My father, Jacob Goldenberg, was born in Simferopol in 1881. He lived in Simferopol before finishing lyceum in 1899. The same year the widowed grandmother sent my father to Paris to his elder brother Moses or Michel Malinskiy. My father studied at Sorbonne University, at the physics and chemistry department. He graduated in 1900 and entered the medical department. He graduated from the medical department in 1909.
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Displaying 26461 - 26490 of 50826 results
Tamara-Alexandra Goldenberg
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He worked in a hospital in Saint Petersburg. In 1911 he took an exam at Kazanskiy University to start practicing medicine. In 1912 and 1913 he worked as a doctor in the venereal and urological department of the ambulatory in Simferopol. He equipped his office with diagnosis devices at his own cost.
Father was not religious. To begin with, the family that brought him up did not stick to any religious traditions, and cognition of natural sciences did not bring him to religious self-consciousness.
Grandfather was clever and entrepreneurial. I know that they used to change apartments moving from poorer districts to the wealthier ones. Their financial position improved and their family grew. Finally they settled in a very beautiful and prestigious district of Sevastopol near the historic boulevard.
My relatives did not approve of the revolution. When they left they just took money, which momentarily turned into mere piece of paper. First they went to Constantinople [today Istanbul, Turkey]. Then they had a skimpy living, wandering from one country to another. In the end they all happened to be in France. The entire family got together in Paris. They were not well-off, but could abide by their living. There were a lot of them and they helped each other.
My mother’s entire family was rather religious except for my mother. They stuck to all major Jewish traditions, observed Sabbath, went to the synagogue during holidays, but they wore mundane clothes.
Maria died in a concentration camp in 1942. During the occupation the Germans took her with the daughter to Germany, as her neighbors told us. I do not know which camp it was. We do not know the story, whether it was somebody who gave her away, or she was not able to hide because she was deaf.
I did not have any brothers or sisters, but I had a lot of cousins in Russia and France. I loved them as my brothers and sisters. I had four cousins in France – two girls and two boys: Vilgemina Kagan, nee Rosendorf, the daughter of Aunt Maria, who perished in a concentration camp. Victor Upstein, Aunt Sarah’s son, born in 1914 and Uncle Grigoriy’s children Renata Geftman born in 1916 and Leonid Geftman, born in 1912. They all emigrated from Russia in childhood, but they kept in touch with Mother and me.
We kept on writing each other even during the Great Patriotic War, after the grandparents’ and parents’ death. They were our consolation in the hardest times, as we knew they were prosperous. Mother did not receive letters at home. She went to the post office and received mail post restante. At that time it was dangerous to correspond with relatives abroad [11]. We did not write about our hardship. The letters were concise and said things like: ‘we are fine.
We kept on writing each other even during the Great Patriotic War, after the grandparents’ and parents’ death. They were our consolation in the hardest times, as we knew they were prosperous. Mother did not receive letters at home. She went to the post office and received mail post restante. At that time it was dangerous to correspond with relatives abroad [11]. We did not write about our hardship. The letters were concise and said things like: ‘we are fine.
My cousins Leonid and Victor were very friendly. During the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War in 1941 they both were mobilized in the French army. They did very well and in 1942 they were released from service.
Renata was an extraordinary personality. She was educated in-depth. She was in touch with artists, sculptors, doctors and philosophers. Many of them dropped their mundane professions and became activists in Catholic culture. She became Catholic. It was not an unexceptional move for France in those times. The cultural French elite, being dissatisfied with the cultural and spiritual life, was interested in religious matters. There were several communities at Catholic cathedrals, exquisite intelligentsia got together there.
When her father found out that she had converted, he ran amok. It was a tragedy, since her parents were deeply religious Jews. Her father gave in, after multiple scenes and scandals. She rescued almost all her kin during the occupation of France by the Germans. She helped them owing to her acquaintance with religious Catholics. Renata’s friends sheltered her.
When her father found out that she had converted, he ran amok. It was a tragedy, since her parents were deeply religious Jews. Her father gave in, after multiple scenes and scandals. She rescued almost all her kin during the occupation of France by the Germans. She helped them owing to her acquaintance with religious Catholics. Renata’s friends sheltered her.
