We lived in Maria's apartment in Saksaganskogo Street in the center of the city. Maria's mother and sister and her husband also lived in this apartment.
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leonid rozenfeld
In November I was sent to a military school in the town of Shuya near Moscow. There was a group of young people with secondary education and knowledge of German. This school in Shuya trained specialists of propaganda in the army of the enemy, but when we arrived at Shuya it turned out this school had been disbanded. We were sent back.
During my absence a bomb had hit the earth house of my platoon. My comrades perished. I was overwhelmed with the feeling of guilt, although it wasn't my fault. Our division was liberating Belarus at that time. After we returned our group was called to the army headquarters where we took a course of training. We were taught slogans to agitate against the war to convince fascists to drop their weapons and yield into captivity. German captives were teaching us. There were a few Jews in our group. They spoke Yiddish, which is close to German, and it was easier for them to learn and understand German. I still remember the slogans we shouted, 'Attention! Attention! German soldiers! Save your souls and go back to your families...! The Soviet troops crossed the Dnieper and liberated Dnepropetrovsk, Dneprodzerzhinsk, etc.' There was a ski battalion formed in our unit. I was good at skiing and was a member of this group. Other guys were mainly former partisans that were professional military. Before a battle we put on our camouflage cloaks. I sat in a trench on the very front shouting slogans in German. Then I went back to my unit to participate in action. I can't remember any fascists yielding into captivity in our area, but I think those slogans helped to break the morale spirit of our enemy.
Our relatives often visited us and we went to see them, too.
We celebrated 1st May, October Revolution Day [18] and birthdays. I liked visiting Aunt Ania. She lived in Krasnoarmeyskaya Street in the center of the city. There were parades moving along her street on holidays and we could watch them from her balcony. In the evening we watched fireworks. I cannot remember any family gatherings to celebrate Jewish holidays. My parents' friends were Jews in their majority; they often came to visit us. Most of my parents' colleagues were Jews. My father got along well with Russians and Ukrainians, but he had no friends among them. My father's colleagues often came to celebrate holidays with us. They brought sausage, cheese, vegetables, fruit and lemonade and the women laid the table. They had fun and enjoyed these parties. I don't remember anybody getting drunk. My father loved music and sang beautifully. He was the life and soul of the parties. He sang Jewish and Ukrainian songs and Russian ballads. They also danced to music from our record player. Life was interesting and full of joy.
We celebrated 1st May, October Revolution Day [18] and birthdays. I liked visiting Aunt Ania. She lived in Krasnoarmeyskaya Street in the center of the city. There were parades moving along her street on holidays and we could watch them from her balcony. In the evening we watched fireworks. I cannot remember any family gatherings to celebrate Jewish holidays. My parents' friends were Jews in their majority; they often came to visit us. Most of my parents' colleagues were Jews. My father got along well with Russians and Ukrainians, but he had no friends among them. My father's colleagues often came to celebrate holidays with us. They brought sausage, cheese, vegetables, fruit and lemonade and the women laid the table. They had fun and enjoyed these parties. I don't remember anybody getting drunk. My father loved music and sang beautifully. He was the life and soul of the parties. He sang Jewish and Ukrainian songs and Russian ballads. They also danced to music from our record player. Life was interesting and full of joy.
In the evening our father often took us to Proletarski Garden on the slopes of the Dnieper. There was an open-air stage called Zelyony [Green] Theater where a symphonic orchestra played every evening and on Sunday. Many Kievites remember those prewar evenings in the park with an orchestra playing. I liked theaters, too. My favorite was the opera.
My older brother went to study at a special artillery school after finishing secondary school.
I became a pioneer at school. I was fond of photography. My father gave me a camera on my birthday and I became a photo correspondent for our school newspaper. Besides, I went in for sports: cycling, skiing and gymnastics. My prewar school years were bright and beautiful years of my youth.
In 1937-1938, during the period of arrests of numerous 'enemies of the people' [19], we couldn't understand where so many 'enemies' came from, but we believed everything that newspapers published and radio broadcast. We sincerely believed there were many enemies of communism and they had to be exterminated. My relatives didn't tell me that my uncle Alexandr was arrested and disappeared in Stalin's prisons. My parents never discussed these subjects with us. When I asked my father where all those enemies of the Soviet power came from, he kept silent.
We knew about fascism from newspapers and films. We knew that Hitler strained himself to seize power. We watched the film Professor Mamlock [20], which described Hitler's attitude towards Jews. We realized we were on the verge of war. Even though the Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact [21] was signed we couldn't help seeing that the country was preparing for war. There were military training sessions: test air raids or men gathering for military training terms.
