could have a seat. All of them took photos. That family from Cleveland brought meals with them. I told them not to bring wine. Visitors usually bring meals with them (I was told at the Hesed Center not to entertain the visitors with delicacies). Several times they brought me some honey, but I am afraid to eat sweet things: I do not want to fall ill with diabetes.
Hesed Center used to give us (pensioners) good food packages. They also took us to the Center by car and it was possible to wash linen there (there were many washing machines in the Center). Later they arranged washing themselves: they took linen from us and brought it back clean, but that program was closed also. I guess, a lot of their programs were closed, because now they are poor: America, Germany, Israel do not help. So the Hesed Center became very poor. Earlier they gave us food packages for holidays for sure, but this time I got nothing for Rosh Hashanah! By the way, the list of their employees is very long!
As I am in the list of the Hesed Avraham Welfare Center (patronage program), visitors from abroad often came to my place. I met a family from Baltimore, rabbis from Chicago. Last year there came a family of 9 from Cleveland! Fortunately I have a bed where they could have a seat. All of them took photos. That family from Cleveland brought meals with them. I told them not to bring wine. Visitors usually bring meals with them (I was told at the Hesed Center not to entertain the visitors with delicacies). Several times they brought me some honey, but I am afraid to eat sweet things: I do not want to fall ill with diabetes.
Long time ago I received food packages from Germany, they were very good. Later I got food packages from the Finnish society Kluch Zhizni (Finnish mission for Jews). Finnish food packages were also very good. They brought packages to my place, but at that time I was younger and was able to go there myself. Now I receive no food packages (the programs were closed).
At present I visit Day-time center at Hesed twice a month: they usually bring us there by bus. There we have breakfast; go to excursions (last time we were in the Russian Museum at the exhibition of Shagal paintings [18]). Then we come back to the Center to have dinner and attend a concert. Last time it was a concert devoted to Okudzhava, it was very interesting. [Bulat Okudzhava (1924-1997) was a Soviet and Russian poet, composer, and prose writer; he was one of the brightest representatives of bardic poetry.] And then they bring us home. It is a sort of psychological safety valve for me. Now my leg hurts and I am not sure I will be able to get into the bus next week...
I also pay 240 rubles to the Hesed Center for the patronage worker, who comes to my place and works here about 2 hours. But she does not bring me food. This time she helped me to go out and buy an overcoat for me. Now I still can walk with difficulty, but I am afraid that soon I shall not be able to do it. Then I will be grateful to them for bringing me food and to hell with washing my clothes!
My pension is good and I guess I have deserved it. Recently authorities added some money to pensions instead of certain benefits [it happened in 2005]. You see, last year I went to Moscow free-of-charge and now I cannot… As a result I have 1,650 rubles, and Putin gave us 1,000. In total I have 6,400 rubles (my pension).
Berta Mazo
![](/themes/custom/centro/flags/ru.svg)
In Vinnitsa he finished a Jewish technical school, where he studied Yiddish. He knew Yiddish very well and considered it to be his mother tongue.
I got acquainted with my husband Mikhail Borukhzon at our College (he was 2 years older than me).
, Russia
Those studies were only for girls and other students called us Death Battalion (as a joke). In summer we used to go for practical studies. Once we (about 15 students) went to Magnitogorsk, there at a metal works we were engaged in time-keeping. We also went to Zaporozhye [in Ukraine], there we did the same, moving by steam locomotives wigwag.
At the College we often arranged dances, and I liked to dance very much. I also remember that when we were students of the 1st course, they taught us to march.
I finished my school and entered the Polytechnical College, faculty of industrial transport.
I always visited synagogue on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. My favorite holiday was Simchat Torah. It is the last day of Torah readings: Jews carry Torah scrolls and dance everywhere, even in the streets. I consider it to be the most cheerful holiday. Inna, a daughter of my cousin finished a choreographic school and used to dance at Simhat Torah.
For Pesach we always bought matzot and did not eat bread (by the way at present we also try to observe this tradition).
Living in Leningrad, we continued celebrating all Jewish holidays.
Once when I was a pupil of the 7th form, I was in a pioneer camp [5]. It was situated near Luga [a suburb of St. Petersburg]. There was a large lake and a small part of it was enclosed for little children. As for us, we used to get out of it and swim to the opposite bank of the lake (it was great!). Our PT teacher swam together with us. On the opposite side of the lake there was a tower, all children used it to jump down into the water. I was very much afraid of diving and never did it, though children tried to persuade me. A friend of mine was very good in diving. At that camp I was some sort of a pioneer leader.
Together with my parents we used to go to Sestroretsk for summer vacation (later I started coming there with children).
Besides my school studies, I was engaged in music lessons: a teacher came to our place. Later my sister started studying piano with Klara Efimovna Stolyar. My sister was talented and quickly left me behind, though she was younger than me. So I gave it up. My friends and I spent free time skating in the Tavrichesky garden [a big garden in the center of St. Petersburg] or preparing for school parties: we usually put different performances on the stage (once I recited Christ Has Arisen there!).
In Leningrad I studied at a very good school near the October concert hall. The school was rather interesting. Our teacher of physical culture was Ivan Edmundovich Kokh. He also taught fencing at the College of Physical Culture named after Lesgaft, fencing was his profession. He was a remarkable teacher. I also remember our teacher of literature, she always created a friendly atmosphere in the class. At school I had a friend (we are still friends) Raisa Lukoshkova, nee Bleksmit.
We lived in Leningrad in a large two-room apartment until we left for evacuation (in 1941). In one room we lived four together with our parents and my sister, and the other room was occupied by my aunt Anna Yakovlevna (you remember that she was not married).
n our class there were Jewish pupils, but the atmosphere was always very friendly. I keep no negative memories.