. In 1923 they gave birth to their only son Borya, who at age 19 was killed at the front in Stalingrad in 1942 or 1943. He held the rank of senior lieutenant. Uncle Grisha himself also perished at the front, near Leningrad, when he was 37.
- 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 17251 - 17280 of 50826 results
Irina Voinova
Uncle Grisha worked at a tannery.
In 1914 the oldest brothers – Dad and uncle Leva – joined the army. Uncle Grisha didn’t go with them as he was too young. He was probably born in 1902. Uncle Leva also fought in the Civil War and was a war hero. He was wounded in the spine and after this could not use his legs. He died in Leningrad during the blockade. He couldn’t walk and was helpless.
In 1971 I remarried. My second husband’s name is Mikhail Erofeevich Voinov. He was born in 1925 in Ukraine, in the Chernigovskaya region. For his entire working life, until he retired, he worked at the Kirovsky Plant as a motor mechanic. He is a Ukrainian, but he had a relative named Mikhail Isaacovich [i.e., a Jew]. Misha has a high respect to people, he is very learned and has a very good personality.
In 1952 I was allotted a room in the wooden house measuring 17 square meters. It was only in 1957 that I was allotted a room in a communal flat in Leningrad – 18 square meters. Four families – 15 souls – like in this communal flat. We lived in a good way, peacefully, our relations with one another were very good.
We had two children. Our the eldest son, Anatoly, was born in 1949. He is an engineer. His wife, Natasha, is Russian. They have two sons. The eldest, Alyosha, graduated from the Medical Institute and is a doctor. The second son, Tymofey, is studying at the Polytechnic Institute. He is 17. My second son, Leonid, was born in 1951. He is an engineer. His wife, Tanya, is also Russian. She is a hospital nurse. They have two children – Mashenka and Andryusha.
It was in Levashovo that I met my first husband, Grigory Grigorievich Kutakhov, whom I married in 1948. Born in 1911, he was Russian by nationality, born and bred in Leningrad. All his ancestors had been born in Leningrad. He worked as a motor mechanic. He was an anti-Semite but loved me and maintained very warm relations with my relatives. I lived with him for 22 years. In the late 1960s, my husband was in an accident. He was sick for a year and a half and died in 1970.
Up to 1948 I lived in a hostel, and in 1948 those who wanted were given little rooms in wooden Finnish houses in Levashovo [near Leningrad]. From there we commuted quite a distance each morning to get to the plant, but on the other hand I had my own quarters. I got married and gave birth to two children there, and the four of us lived in this little room.
We were called to the Big House (the State Security Authority). They told that they would send all of us back and put us all in prison. But instead then they sent us to the FZO [factory-and-works school] and left us alone. It was 1945. Our documents and belongings were all in Barnaul, so I had to get new documents. My original documents stated my name as Frida Israilevna. For the new documents I decided to change my first name and patronimic, because both in the orphanage and in vocational school I had had a lot of problems because I was a Jew. I told them that I was Aizman Irina Georgievna, a Russian, in order for them to register me as a Russian. Since then, everyone I know has called me Irina Georgievna. Only my closest relatives know my real name, but they, too, call me Irina. The factory school was attached to the “Svetlana” plant . We lived in barracks belonging to this plant. I worked at “Svetlana” from 1945 until 1981, when I retired. I worked as a turner. Then I needed money – so I worked on a machine that refined mercury. It was probably the only machinelike it in the Soviet Union. It was brought from America.
And in the morning we had to put them on again and go to work, which was quite far away.
We worked at a plant that produced bullets. I worked as a turner. I was always a very good worker and was ahead of schedule. My photo was always posted on the board of honor. We worked for 16 or 18 hours a day. And sometimes we spent the nights in the workshop, because it was a very long way back to our barracks -- five or six kilometers on foot. In Barnaul the temperature was minus 40 degrees C0, and we were just in quilted jackets. Everybody's hands and legs were frostbitten. When we stayed at the workshop overnight we would hide somewhere under a short flight of stairs to sleep.
We were paid salaries for our work. We could go to the market, buy a head of cabbage and eat it raw. I remember that we also bought frozen milk. For bread we had ration cards – 800 grams of bread per day. We got cereal with ration cards, too, and there was also something else - I don’t remember. It was quiet in Barnaul, it didn’t feel as if there was a war on. People went about their daily lives. For some reason boys ran and sold water in glasses, a glass cost 10 kopecks. It was a hard life, but sometimes we arranged parties in the barracks; we sang, danced. We were young, we were only 15 to 20 years old.