After the war Renata left for Israel for permanent abode. It was her cherished dream to live there. She was involved in great propaganda in Israel.
My mother was born in 1885. She was a gifted musician, and played the grand piano very well. When she finished lyceum, her parents sent her to Austria to study at the conservatory in Vienna. At that time her sister Maria also lived in Vienna with her husband and child. Mother stayed with them for a while until their divorce. Then Maria and her child left for Sevastopol. Mother moved to Berlin and continued her studies at the Berlin conservatory. She was as successful there as in Vienna.
My mother was so deeply immersed in her studies that her health suffered and she was afflicted with tuberculosis. She still managed to graduate from the conservatory.
My mother was so deeply immersed in her studies that her health suffered and she was afflicted with tuberculosis. She still managed to graduate from the conservatory.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
I do not know how my parents met. I think, it was a prearranged marriage, though a love wedlock. They got married in 1914. My mother’s parents were religious, and I think their wedding was in accordance with all Jewish rituals.
They settled in Sevastopol. Father began to work in the venereal department of the hospital. Then he established a hospital for treatment of venereal diseases. He did a lot in that field and also worked as an advisor for the institute of physical therapy. Father was a remarkable expert in that field. There was also a school at his department. A lot of qualified experts came from that school. Father was highly appreciated and loved. Many times he was selected as a chairman of the Burlaw court, and deputy in the municipal authorities. [Burlaw court, ("court of comrades") was a special form of collective justice that existed in the Soviet Union.
Mother did not continue her musical career. She became a housewife, creating a hearth at home for my father.
These were terrible times, full of blood-shed. There was a revolution in Russia. Streams of Russian fugitives from Petersburg, Moscow and other Russian cities fled from Russian via the Crimea.
I went to school in Paris and made friends with my cousin Renata Geftman. My relatives rented a two-storied cottage in a decent Paris district, though not in the most fashionable.
Our family was very friendly and rather religious. We celebrated all Jewish religious holidays. I was deeply impressed by the celebration of Pesach. We put out special dishes. We washed and changed our dresses. All relatives were dressed up. There was a festive air in the house. Grandmother did not cook, as she was very old. She stayed in the corner knitting and making clothes for our dolls. Aunt Nadezhda, Grigoriy’s wife, cooked everything. I remember delicious gefilte fish, potato patties. Aunt Nadezhda, my mother and Aunt Maria baked strudels from matzah flour, stuffed with jam, raisins and nuts.
We observed all rites and traditions of the holiday. Before Pesach we cleaned the house and put out different dishes. We took the furniture from the apartment and washed walls. There was not a single bread crumb in the house. They bought a lot of matzah for the entire Pascal period. Bread was not eaten for eight days. My uncles went to the synagogue.
We observed all rites and traditions of the holiday. Before Pesach we cleaned the house and put out different dishes. We took the furniture from the apartment and washed walls. There was not a single bread crumb in the house. They bought a lot of matzah for the entire Pascal period. Bread was not eaten for eight days. My uncles went to the synagogue.
On the first paschal night Grandfather conducted the Seder reclining on pillows. He broke the matzah into three pieces and hid the middle part between the pillows. Someone from the children had to steal it and hide it, and then give it to Grandfather for a ransom. I was the one who was supposed to snitch that matzah. Uncle Joseph read the Haggadah in Ivrit, then my cousin Leonid asked him the traditional four questions in Ivrit. After that Grandmother read a prayer and we all sang mirthful paschal songs. We did not observe Jewish rituals at home, that’s why I enjoyed seeing all those interesting things there.
Grandfather died in 1926. He was buried in Paris in the Jewish cemetery, with all rites and traditions observed. I was not taken to the funeral and neither were the other little grandchildren.
Sevastopol, the city of my childhood, was wonderful, beautiful and extraordinary. It was located in a picturesque area: the mountain and the sea. We lived in the city center. The city transport was well developed, there were trams and lots of cabs. There were tram lines to the railway station, around the city and to the market. I remember in wintertime, when there was a lot of snow, the cabmen harnessed the horses to sleighs. Sevastopol was a cultural city. In summertime my mother took me to the sea shore. Though, I was unwell in summertime. I could not stand the heat and stuffy air very well.
