We had a pre-revolutionary picture of my grandmother. Her attire shows that hers was a wealthy family. She had a beautiful blouse, a chain watch and a beautiful hairdo. It was a custom among Jewish women to wear wigs at that time, so I guess, it was a wig. My grandmother always wore a long skirt and a blouse. She was a reserved and calm woman. My grandparents were religious. They always fasted on Yom Kippur, celebrated Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Chanukkah, Purim and Pesach. I sometimes visited them on the eve of Sabbath. On Friday evening my grandmother lit candles and said a prayer. They followed the kashrut. She even had a special cloth for washing kitchen utensils for meat and dairy products.
- 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 21331 - 21360 of 50826 results
Ida Limonova
![](/themes/custom/centro/flags/ua.svg)
My father, Vladimir Sneiderman, was born in Mitava in 1884. He was the first baby in the family. He studied at cheder, but he was very intelligent and very handy with things. He was very strong and healthy. After the family moved to Kharkov he found a job as a locksmith at the locomotive repair plant. He also had a good ear for music and soon began to play in the brass orchestra of the plant.
My grandfather on my mother’s side, Abram Gelbartovich, was born in Poland in the 1860s. Jews had the right to live in Poland, the right of land ownership and equal rights with Christians to stand in court. Jews played an important role in banking, trade and industrial business. My grandfather was a representative of the Singer Sewing Machines Company.
In the late 1880s my grandparents and their first-born son Ekhil moved to Kharkov due to growing anti-Semitism in Poland and the polonization of industry and commerce.
My grandfather was religious. We even had the five books of Moses, the Torah, at home. My grandfather used to read it. He had many prayer books and always put on his tallit and tefillin. He prayed twice a day: in the morning and in the evening. It was a sacred process and nobody dared to interfere. My grandfather was a gabbai in the Chebotarskaya synagogue in Kharkov. He was a very respectable man, and people always came to ask his advice regarding family life, bringing up children, and so on. He had a big gray beard, was a handsome, stately man, and when he came back from the synagogue he walked into his yard with his hands on his back. At the same time he only had one suit, but he managed to wear it with an air of dignity. My grandfather liked to play with us. I don’t remember him telling us any stories from the Talmud or the Bible.
Kharkov was a big industrial, commercial and financial center. Jews held key positions in the finances, in trade, medicine and publishing. New synagogues were built at the beginning of the 20th century; the biggest one of them was the choral synagogue.
My mother’s youngest brother, Mikhel, was born in 1897. He was a very interesting man and we were very good friends with him. He ran away to join the army when he was a boy. He took part in the revolution of 1917 and the Civil War. Later he became a professional military. I don’t know what his rank was, though. Like all military man he served in many towns of the Soviet Union. In 1937 he visited Kiev and stayed with me. We were glad to see each other. Shortly afterwards he was arrested [during the so-called Great Terror] 2 and executed.
My mother finished elementary school. She was very fond of reading.
My parents met in Kharkov. My father was playing at a wedding and the bridegroom was my mother’s friend. My father talked with my mother a little. They got married in Kharkov in 1908. They had a chuppah and my father’s friends played music at the wedding. The newly-weds lived with my mother’s parents. My father worked as a locksmith and played in a brass band; my mother helped my grandmother about the house.
In 1910 my older brother, Izia Sneiderman, was born; I followed on 26th August 1914. Shortly before, on 1st August, World War I began. [Editor’s note: The war actually began with the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy’s declaration of war on Serbia on 28th July. After that Russia ordered mobilization of her forces, and, on 1st August Germany declared war.] My father went to the front. After the revolution of 1917 my father volunteered to the Red Army and served in Kharkov in a music band until 1924. My father played the horn very well.
My father quit the Red Army in 1921 and from then on played in brass bands. He performed at parties and weddings and often brought me along. He also took me to parades. The biggest parades were held on 7th November [on the so-called October Revolution Day] 3 and on 1st May. We sang and danced at parades. I can hardly hold back the tears in my eyes when I hear a brass band playing. I recall my father and the old times and my childhood. I love listening to brass bands.