After finishing artillery school my brother Israel went to study at Kiev Artillery College from where he graduated in 1940.
He got an assignment to serve in Western Ukraine. He served in Rovno and Lvov. He visited us for the last time in spring 1941.
My parents' families came from Boguslav, a small town in Kiev region, 120 kilometers from Kiev. This town, located on the picturesque banks of the Ros' River, is very beautiful. The Ros' River flows between the steep rocky banks. The town is especially beautiful in spring when it buries itself in the verdure of blooming white and pink gardens. The population of Boguslav in the early 19th century was about 10,000 people, the majority of whom were Jews. Jews lived in the central part of the town; they were mostly involved in crafts and commerce. There were shoemakers, tailors, joiners, carpenters, glasscutters, clock repairers and bakers. Ukrainians were farmers living in the suburbs and neighboring villages. Two or three times a week there was a market in the central square of Boguslav where farmers brought their products. The biggest market was on Sunday. Farmers sold poultry, dairy products, vegetables and potatoes. There were shops owned by local Jewish craftsmen who sold household goods, tools and haberdashery. There was a Christian church in the central square; this church is still there. The synagogue was closed in the middle of the 1920s during the struggle against religion [1]. It became a normal house.
I don't know what my grandfather did for a living, but they must have been wealthy since they provided education for all their numerous children.
My grandfather and grandmother observed Jewish traditions. I have a photo from a visit to their relatives in Kiev on which they are dressed according to the Jewish requirements. My grandfather had a beard and wore a cap that was a little bigger than a kippah and my grandmother had a kerchief. I'm sure they were religious Jews and observed Jewish holidays. Anyway, that's only my best guess since my mother didn't like talking about her family.
Etl was older than my mother. She was born around 1890, finished a grammar school in Boguslav and got married.
During the Great Patriotic War, Yenia was at the front in Russia and Ukraine, and became a lecturer at the Irkutsk Military College after the war. After demobilization from the army he settled down in Kramatorsk with his wife.
, Russia
Aunt Etl wasn't religious, but in her family they observed all Jewish holidays paying tribute to traditions.
, Ukraine
After finishing secondary school, my father graduated from the Higher Party School [15] in Kiev in 1920.
He became the director of the power plant in Boguslav, was elected deputy of the town council more than once and was a well-known person in the town.
Our family lodged in two rooms, the two other rooms belonged to my paternal grandparents'. Uncle Shymon and Uncle Yankel's families lived on the first floor.
I remember that my father went to work early in the morning and returned home late in the evening when I was already asleep.
Grandfather Michel spent a lot of time with us. He read us fairy tales and told us biblical stories.
He prayed in his room every day with his tallit and tefillin on his hand and head. He insisted on observing the Jewish holidays, even though our father was against them.
I remember Chanukkah when all the children - I, Naum and Rachil - sat at the table wearing our fancy clothes. We were given sweets and money. Every evening my grandfather lit another candle on the special candle stand [the chanukkiyah]. There were potato pancakes and delicious doughnuts on the table.
He died in spring 1930. He was buried in accordance with Jewish traditions: grandfather was lying on the floor wrapped in a shroud and women were crying over him with their clothes torn. Men recited memorial prayers. I didn't go to the funeral, but later I was told that grandfather was taken to the cemetery on a barrow and buried in a semi-recumbent position.
In early 1931 my father got a job offer to the Arsenal plant in Kiev - a military tool manufacturing plant.
My father received two rooms in a communal apartment [16] in a two-storied building in Ulianov Street in the center of Kiev. The building was painted pale yellow. One of the rooms was a 30 square meters and the other one was smaller, about 15 square meters. My brother and I had our beds and a desk in the smaller room and our parents lived in the bigger room where they had their nickel-plated beds, a big dinner table covered with a velvet tablecloth, a wardrobe and a beautifully carved cupboard. There was a common kitchen. Another family lived in this apartment. I don't remember them well, but I do remember that there were no conflicts. Each family had a table with a Primus stove on it in the kitchen. There was running water and a toilet in the kitchen. There was no bathroom and my father, my brother and I went to the nearby sauna.
My parents spoke Yiddish with each other and Russian with us.
In this same year, in 1931, I started school. My parents spoke Yiddish with each other and Russian with us. There was a Ukrainian school near our house and my brother and I went there. I didn't have any problems with my studies since back in Boguslav, Grandfather Michel had taught me to read in Russian and Ukrainian.
On summer vacation my mother and I went to Boguslav. Usually we stayed at Uncle Yankel's during the holidays. I spent that summer with my cousin Nuchim. We became friends.