On the first day of Pesach my mother would clean the house, and take out special cutlery.
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Displaying 2581 - 2610 of 50826 results
Rudi Katz
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In Cernauti he was a clerk in a timber station; he had a small notebook with him, where he had written a lot of mathematical formulae, which he used in his office, calculating timber cubing, for example.
He learnt tailoring in Carlibaba when he was young, like his brother Lazar, but he worked in the forestry industry like his father.
They only left the village during the high holidays, because there was no synagogue there, and so they would travel to one or gather with other Jews to form a minyan.
They were very good friends with their Christian neighbors, they visited each other, helped each other with money; they had good relationships with the people around them.
My grandparents had a box in the house, with a menorah on it and a lock, where they gathered money for the Zionists in Israel, for Keren Kayemet [2].
My grandmother didn't know Hebrew, but my grandfather could read the prayers in Hebrew. They spoke Yiddish in the house, and also Romanian and Ukrainian, because most of the village people were Ukrainians.
They lived in a small house, with two rooms and a kitchen. The grocery store was in one room, and they lived in the other. Across the street they had a lumber- room, where I slept sometimes, on the floor, covered only in blankets and sheep skin. I still remember the smell of the apples they kept there! They had no electricity or running water.
She was the heart of the house, and religious, too: she read a translated version of the Siddur in Yiddish. She wore a kerchief on her head, not a wig, and kept a kosher household and always observed Sabbath.
He was with us when we were deported, in 1941. He was left behind at Marculesti [1], because he couldn't walk, and he died there. Nobody who got left behind survived.
Grandfather was a religious man, he didn't shave, and he wore payes and put on his tefillin three times a day.
My grandfather had a small grocery store there, but before that he had an inn and a bigger house.
I used to visit my grandparents when I was seven or eight years old, during the summer holidays, and I used to stay a few weeks. A lot of times I went there alone, my father put me on the bus; the bus didn't go all the way to Paraul Negru, so a neighbor or a friend of my grandfather's waited for me with a cart and took me to their house.
There were some people, in their fifties, who spoke perfect Yiddish to me; they were Christians, but they learned it from Jewish friends when they were young. You could tell from that that Jews and Christians got along well.
My grandparents lived in a house in Carlibaba, a bit off the main road; it was a nice house, with three or four rooms and a big porch.
He worked as a clerk in a timber station. I don't know exactly what kind of schooling he had, but he must have had something at least equivalent to high school today. He knew mathematics and did a lot of complicated calculations, like timber cubing. If one wanted to buy a forest, he would have to make an investigation and find out the amount of timber he could obtain from the trees. My grandfather knew how to calculate that.
My paternal grandfather, Nusen Katz, lived in Carlibaba at the time I knew him, but he originally came from Ukraine. This grandfather had a rather interesting story: when he was only three or four years old, he was taken across the border to Romania and abandoned there, because of some ongoing pogroms in Ukraine. He was adopted by a man named Katz, but although he bore his name, he wasn't really a Katz.
My favorite holidays were Pesach, Yom Kippur and Friday evenings [Sabbath].
She always went to the shochet to have the chickens slaughtered.
My mother was more religious than him, she tried to respect Sabbath: she would ask a Ukrainian neighbor to come and light the fire, and she avoided hard work. Every Friday evening she cleaned the house, baked challah, lit the candles and said the prayers. Evenings like those were like a light among all my childhood memories.
My father wasn't very religious, he didn't keep Sabbath because he had to work on Saturdays, and he didn't pray every day; but when he could, on the high holidays, he went to the synagogue, maybe even every four weeks; he loved to socialize and chat.
My parents didn't dress traditionally; they wore ready-made clothes just like everybody else. My father went to work in an office, so he dressed accordingly: in trousers and a jacket.