We worked at a plant that produced bullets. I worked as a turner. I was always a very good worker and was ahead of schedule. My photo was always posted on the board of honor. We worked for 16 or 18 hours a day. And sometimes we spent the nights in the workshop, because it was a very long way back to our barracks -- five or six kilometers on foot. In Barnaul the temperature was minus 40 degrees C0, and we were just in quilted jackets. Everybody's hands and legs were frostbitten. When we stayed at the workshop overnight we would hide somewhere under a short flight of stairs to sleep.
We were paid salaries for our work. We could go to the market, buy a head of cabbage and eat it raw. I remember that we also bought frozen milk. For bread we had ration cards – 800 grams of bread per day. We got cereal with ration cards, too, and there was also something else - I don’t remember. It was quiet in Barnaul, it didn’t feel as if there was a war on. People went about their daily lives. For some reason boys ran and sold water in glasses, a glass cost 10 kopecks. It was a hard life, but sometimes we arranged parties in the barracks; we sang, danced. We were young, we were only 15 to 20 years old.
First we were taken to Aleisk, a town in the north, where we were driven to some club or palace of culture. We lived in this building for a few days and slept right on the floor, putting the our kit-bags under our heads. We were given half a kilogram of bread a day and water – that’s all. Several days later we were herded together and transported to Barnaul. The day after our arrival we were stripped of our clothes: they took away our greatcoats and new boots that had been distributed to us in the vocational school. In exchange the gave us quilted jackets – we called them something unprintable! – and boots with wooden soles.
We were settled in barracks. They had two-tiered bunk beds and one stove, called a “bourguika”. The windows were narrow and were situated at ground level. It was cold, dirty and damp there, we froze. We bought Valenki. Valenki were wet all the time. And if we put them into the stove to get dried – some burned up, some stayed wet all the same. And in the morning we had to put them on again and go to work, which was quite far away.
We were settled in barracks. They had two-tiered bunk beds and one stove, called a “bourguika”. The windows were narrow and were situated at ground level. It was cold, dirty and damp there, we froze. We bought Valenki. Valenki were wet all the time. And if we put them into the stove to get dried – some burned up, some stayed wet all the same. And in the morning we had to put them on again and go to work, which was quite far away.
I lived at Aunt Anya’s until the winter of 1942, when I was evacuated to Barnaul. They evacuated the people who were the sickest and weakest and said that as soon as we were well, we would be taken back to Leningrad. They transported us in cattle cars – these were goods wagons with plank beds. We probably traveled for two months, if not more. Once a day we were let out of the wagon as if we were a herd of cattle; they fed us with any old stuff they had (pea soup and something else) – and then were led back into the wagon.
There were only three girls in the group I was with – me, my friend Rosa Mutovkina and another girl – Sara. Some boys didn’t like us because of our nationality [i.e. we were Jewish] and often were rude to us.
There were only three girls in the group I was with – me, my friend Rosa Mutovkina and another girl – Sara. Some boys didn’t like us because of our nationality [i.e. we were Jewish] and often were rude to us.
During the war Aunt Fruma was at the front, and her mother and son remained in Belorussia (they lived in Belorussia, in Khatin). The Germans came there and took all the Jews together and led them off to be shot. Aunt Fruma’ s son, a little boy, bit a German in the hand and he grabbed him, fractured his spine and flung him into the pit. Most of Fruma’s relatives were killed there. Those who were half dead were buried alive in the pit.
Only one sister survived (I don’t remember her name). She was hiding in some little store-room, but she was betrayed later. A Russian politsay [that was the name for Russian people who agreed to work for the Nazis in the occupied territories and served as a police force, keeping “order” among civilians] came, grabbed her and took her to the commandant's office. Two Germans were ordered to take her aside to the bushes and to shoot her there. She was just 17, but she understood German. When they reached the place the Germans told her:
Daughter, you are young, beautiful, - run to the forest.
She replied:
Shoot me, why are you tormenting me?
They repeated: Run, you are young; we shall shoot; don’t be afraid of it.
She recalled later,
“I moved away, saying Well, shoot!, and then I ran, thinking, Am I alive or not? I came running into the forest, fell, and only two days later regained consciousness and saw that I was alive.”
In this way, she was saved by the Germans. What happened to those who hid her, she doesn’t know, as she didn’t go back. She ran away into the forest, and only then was found by our people in the forest.
Only one sister survived (I don’t remember her name). She was hiding in some little store-room, but she was betrayed later. A Russian politsay [that was the name for Russian people who agreed to work for the Nazis in the occupied territories and served as a police force, keeping “order” among civilians] came, grabbed her and took her to the commandant's office. Two Germans were ordered to take her aside to the bushes and to shoot her there. She was just 17, but she understood German. When they reached the place the Germans told her:
Daughter, you are young, beautiful, - run to the forest.
She replied:
Shoot me, why are you tormenting me?
They repeated: Run, you are young; we shall shoot; don’t be afraid of it.
