My father’s older sister Sara was born in 1903. Aunt Sara lived in Odessa. She was married to a Jewish man. Her husband’s name was Ilia Koltun. Aunt Sara was a housewife. They had three children: two daughters and a son, born shortly before the war in 1941.
- Traditions 11756
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Major events (political and historical)
4256
- Armenian genocide 2
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Holocaust
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Communism
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Displaying 27181 - 27210 of 50826 results
Irina Aizenberg
My father’s second brother Efim was born in 1897. Uncle Efim lived in Kherson. He worked as an accountant. He was married to a Jewish woman. His wife’s name was Asia.
Uncle Abram’s daughter graduated from Polytechnic College after the war and his son graduated from Moscow College of Steel and Alloys. They worked as engineers at plants in Odessa.
On Jewish holidays the whole family got together at Grandfather Israel and my father’s stepmother Polia’s apartment. They taught us all rules to be followed to observe Jewish holidays accordingly. During seder at Pesach my cousins and I repeated traditional questions after Ms. Polia. We always ate matzah at Pesach. I don’t know where they got it in those years. At Purim Ms. Polia made hamantashen with poppy seed filling and treated all children to those pies. She and Grandfather Israel went to synagogue on all holidays and fasted at Yom Kippur. Other members of the family didn’t quite observe all rules. This is all I remember about their religiosity.
My paternal grandmother, Ethel Gurovich, was born in Kherson in 1877. I don’t know her maiden name. I never met my grandmother and we had no photographs of her. My grandmother got education at home.
Rozalia Akselrod
I also remember stray children in 1929. They were orphans, whose parents had died. These children were always hungry with very poor clothing. In some places of the city the authorities wanted to pave the streets with asphalt, so there were big pots with tar in the streets, and this tar was being heated all day long. And at night, these homeless children climbed into the pots with leftovers of hot tar and slept there, in warmth.
I remember the famine of 1932–1933 [10]. I remember not only the feeling of hunger but also dead bodies in the streets. The bread store was not far from our house. There were constantly long lines for bread. When we went out of our house we always saw several dead people in the street. I remember it very well. I cannot say that our family suffered much from hunger. But there was great famine in Ukraine, and it was horrible. I will never forget those dead bodies.
My grandfather, Solomon Weber, my mother’s father, came from Warsaw. He was born in the 1850s. Back in Warsaw he had a family with a wife and two children. He was called up to serve in the Tsar’s Army for 25 years here in Ukraine.
Much more about those times we learned during perestroika [24]. I remained a member of the Communist Party, but I felt very ashamed of letting people deceive me for so many years. In 1990, I quit my Communist Party membership with no regret.
In 1953, Stalin died. We cried very sincerely. I worked at the Institute of Doctors’ Advanced Training. I heard the news of Stalin’s death on the radio and my first thought was, ‘What is going to happen to us?’ Not to us as Jews, but to us all, the Soviet nation? We cried a lot. Later, when Khrushchev [23] unmasked Stalin’s cult, when we learned about the crimes of our authorities, my worldview began to change.
Upon arrival in Kiev we learned about the Babi Yar [19] tragedy. We learned about it from newspapers, but it was nowhere mentioned that Jews were shot in Babi Yar. Every newspaper wrote about the shooting of Soviet civilians. None of our relatives was killed in Babi Yar. We added this event to the list of the fascists’ atrocities.
Back in evacuation, in 1944, I became a candidate for the Communist Party. I wanted to join the Party very much; I believed every honest person should do that. But when we moved, my documents got lost. I received the copies only in 1948. Then I joined the Party in Kharkov.
My parents and I went together on a freight train. It was hard. We bought some foods and went to the toilet at the stations where the train stopped. Everyone understood that it was not a time for complaining. We were simply rescuing our lives. It took us two or three weeks to get to Dongus.
At the institute Komsomol meetings became very frequent. We often condemned ‘the enemies of people’ [13], that is, our co-students. It was scary. Sometimes such meetings lasted up to 2 or 3am. The best students were expelled from the Komsomol and from the institute. Then the KGB [14] arrested them.