We always celebrated Jewish holidays at home: Pesach, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Chanukkah, Purim and Sukkot. I have the brightest memories of Pesach. There was always a general clean-up on the eve of Pesach: things were washed, cleaned and koshered. All kitchen utensils were rinsed with boiling water and there was a big stone in the washing bowl, perhaps, for keeping water hot for longer. We also had special dishes for Pesach. Our dinner table was covered with a special starched snow-white tablecloth. There was stuffed fish on the table and tsibele – hard boiled eggs cut with onions. There was also chicken on the table. Our family got together at the table.
My father used to make red wine that we had on holidays. Long before Pesach he bought dark raisins for the wine. There was one special beautiful wineglass set aside for Elijah ha-nevi. My grandfather was the master of ceremony at the table. He said the prayers. I was sitting to his right. On his left there was a chair with two pillows on it and two or three pieces of matzah underneath called afikoman. The afikoman is the last piece of food eaten at seder. The word afikoman is the Hebrew form of the Greek epikomion, which means dessert. It’s a tradition to hide the afikoman for the children to find and to ‘negotiate’ for its return. The seder cannot be concluded until the afikoman is redeemed. I was supposed to steal these pieces of matzah without my grandfather noticing it. Of course, my grandfather pretended that he didn’t hear or see me doing it, and when I got the matzah everyone at the table complimented me on my smartness. My grandfather always said a prayer, but I don’t know what kind of prayer it was.
My mother made pastries on holidays. She made flour from matzah and baked teyglakh from this flour: these were little pellets from flour and eggs boiled in honey, pressed on a board and cut in slices. They were also sprinkled with nuts and ginger.
My father used to make red wine that we had on holidays. Long before Pesach he bought dark raisins for the wine. There was one special beautiful wineglass set aside for Elijah ha-nevi. My grandfather was the master of ceremony at the table. He said the prayers. I was sitting to his right. On his left there was a chair with two pillows on it and two or three pieces of matzah underneath called afikoman. The afikoman is the last piece of food eaten at seder. The word afikoman is the Hebrew form of the Greek epikomion, which means dessert. It’s a tradition to hide the afikoman for the children to find and to ‘negotiate’ for its return. The seder cannot be concluded until the afikoman is redeemed. I was supposed to steal these pieces of matzah without my grandfather noticing it. Of course, my grandfather pretended that he didn’t hear or see me doing it, and when I got the matzah everyone at the table complimented me on my smartness. My grandfather always said a prayer, but I don’t know what kind of prayer it was.
My mother made pastries on holidays. She made flour from matzah and baked teyglakh from this flour: these were little pellets from flour and eggs boiled in honey, pressed on a board and cut in slices. They were also sprinkled with nuts and ginger.
At Chanukkah we had a silver chanukkiyah hung on the wall. It had eight holes for oil and wicks in each hole. Every day one more wick was lit. Kids got Chanukkah gelt, traditionally given as a Chanukkah gift and used for the dreidel game. We also celebrated Rosh Hashanah with apples and honey. Yom Kippur was the most important holiday. My grandfather and my mother fasted and prayed. My brother and I didn’t have to fast when we were small.
There was Sukkot. A sukkah was made, and people had their meals and celebrated the holiday in their own succah. We also celebrated Simchat Torah – a holiday marking the conclusion of the annual cycle of Torah readings and the beginning of the new cycle – the final fall holiday. We celebrated Purim. I remember the delicious hamantashen and strudels with poppy seeds – I still find those more delicious than any other cakes. My mother told me that she had seen Purimshpils before, but at my time there were no such performances.
There was Sukkot. A sukkah was made, and people had their meals and celebrated the holiday in their own succah. We also celebrated Simchat Torah – a holiday marking the conclusion of the annual cycle of Torah readings and the beginning of the new cycle – the final fall holiday. We celebrated Purim. I remember the delicious hamantashen and strudels with poppy seeds – I still find those more delicious than any other cakes. My mother told me that she had seen Purimshpils before, but at my time there were no such performances.