She recalled later,
“I moved away, saying Well, shoot!, and then I ran, thinking, Am I alive or not? I came running into the forest, fell, and only two days later regained consciousness and saw that I was alive.”
In this way, she was saved by the Germans. What happened to those who hid her, she doesn’t know, as she didn’t go back. She ran away into the forest, and only then was found by our people in the forest.
I went to enter vocational school in 1941. I was only 14, and they didn’t want to accept me because I was too young. But Anna Ivanovna was at the entrance examination and stuck up for me, saying that I was an orphan. Thanks to her I was accepted. It was the First Vocational School attached to a ship’s-mechanical factory. I specialized in studying to be an all-round turner. At the vocational school we were fed well, and they gave us greatcoats, skirts, jackets, shirts, and soldier's blouses.
After Aunt Anya took me in, I began to go to school. I started in 1938. I entered third grade, because earlier I had gone to school when Mom was alive. I liked mathematics, the Russian language, dictation – they were my favorite subjects. I wasn’t so good in English. I wanted to study, and later, in vocational school, I was always top of the class. I was always elected to be a class leader, and always worked hard.
I always got on well with the other children. We had a mathematics teacher – her name was Anna Ivanovna, who was a school superintendent. She loved me and felt sorry for me, and I was always teased that I was “Annushka’s pet.
I always got on well with the other children. We had a mathematics teacher – her name was Anna Ivanovna, who was a school superintendent. She loved me and felt sorry for me, and I was always teased that I was “Annushka’s pet.
I don’t know what kind of education Aunt Anya had received, but she was very literate. She knew Yiddish, German, and Estonian well – she knew 5 or 6 languages altogether. She and Uncle Vitya were the managers of a drugstore. Aunt Anya and Uncle Vitya also spoke Yiddish, but they didn’t celebrate any religious holidays.
Selma’s mother lived in a big one-story house, where there were a lot of children. They lived very poorly. There was no wallpaper on the walls. They treated us badly; I recall that they would add water to the milk they gave us – they even begrudged us milk. Who needed us, outsider kids! Our oldest sister, Lena, went out begging for us.
But we didn’t live there long. After a few months we were all placed elsewhere. Zhenechka, Misha and I were put in orphanages – for some reason we were all sent to different ones. The older two, Lena and Borya (Lena was 14 and Borya - 12 ) were sent to a vocational school in Krasnoe Selo, near Leningrad.
It was then that we completely lost touch with our youngest brother, Mishenka, who was 5 at the time. He sought us out only in 1955. I didn’t recognize him at first. He had became an attractive young man with dark, curly hair.
I was at the orphanage for about a month. It was in summer. A lot of us lived in one room. I always sat in the corner, separately, constantly crying. I didn’t want to eat anything and grew very thin; I missed Mom and Dad terribly. When Aunt Anya Feitelson, dad’s cousin, came to see me, she was told: “If you want this child to live, take her away.” So she and Uncle Vitya, her husband, took me in. Aunt Anya became my guardian, but they only took me. Maybe they didn’t know where my brothers and sisters were. Or may be they did know but didn’t want to assume such a responsibility and take anyone else.
But we didn’t live there long. After a few months we were all placed elsewhere. Zhenechka, Misha and I were put in orphanages – for some reason we were all sent to different ones. The older two, Lena and Borya (Lena was 14 and Borya - 12 ) were sent to a vocational school in Krasnoe Selo, near Leningrad.
It was then that we completely lost touch with our youngest brother, Mishenka, who was 5 at the time. He sought us out only in 1955. I didn’t recognize him at first. He had became an attractive young man with dark, curly hair.
I was at the orphanage for about a month. It was in summer. A lot of us lived in one room. I always sat in the corner, separately, constantly crying. I didn’t want to eat anything and grew very thin; I missed Mom and Dad terribly. When Aunt Anya Feitelson, dad’s cousin, came to see me, she was told: “If you want this child to live, take her away.” So she and Uncle Vitya, her husband, took me in. Aunt Anya became my guardian, but they only took me. Maybe they didn’t know where my brothers and sisters were. Or may be they did know but didn’t want to assume such a responsibility and take anyone else.
Mom died on May 23, 1937 as the result of an unsuccessful abortion. She is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Leningrad. I remember that she had a burial service in the synagogue of the Jewish cemetery.
Mom was very hospitable, and she was a good cook. Of the Jewish dishes she cooked, I remember tzimes, chicken necks, amd stuffed fish. Always on [Passover] we had matzo. Mom would go to some place early in the morning and buy matzo. When Mom and Aunt Anya cooked chicken soup, they made matzo dumplings.