We lived in a small house that was built with the help of an uncle, after the plans my father drew. It had two apartments: one was always rented and one was ours. It had one room, a kitchen and a big porch; we also had a small garden, where my mother planted vegetables - I still remember the taste of the tomatoes! We had simple furniture, just the necessary things, a bed, a kitchen table where we ate and chairs around it. We had no electricity or running water, the water closet was in the garden, and we had to bring water from the well, which was in the garden. Bringing water was usually my job, if I was around. If not, my mother did it. Later we had electricity, but no running water. My mother lit a fire in the kitchen, and during winter, she heated bricks on the stove, wrapped them in cloth and then put them in the bed. She only made a fire in the room if we had guests. She did all the household chores; only occasionally a woman came to help her with the laundry.
I believe they got married in the 1920s through a shadkhan; my mother lived in a village and my father lived in a town by that time, so they couldn't have met at a dance, like it was the case in other families. I remember my mother had a ketubbah, written in Hebrew from the rabbi who married them in the synagogue in Cernauti.
My mother, Clara Popper, was born in Paraul Negru, in the 1890s. She had only completed elementary school, but she loved to read.
He knew German, Romanian and Yiddish, and had his father's inclination towards calculations.
faina minkova
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My father worked at the KGB office until 1952, when the campaign against cosmopolitans [11] began. Many Jews, including my father, were fired. Of course, he knew why he had been dismissed, and this caused him a lot of suffering. Nevertheless, he remained a devoted communist. He mourned for Stalin in 1953 and didn't believe a word about the denunciation of his cult. We weren't allowed to say a disapproving word about the Soviet regime, or, God forbid, tell a political anecdote. For my father everything about the Party was sacred and certainly not subject to discussion or criticism. He explained that what happened to him was a mere mistake and that it was impossible to avoid such mistakes. My father couldn't get a job for a long time. This was the period of blatant anti-Semitism. The situation was very hard for our family. My mother used to sell our belongings to get food for the family. In the end my father got a job at the human resource department of the woodwork factory. Later he got another job at the Electronmach plant.
In 1954 my mother took me to my grandparents in Korkino. This was the only time I saw them. My grandfather looked like Santa Claus. It was a bitter winter, and he was wearing a heavy white winter-coat. He had a beautiful white beard. He was very handsome, even in his old age. I can't remember my grandmother that well. She had severe stenocardia. She was a fat woman and stayed in bed breathing heavily most of the time. My grandfather did all the housework. He went to buy bread in the mornings while I was still in bed. He always brought me a bagel or candy and put them under my pillow.
In 1954 my mother took me to my grandparents in Korkino. This was the only time I saw them. My grandfather looked like Santa Claus. It was a bitter winter, and he was wearing a heavy white winter-coat. He had a beautiful white beard. He was very handsome, even in his old age. I can't remember my grandmother that well. She had severe stenocardia. She was a fat woman and stayed in bed breathing heavily most of the time. My grandfather did all the housework. He went to buy bread in the mornings while I was still in bed. He always brought me a bagel or candy and put them under my pillow.
, Ukraine
In the 1950s there were gangs of Ukrainian patriots in the woods of Bukovina fighting against the Soviet regime. This was a mission of the KGB. Ukrainian patriots had their informers in villages. Sometimes KGB units came to a place just a few minutes after a gang had left. KGB was trying to find out who informed the gangs about their plans. It turned out to be one of my father's secretaries, a young girl.
In 1948 my father received a two-storied mansion and a plot of land in a quiet street close to the center of Chernovtsy. It was a cultured European town. There was a university and theaters. Chernovtsy belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy until 1918. In November 1918 Bukovina became part of Romania. Chernovtsy used to be a Jewish town. When the Romanians came to power some Jews left Chernovtsy. But even then the Jewish population still constituted over 60% of the town. There were about 65,000 Jews out of 105,000 people living in Chernovtsy. Yiddish was spoken in the streets as well as German and Romanian.
My mother and the children moved to Chernovtsy. Ania, my cousin, the daughter of Aunt Fania who perished in Orsha, moved in with them. Ania entered Medical College. My sister and brother went to school. My father grew vegetables and had chickens. Their situation was hard at the time. My mother didn't work and was raising three children. My father ordered my mother to let nobody in when he wasn't at home. People used to bring baskets with food and left them near the door trying to bribe my father. My father took them to the street when he came home. Sometimes aggressive relatives of Ukrainian bandits came to the house threatening to kill the family. It was a horrible time. After all gangs were eliminated my father was transferred to the Chernovtsy regional KGB department.