I also attended a Jewish wedding party. It was the wedding of my Aunt Hava, my father’s younger sister. The bridegroom was Abram Levenberg. I was wearing a dark gown with a white collar. The bride and bridegroom had a chuppah set up at the synagogue. The most distinctive feature of any Jewish wedding is the chuppah. This term is taken from the Talmudic stipulation that a marriage doesn’t take legal effect until the bride has entered the chuppah. It’s a canopy-like structure consisting of a piece of cloth, that is held aloft on four posts, and beneath which the couple stand during the religious wedding ceremony. The rabbi said a prayer and the bride and bridegroom exchanged wedding rings. The bride was wearing a silk dress and had a shawl on her head. The bridegroom was wearing a shirt – there were no suits with jackets at that time – they only came into fashion in the early 1930s.
When my grandfather was still alive our family was trying to follow the kashrut. Only my father secretly broke the rules: he liked pork and sausage. He ate these at other places than home because he respected my grandfather and didn’t want to hurt his feelings.
Our family lived in a two-bedroom apartment on the first floor of one of the three two-storied red brick buildings in our neighborhood. We had running water at home, but the toilet was in the yard. There was a big yard where children from these three buildings played. Our rooms were furnished poorly: a table in the middle of the room, a sofa and a bed. My brother slept on the sofa, and I slept in the bed. My grandfather slept in the kitchen and my parents had a small bedroom with a wardrobe, two beds, a big box, my mother’s Singer sewing machine and a dressing table. It was very cold in this apartment in winter. It was heated by a stove. There was a sawmill near our house. We took two bags of sawdust from there every day to heat the apartment. I remember my grandfather sitting at the table in the kitchen wrapped in my mother’s woolen blanket, reading a book.
There was a synagogue in our neighborhood. I used to go to there every now and then. I don’t remember my father going to the synagogue. There were two floors in it: the lower floor for men to pray and the upper floor for women. My mother went to the synagogue on Pesach, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Chanukkah and Purim. She took me with her and we stayed on the second floor. My mother had a Yiddish prayer book with her. Most of the time she wore a blouse, a skirt and a hat on holidays. On weekdays she usually wore a kerchief. My mother was a beautiful woman. On bigger holidays there were cantors singing at this synagogue. One of them was called Shteinberg. He was a young man and he toured with a boys’ choir. The boys had beautiful voices. Most of them came from poor provincial families and their parents were glad that their children got all necessary provisions and food from the choir organization.
I went to a Russian secondary school because Jewish schools were all closed in the late 1920s. The school I went to was in a one-bedroom apartment. There were very few children that formed 5 classes and there was only one teacher. All children were sitting in one room and the teacher went from one group of children to the other handing out exercises. The school was soon closed and I went to another school, rather far from our home. There was an Armenian school on the first floor, and we studied on the second floor at a lower secondary school [7 years of studies]. We studied mathematics, physics, Russian, history, geography and botany.
In 1924 I became a pioneer. My parents didn’t mind me becoming a pioneer, but my grandfather was upset that I wouldn’t be able to attend the synagogue any longer. We continued to celebrate all Jewish holidays at home.
There was a stadium across the street from our house where I skated in the winter. There were many children there. We played basketball and football, and spent a lot of time at this stadium.
When I came home I always had the same meal for dinner: boiled potatoes, onions and a big pickle, so, I believe, we were rather short of money. We wore shoes with a wooden sole in the 1920s, but it didn’t even occur to us that they were uncomfortable.
There was a movie theater in the central street in Kharkov. It was called Empire. My brother and I often went to the cinema. He was 17, I was 13 and he never hesitated to take me with him instead of going with his friends or girls.
In 1934 I finished my lower secondary education. Raya and I decided to go to a plant trade school to complete our secondary education and learn a profession. We were apprentices at a locomotive repair plant. We had special work clothes. There was a leather jacket with 4 pockets that we were saving for going out.
I became a Komsomol 5 member at the trade school. Besides the profession we chose to learn we studied mathematics, physics, Ukrainian and Russian. After studying in trade school for two years Raya and I went to study at the Rabfak 6. We were involved in some public activities: we became pioneer tutors at a school. The children liked me a lot, and I enjoyed working with them. We spent a lot of time together playing games, skating, and so on. I also made speeches at conferences and was involved with editorial work for the children’s newspapers, Na zminu. It was an interesting job. Our chief editor was Peter Belinskiy, and there were quite a few young Jewish men among the staff, including senior secretary Natan Shafir, my future husband. There were editorial offices of other newspapers in our neighborhood with quite a few Jewish employees. Nationality wasn’t an issue at the time.