, Ukraine
A Jewish man, Professor Pletskis taught Russian literature at our school. He was a bright teacher. He was arrested when we were still students. Later we learned that he was shot. I don’t know what kind of charges against him led to his execution.
, Ukraine
I remember the famine of 1932–1933 [10]. I remember not only the feeling of hunger but also dead bodies in the streets. The bread store was not far from our house. There were constantly long lines for bread. When we went out of our house we always saw several dead people in the street. I remember it very well.
We did not celebrate any Jewish holidays, but Passover. On Passover, we bought matzah and cooked traditional food: fried eggs with matzah and chicken. It was just a family dinner with traditional Jewish food. Nobody said a prayer, or lit a candle and there was no traditional seder.
, Ukraine
My favorite subject at school was mathematics. I was good at it. I did not have any bright talents, neither was I one of the best students. But I was a good one, and I was loved at school.
, Ukraine
A Ukrainian neighbor passed by, saw her and cried, ‘Tosya, why did you come here? You are Russian!’ An officer of Denikin’s gang heard that, approached Aunt Tosya, kissed her hand and wanted to lead her away from the square, but Aunt Tosya told him she wanted to share the destiny of her dear husband: whatever they wanted to do with him, the same they could do with her. When the officer heard that, he bowed to her and led both her and Iosif away from the square. A lot of Jews were shot in that square on that day.
, Ukraine
Denikin’s gang entered the town and ordered all the Jews to come to the main square. They said those who would not come would be brought by force.
, Ukraine
During pogroms he always gave refuge to Jewish families. So, when Denikin’s soldiers came to Khorol again, this landowner threw a great ball at his house and invited all officers of Denikin’s gang. On the upper floor music played and guests danced, while in the basement several Jewish families sat as quiet as possible. I was the only baby there. And when I began to cry, somebody pressed a pillow upon my face to suppress my crying so that I wouldn’t reveal our whereabouts. Since that time I have had problems with breathing.
, Ukraine
A lot of Jews lived in Khorol. They spoke a mixture of Yiddish and Ukrainian to each other and to their Gentile neighbors. Until their very old age my parents talked to each other in that mixture.
, Ukraine
According to my father, his parents celebrated Jewish holidays and Sabbath. There was a synagogue in Khorol but I don’t know how often my grandparents and their children attended it. I know for sure they attended the synagogue though. My father even kept his tallit from those times.
, Ukraine
All children received secular education. All seven finished high school in Khorol and then got professional training.
, Ukraine
When their family went into evacuation, her husband fell in love with another woman and stayed with her. From evacuation Malochka returned to Kharkov together with her son and lived with him to the end of her life.
, Ukraine
Both Jews and Gentiles in Khorol loved her. When in 1916 Grandmother died from tuberculosis, the whole town came to the funeral ceremony. I am not sure but I guess it was a traditional Jewish funeral and they followed all rules and rituals.
The family of my grandparents kept Jewish traditions. On holidays they went to the synagogue. At home they celebrated Jewish holidays.
, Ukraine
Galina Barskaya
When he was defending his diploma project, he was singled out as one of the best students. So, he finally got a diploma – and hence started his problems with finding a job. The same situation repeated itself – going from enterprise to enterprise, from plant to plant; nobody wanted to give him a job.
My son experienced full measure of anti-Semitism. He finished a regular Ukrainian secondary school with good marks. It was very hard to enter university right after school, so he went to college. But it was hard for him to even enter the college because he was Jewish, so Nikolay had to help him.
Later, when inspectors from the district committee of the Communist Party or from higher organizations would come, they would put red marks against the names of the Jews on our list and show the list to me, saying that there were too many Jews in our organization. But our chief always stood up for us. The anti-Semitic campaign of the 1950s [14] did not touch us either. We certainly knew about it and were concerned, but it did not affect us.