I was born in November 1949. There were only two ambulance vehicles in town at the time. I was born while the ambulance was on its way to our house. Ania, who was a medical student, was my mother's midwife and cut the umbilical cord. I was named Faina after Fania, my father's sister. I went to kindergarten at 3, and my mother went to work as an accountant. She had learned this profession in evacuation during the war.
In 1948 my father received a two-storied mansion and a plot of land in a quiet street close to the center of Chernovtsy. It was a cultured European town. There was a university and theaters. Chernovtsy belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy until 1918. In November 1918 Bukovina became part of Romania. Chernovtsy used to be a Jewish town. When the Romanians came to power some Jews left Chernovtsy. But even then the Jewish population still constituted over 60% of the town. There were about 65,000 Jews out of 105,000 people living in Chernovtsy. Yiddish was spoken in the streets as well as German and Romanian.
My mother and the children moved to Chernovtsy. Ania, my cousin, the daughter of Aunt Fania who perished in Orsha, moved in with them. Ania entered Medical College. My sister and brother went to school. My father grew vegetables and had chickens. Their situation was hard at the time. My mother didn't work and was raising three children. My father ordered my mother to let nobody in when he wasn't at home. People used to bring baskets with food and left them near the door trying to bribe my father. My father took them to the street when he came home. Sometimes aggressive relatives of Ukrainian bandits came to the house threatening to kill the family. It was a horrible time. After all gangs were eliminated my father was transferred to the Chernovtsy regional KGB department.
I was born in November 1949. There were only two ambulance vehicles in town at the time. I was born while the ambulance was on its way to our house. Ania, who was a medical student, was my mother's midwife and cut the umbilical cord. I was named Faina after Fania, my father's sister. I went to kindergarten at 3, and my mother went to work as an accountant. She had learned this profession in evacuation during the war.
, Ukraine
My father was a political officer and an NKVD employee. He was appointed a SMERSH [acronym for 'Death to Spies', internal security service) division]. But my father wasn't just a clerk sitting in the office. He spent a lot of time at the frontline where he was severely wounded in 1942. He had multiple wounds on his chest, abdomen, arms and legs. He was lying on the ground for over six hours. There was a German sniper on a tree. A star on my father's cap reflected sunrays and the sniper kept shooting until it got dark. Only then my father's comrades got a chance to get him out of there. He was taken to a hospital behind the lines in Baku where he had surgery. It was a miracle that he survived. He had his ribs removed on one side and there were big scars on his chest. He lost a lot of blood. He was in constant pain. There were no analgesics available, and his doctor gave instruction to nurses to give him alcohol anytime he would wake up. Later my father never drank alcohol. He used to say that he had had too much alcohol.
My father stayed in hospital from December 1942 till February 1944. Then he was sent to the Caucasus to complete his treatment. He didn't have any information about his family. He didn't even know about the baby. It took him two years to find his family. He got information in 1944 saying that they were in the Ural. The same year he returned to his military unit at the front. In 1945 my father got an assignment in Japan and then in China. [This was during the war wit Japan.] [10] In 1947 my father was sent to fight the enemies of the Soviet regime in Chernovtsy, Western Ukraine. They were Ukrainian patriots.
Zina and her family stayed in Kuibyshev after the war. Her husband returned from the front. Zina died in Kuibyshev in the 1970s. Her son lives in Israel. Aron and his family lived in Podmoscoviye. His only son Jacob, named after my grandfather, was killed at the front. One of his daughters died of tuberculosis after the war. Two daughters moved to Israel and one lives in Moscow. Aron died in the 1970s. My father's younger sister, Tania, and her husband lived in Zaporozhiye after the war. She married a Russian man and didn't keep in touch with her Jewish relatives. Tania died in 1983.