In 1933, during the period of the forced famine in Ukraine 7, I was sent to Velikoburlukskiy district of Kharkov region by the Komsomol authorities. I and my companion took a train and then changed to a horse-driven cart. The horse was exhausted and starved. I was very poorly dressed, and it was a very cold day. I was wearing shoes and galoshes. When my feet got frozen I got off the cart and ran after the cart for the remaining part of the road. When we reached Velikiy Burluk we saw dead bodies in the streets. There were many children among them. But it was even more terrible in the houses: crying, dying children and starved adults with distracted eyes. Our task was to make lists of the living and the dead. We did our job and returned to Kharkov after several days.
There were crowds of starving people in the streets in Kharkov as well. The majority of them were villagers. My father worked a lot back then. He worked at the plant during the day and did repair jobs and construction work for people in the evening. He always brought home a piece of bread which he got in exchange for his work. We didn’t starve in those years.
There were crowds of starving people in the streets in Kharkov as well. The majority of them were villagers. My father worked a lot back then. He worked at the plant during the day and did repair jobs and construction work for people in the evening. He always brought home a piece of bread which he got in exchange for his work. We didn’t starve in those years.
In 1935 Natan Shafir and I got married. We had a civil ceremony at the registry office and our colleagues gave us with a big bouquet of peonies.
Natan finished cheder and wished to continue his education. He went to Nikolayev where his father’s brother David lived. David was a baker. Natan entered a secondary school in Nikolayev and finished it in 1928. Natan’s cousin, Mikhail, got married and moved to Moscow with his wife. He was a confectioner there. Natan decided to go to Moscow. He entered the Institute of Journalism there and worked as a reporter with the Pioneer Pravda newspaper. Upon graduation he got a job assignment in Kharkov, and that’s how we met.
In 1937 Natan and I were fired and expelled from the Komsomol. We were accused that we drove from Kharkov with Gregory Furman (the head of the school department at the Komsomol Central Committee), who had been executed by that time after having been declared an enemy of the people, and that we were hiding the fact of his anti-Soviet activities. Actually it wasn’t Furman who we drove with, but someone called Belinskiy, but we lost our jobs anyway and had nothing to live on.
Franziska Smolka
![](/themes/custom/centro/flags/at.svg)
In Moskau angekommen, wurden meine Eltern erst einmal einige Monte in ein Erholungsheim, nahe Moskau geschickt. Meinem Vater ging es sehr schlecht. Dann bekamen sie in Moskau im Schutzbundhaus, in einer stillen Seitengasse der Gorkistrasse, eine Wohnung. Das Haus glich einem Wiener Gemeindebau der 1920er-Jahre und hatte vier Stiegen. Vor dem Haus standen zwei große Bäume, hinter dem Haus befand sich ein riesiger gartenartigen Hof. Auf zwei Stiegen wohnten nur österreichische Familien. Meine Eltern wohnten im zweiten Stock. Auf der zweiten Stiege des Hauses wohnte Onkel Walter, seine Frau Magda und meine Cousine Ruth. Das ganze Haus war bevölkert mit Schutzbündlern, alle sprachen deutsch.
Die Wohnung bestand aus dem Vorzimmer, einem großen Zimmer und zwei kleineren, der Küche und dem Bad. In dem großen Zimmer wohnten, bevor meine Großmutter kam, meine Eltern. In den anderen zwei Zimmern wohnte die junge Familie Füchsel mit ihren beiden Kindern. Herr Füchsel war ein Arbeiter aus Linz. Als die Großmutter zu uns nach Moskau geflohen war, tauschten meine Eltern und die Frau Füchsel, deren Mann dann irgendwo in Russland arbeitend unterwegs war, die Zimmer. Frau Füchsel bekam das große Zimmer und meine Eltern die zwei kleinen.