When we were little, we often had guests. We had a large table – we would sit at the table and sing (we sang Ukrainian songs, Mom liked them). Uncle Grisha and Dad would sing some Jewish songs in Yiddish.
Our flat was situated in a big building that had several floors. We lived on the third floor, and Uncle Leva (Dad’s brother) lived on the ground floor. Our family was poor. There was only one room in the flat, a big one – may be, of 40 square meters. There were beds and a big table. We all, seven people, lived in one room. We never had any nannies. Mom always cooked and cleaned up. She was a very orderly person.
We had a big ancient candelabra. Mum would light candles in it say, “Be quiet, don’t get close to it and don’t touch it.” I also remember that we had a big white tiled fireplace at home, with a small mantelpiece. And also there was a big iron chest.
When we were little, we often had guests. We had a large table – we would sit at the table and sing (we sang Ukrainian songs, Mom liked them). Uncle Grisha and Dad would sing some Jewish songs in Yiddish. One person who visited us was a Jew with a humpback, who worked for Dad. There were also many Estonians, since dad was from Estonia. Usually, when guests came, we had to leave the table and sit separately.
We had a big ancient candelabra. Mum would light candles in it say, “Be quiet, don’t get close to it and don’t touch it.” I also remember that we had a big white tiled fireplace at home, with a small mantelpiece. And also there was a big iron chest.
When we were little, we often had guests. We had a large table – we would sit at the table and sing (we sang Ukrainian songs, Mom liked them). Uncle Grisha and Dad would sing some Jewish songs in Yiddish. One person who visited us was a Jew with a humpback, who worked for Dad. There were also many Estonians, since dad was from Estonia. Usually, when guests came, we had to leave the table and sit separately.
Among themselves my parents spoke Yiddish. With us, well, sometimes they would shout at us both in Yiddish and in Russian. In childhood I understood everythingbut later forgot.
Daddy and Uncle Grisha knew Kirov [Sergei Mironovich Kirov (1886 – 1934) – a prominent figure in the Communist Party,who was in charge of establishing Soviet power in the Caucases, from 1926 –he was the secretary of the Leningrad Regional Party Committee from working in the party. I remember very well when Kirov was shot in 1934. Uncle Grisha came in, they were sitting on the sofa and Daddy’s eyes were full of tears. They took it very hard. Then for a few nights Dad slept in his clothes -- he expected they would come for him at any moment. At that time many people were shot. And Mom would go to Mishenka, - she would embrace him and cry. But everything turned out all right.
She had some sort of small casket – she must have inherited these things from her parents. Once I dropped the casket – Mom was so upset; she kissed it and all the time whispered in Yiddish (she spoke Yiddish well).
Mom was very religious. I always wondered why she didn’t allow us sometimes to carry things from somewhere, and only now I realize that, most likely, it was Shabbat. She tried to keep all the traditions, but she went to synagogue only rarely and in secret from Daddy. Daddy never went to synagogue. He was a communist – I remember my relatives saying that Papa was a communist, and at that time everything was strict; a communist couldn’t go to synagogue.
Daddy was a tailor. He worked as a manager of a tailor shop. Clients went to him there, but some came to our home for fittings. They said of my Daddy: “Israel has magical hands.”
Mom was a housewife, but she sewed at home as well, helping Dad. Once Dad had some large children’s order – either for a school or for an orphanage. They were winter coats, I even recall that they were green. Mom sewed them at home. Our parents also sewed the clothes that we kids wore; they never bought any.
Mom was a housewife, but she sewed at home as well, helping Dad. Once Dad had some large children’s order – either for a school or for an orphanage. They were winter coats, I even recall that they were green. Mom sewed them at home. Our parents also sewed the clothes that we kids wore; they never bought any.
Ticu Goldstein
My wife went to the Medical School in Petersburg.
, Russia
The third sister, Mitzi, stayed in Vienna. The owner of the enterprise where she worked tolerated her, as she was a very good worker. She had social-democratic views and believed in Communism. And when the Russian Communists got to Vienna, she was raped by some of them.
After the war, Carla and Deutsch settled in Czechoslovakia, where he had a little tin can factory. But the Communists threw him in jail because he was a kulak. They had a daughter, named Ilus. She was born in London and this is why she was persecuted by the Communists when the family moved to Czechoslovakia.
,
After WW2
See text in interview
My wife’s mother had three sisters; I could say that their fate was the fate of the European Jewry. One of them ended up with her husband in Kazakhstan, where they had to cope with a terrible poverty; another one, Carla, ran from Vienna to Italy, but Fascism followed her there, so she had to take refuge in London, where she worked as a maid in a castle. She met Deutsch (a Jew from Czechoslovakia) and got married. This Deutsch had been a member of the French Resistance, but had been wounded and his comrades had taken him to London.
,
During WW2
See text in interview