It was a five-room apartment, and then during the Soviet regime it was divided. We were given three rooms. It was not a communal apartment [12], like most of the apartments at that time, but a separate apartment. One room was common, but the other two isolated. Then they cut us out of one room, and we were left with two rooms with two balconies. Now we lived in a communal apartment. But still it was enough for us. One of the rooms was over 40 square meters, the other one was over 30.
Our neighbors were Soviet organizational people. I do not know their names.
Our neighbors were Soviet organizational people. I do not know their names.
It was a five-room apartment, and then during the Soviet regime it was divided. We were given three rooms. It was not a communal apartment [12], like most of the apartments at that time, but a separate apartment. One room was common, but the other two isolated. Then they cut us out of one room, and we were left with two rooms with two balconies. Now we lived in a communal apartment. But still it was enough for us. One of the rooms was over 40 square meters, the other one was over 30.
Our neighbors were Soviet organizational people. I do not know their names.
Our neighbors were Soviet organizational people. I do not know their names.
I did not have a nanny in my childhood, but I had a French governess before going to school. She taught me French and how to sew. She came to us for a couple of hours a week. I did not go to kindergarten, at that time they did not exist. We had a house-keeper. Mother was a home-maker. She had lots of things to do so she would not have time to think of earning her bread and butter.
First of all these were the times of starvation [cf. Famine in Ukraine] [13] and drought in the country, and the salary of my father was very skimpy, no matter how well-qualified he was. His salary was not enough to make a living, and mother tried really hard to feed us. She sold some of the things left by our relatives in the commissioner shops or swapped them at the market for food.
There was a dreadful famine in Ukraine. People starved in the Crimea, too.
My parents were not religious. We did not mark any religious holidays or rites at home. Though, my father’s friends got together in our house. My father was a mirthful and an interesting man. He was loved by people. Doctors, patients and friends came to see him. These were not only Jews, but also Ukrainians and Russians. The doors were open for people.
I started school from the fourth grade. First my mother and I left for France, and I went to school there, then I studied at home for some time. In 1931 I went to the closest seven-year school in our vicinity. I was more prone to the Arts than sciences, but nobody was interested in that. At that time engineering sciences were more important, while the Arts were condoned. I finished school satisfactorily. Then I went to the vocational school of the famous marine plant in Sevastopol, where team training was practiced. Finishing seven grades of schooling and that vocational school were equal to compulsory education. There were several departments in the vocation school, viz. mechanics, metal processing and wood processing.
I had to work and study at the same time. I was a milling-machine operator. It was not my cup of tea. Finally I was lucky to finish that vocational school somehow, and then I entered Rabfak [14], and I had to study a little bit.
I had to work and study at the same time. I was a milling-machine operator. It was not my cup of tea. Finally I was lucky to finish that vocational school somehow, and then I entered Rabfak [14], and I had to study a little bit.
It was decided that I should enter the Foreign Languages Institute as I knew French. One of my father’s patients had some connections in Moscow. He was very grateful to my father, who rescued his life, and he got to know all information for the admission in the institute and took all my papers to Moscow. I was very modest and bashful at that time, and not very prudent. I was always being ashamed of something. I was 17.
I remember the day when I came to the institute wearing a white hat. I did not pass the Russian exam very successfully, but my French was pretty good, and I was accepted.
I remember the day when I came to the institute wearing a white hat. I did not pass the Russian exam very successfully, but my French was pretty good, and I was accepted.
I remember bloodshed in 1937 [cf. Great Terror] [15]. Teachers were lost gradually, especially German language teachers. There were less and less teachers, and sometimes there were no teachers to supply for the missing ones. I believed everything told at the meetings, things I read in papers regarding the condemnation of ‘enemies of the people’ [16]. There was no television at that time, but those condemnations were public. I was overly gullible like the majority of people back then. Not very often, but still I heard of the arrests of my acquaintances. I thought that those cases were errors.