Die Wohnung bestand aus dem Vorzimmer, einem großen Zimmer und zwei kleineren, der Küche und dem Bad. In dem großen Zimmer wohnten, bevor meine Großmutter kam, meine Eltern. In den anderen zwei Zimmern wohnte die junge Familie Füchsel mit ihren beiden Kindern. Herr Füchsel war ein Arbeiter aus Linz. Als die Großmutter zu uns nach Moskau geflohen war, tauschten meine Eltern und die Frau Füchsel, deren Mann dann irgendwo in Russland arbeitend unterwegs war, die Zimmer. Frau Füchsel bekam das große Zimmer und meine Eltern die zwei kleinen.
Mein Vater wurde 1933 verhaftet. Er war Schutzbundkommandant und hatte mit einer Gruppe von jugendlichen Schutzbündlern [13] in der Nacht illegal Plakate geklebt. Dabei sind sie mit einem Trupp von Nazi zusammengestoßen. Es kam zu einer Schlägerei, aber die anderen waren in der Übermacht. Mein Vater hatte eine Pistole und hat in Richtung seines Verfolgers in den Boden geschossen. Die Kugel prallte ab und traf den stolpernden Verfolger. Er war sofort tot. Obwohl mein Vater militärisch erzogen worden ist, war er ein sehr feinfühliger und ein sehr humaner Mensch, der keiner Fliege etwas zuleide tun konnte. Ihm ist das sehr nahe gegangen, dass er einen Menschen getötet hatte.
Mein Vater wurde verhaftet, und zu einem Jahr Haft verurteilt. Nach seiner Enthaftung haben meine Eltern, im September 1933, geheiratet. Die Zeit vom September 1933 bis zum Feber 1934 war eine Zeit angespannter politischer Tätigkeit. In der Wohnung meiner Eltern gab es dann politische Zusammenkünfte, es gab sogar einmal einen Waffentransport. Sie fuhren in einem Auto mit einer ganzen Kiste Handgranaten, die sie im Keller des Hauses meiner Großeltern versteckt haben. Dann bestand meine Mutter aber doch darauf, dass dieses gefährliche Zeug wegkommt.
Am 12. Februar 1934 [14] kam ein Freund und sagte zu meinen Eltern, es sei Generalstreik, und in Linz werde geschossen. Mein Vater war in diese Kämpfe, die das Land erfasst hatten, involviert und wurde bei Auseinandersetzungen mit der Polizei schwer verletzt ins Spital gebracht. Sein Bein musste amputiert werden. Aus der Haft, die nach dem Krankenhaus folgte, wurde mein Vater zur Anfertigung einer Prothese entlassen. In dieser Zeit, es war Juni 1934, flohen meine Eltern, die inzwischen Mitglieder der Kommunistischen Partei geworden waren, nach Prag und von Prag nach Moskau.
Mein Vater wurde verhaftet, und zu einem Jahr Haft verurteilt. Nach seiner Enthaftung haben meine Eltern, im September 1933, geheiratet. Die Zeit vom September 1933 bis zum Feber 1934 war eine Zeit angespannter politischer Tätigkeit. In der Wohnung meiner Eltern gab es dann politische Zusammenkünfte, es gab sogar einmal einen Waffentransport. Sie fuhren in einem Auto mit einer ganzen Kiste Handgranaten, die sie im Keller des Hauses meiner Großeltern versteckt haben. Dann bestand meine Mutter aber doch darauf, dass dieses gefährliche Zeug wegkommt.
Am 12. Februar 1934 [14] kam ein Freund und sagte zu meinen Eltern, es sei Generalstreik, und in Linz werde geschossen. Mein Vater war in diese Kämpfe, die das Land erfasst hatten, involviert und wurde bei Auseinandersetzungen mit der Polizei schwer verletzt ins Spital gebracht. Sein Bein musste amputiert werden. Aus der Haft, die nach dem Krankenhaus folgte, wurde mein Vater zur Anfertigung einer Prothese entlassen. In dieser Zeit, es war Juni 1934, flohen meine Eltern, die inzwischen Mitglieder der Kommunistischen Partei geworden waren, nach Prag und von Prag nach Moskau.