My mother's parents, Tzypa and her children, and Haya stayed in Korkino. They were the only Jewish family there. They built a house. My grandmother Masha died there in 1959. She had been ill and confined to bed for quite a while before she died. My grandfather died a few years later, in the 1960s. Tzypa didn't remarry. She was an accountant and was raising two sons. Haya lived with us in Chernovtsy for some time. Later, when my grandmother's stenocardia got worse, Haya went to Korkino to look after her. She was an accountant too. She was single and lived with my grandparents and later with Tzypa's son looking after his children. Haya died in 2001, Tzypa in 1984. Raya and her husband moved to Israel in the early 1970s. She died there in 1989.
My father stayed in hospital from December 1942 till February 1944. Then he was sent to the Caucasus to complete his treatment. He didn't have any information about his family. He didn't even know about the baby. It took him two years to find his family. He got information in 1944 saying that they were in the Ural. The same year he returned to his military unit at the front. In 1945 my father got an assignment in Japan and then in China. [This was during the war wit Japan.] [10] In 1947 my father was sent to fight the enemies of the Soviet regime in Chernovtsy, Western Ukraine. They were Ukrainian patriots.
Zina and her family stayed in Kuibyshev after the war. Her husband returned from the front. Zina died in Kuibyshev in the 1970s. Her son lives in Israel. Aron and his family lived in Podmoscoviye. His only son Jacob, named after my grandfather, was killed at the front. One of his daughters died of tuberculosis after the war. Two daughters moved to Israel and one lives in Moscow. Aron died in the 1970s. My father's younger sister, Tania, and her husband lived in Zaporozhiye after the war. She married a Russian man and didn't keep in touch with her Jewish relatives. Tania died in 1983.
My mother's parents, Tzypa and her children, and Haya stayed in Korkino. They were the only Jewish family there. They built a house. My grandmother Masha died there in 1959. She had been ill and confined to bed for quite a while before she died. My grandfather died a few years later, in the 1960s. Tzypa didn't remarry. She was an accountant and was raising two sons. Haya lived with us in Chernovtsy for some time. Later, when my grandmother's stenocardia got worse, Haya went to Korkino to look after her. She was an accountant too. She was single and lived with my grandparents and later with Tzypa's son looking after his children. Haya died in 2001, Tzypa in 1984. Raya and her husband moved to Israel in the early 1970s. She died there in 1989.
, Ukraine
When they reached Orenburg my mother met my father's sister Zina at the railway station. Zina had left Orsha at the beginning of the war. Zina told my mother that she, Tania, my father's younger sister, and Fania's daughter Ania had managed to leave Orsha. My father's brother Aron and his family had moved to Podmoscoviye in the early 1930s. My father's other sisters and brother perished in the first days of the war when Orsha was occupied by the fascists.
Zina was heading for Kuibyshev, and my mother and the kids joined her. When they reached Kuibyshev my mother wrote to the evacuation inquiry office in Buguruslan. She found out that my grandparents, Tzypa and her two children, and Haya were in Korkino village, Cheliabinsk region. My mother moved to this village to be with them and went to work. Tzypa's husband was killed at the front. The authorities gave her a cow as aid to the family of a deceased military. Tzypa and my mother got a plot of land where they were growing potatoes. My grandparents had a goat. My mother was a laborer at a canteen and later became an accountant there. She could have her meals in this canteen and so could my sister. When my mother was at work my grandparents looked after the children. They lived in Korkino until 1947.
Zina was heading for Kuibyshev, and my mother and the kids joined her. When they reached Kuibyshev my mother wrote to the evacuation inquiry office in Buguruslan. She found out that my grandparents, Tzypa and her two children, and Haya were in Korkino village, Cheliabinsk region. My mother moved to this village to be with them and went to work. Tzypa's husband was killed at the front. The authorities gave her a cow as aid to the family of a deceased military. Tzypa and my mother got a plot of land where they were growing potatoes. My grandparents had a goat. My mother was a laborer at a canteen and later became an accountant there. She could have her meals in this canteen and so could my sister. When my mother was at work my grandparents looked after the children. They lived in Korkino until 1947.
, Ukraine