Once at Yom Kippur they were returning from villages on grain loaded carts with music playing and a red flag installed on carts because it was a communist arrangement. Our relatives were at the synagogue when they saw my father riding on a cart with a red flag. It was scandalous. Due to his work my father couldn't follow all Jewish traditions. He often traveled to distant villages and following the kashrut was out of the question, of course. They ate what they had when they traveled.
- Traditions 11756
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Major events (political and historical)
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Holocaust
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Displaying 40831 - 40860 of 50826 results
Sheina Burdeynaya
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My mother's wedding brought lots of recollections at our home. When my parents were standing under the chuppah some gang came to town. There was panic and shooting and one of our relatives was raped. I could guess this from whatever small hints I heard. My parents hid in the house of one of their neighbors that was ill with typhoid. There were lots of feathers and blood around and my parents applied those on their bodies and bandits didn't touch them - they were afraid of typhoid.
My mother was the oldest of the children. I don't know where they studied, but they could read and write in Yiddish and Russian. They read a lot in Yiddish and Russian.
Moldova
My grandmother was very religious. She went to the synagogue on holidays. Every Saturday the family got together at the table. My grandmother lit two candles and my grandfather said a kiddush. He used to sit in an armchair say his prayers drawlingly. All Sabbath food was made on Friday afternoon. She cooked cholent potato kugel, chicken soup. I remember that my grandmother had a special stand with a candle underneath where she put her dishes to keep them warm for Sabbat. On Sabbath and holidays Darunia, a Moldavian woman, came to stoke a stove and do miscellaneous work at home.
Moldova
My grandfather Shmerl was a religious man. He had a tallit and tefilliniln. He went to synagogue on Saturday and all Jewish holidays. There were 5 synagogues in Rybnitsa [Rybnitsa was a small town and Sheina may be talking about prayer houses] My grandfather went to bes medresh, a small synagogue. There also was a big synagogue of tailors nearby. The rabbi from this synagogue was not a local and had no big authority. He was a Hasid while my grandfather didn't like Hasidim. I remember there was a cheder near where we lived. Melammed taught Torah and Talmud to the boys.
, Ukraine
Leo didn't get a regular Jewish education, but he always identified himself as a Jew. My mother taught him Yiddish and told him Biblical stories.
My husband served in the army as an engineer in a regiment until 1955. He was kept in the army since he was a good specialist. He retired in the rank of a major. My husband had nephrolith. He died in 1964 at the age of 52. He was buried at the Jewish cemetery, but Jewish customs were not observed.
In 1965 Lеo finished school with a gold medal and entered the Moscow Institute of Applied Physics. He graduated from the Institute with honors. When he was a 3rd year student he began to work at instrument-making design institute. He defended his thesis of Candidate of Sciences and continued to work as director of laboratory. His institute was closed during the period of perestroika and my son went to Italy looking for a job. Later he returned home to Moscow and began to work for a Norwegian company. He designs navigation radars. He lives in Moscow and has a Russian wife. No Jewish traditions are observed in his family. They have two children. My grandson Maxim will finish Mendeleyev Institute this year. He is 22 years old. My granddaughter Ania is 14. She studies at school. Every summer my grandchildren visit me to spend their vacations at the seashore in Odessa.
My husband served in the army as an engineer in a regiment until 1955. He was kept in the army since he was a good specialist. He retired in the rank of a major. My husband had nephrolith. He died in 1964 at the age of 52. He was buried at the Jewish cemetery, but Jewish customs were not observed.
In 1965 Lеo finished school with a gold medal and entered the Moscow Institute of Applied Physics. He graduated from the Institute with honors. When he was a 3rd year student he began to work at instrument-making design institute. He defended his thesis of Candidate of Sciences and continued to work as director of laboratory. His institute was closed during the period of perestroika and my son went to Italy looking for a job. Later he returned home to Moscow and began to work for a Norwegian company. He designs navigation radars. He lives in Moscow and has a Russian wife. No Jewish traditions are observed in his family. They have two children. My grandson Maxim will finish Mendeleyev Institute this year. He is 22 years old. My granddaughter Ania is 14. She studies at school. Every summer my grandchildren visit me to spend their vacations at the seashore in Odessa.
, Ukraine
In 1966 I got married again. Our marriage was registered at the registration office. I didn't take my husband's last name since I wanted that my son and I had the same last name. My mother died in 1967 after I got married. She was buried at the Jewish cemetery beside my first husband's grave. My husband Moisey Groisman came from Rybnitsa from a poor Jewish family. He was 7 years older than I and I know almost nothing about his parents while they died before we got married. He was a mechanic in transport aviation industry. He was in the army when the Great Patriotic War began. He was a tank man. His tank was burnt near Rostov. He lost his hearing and became an invalid of grade 2. After the war he worked at the aviation plant in Tashkent. In 1950s he moved to Odessa. When I met him he was a mechanic at the buttery. Moisey loved me dearly and got along well with my son Lyova. We were well-off enough but we had got no dacha and car. He was ill for a long time and died in summer 2002 he was buried in a Jewish cemetery, near my mother. Moisey was buried in accordance with the Jewish tradition. I retired last year. I was Chief accountant at the Medical equipment company for over 20 years.
I am 80 years old. I don't leave my home. I receive food packages from Gemilot Hesed. I also get an allowance as a former ghetto inmate. I read Jewish newspapers Shomrey Shabos and Or Sameach - both are in Russian and watch Jewish programs on TV. I am interested in all events in Israel. I believe that establishment of the state of Israel is the best thing that Jews could expect. Only I wouldn't move there. I saw in the ghetto how Jews could treat their own people. I think Russians then had sometime a better attitude towards Jews than Jews themselves. But I still think it is good to have a Jewish state. It must be strong and not give up to an enemy. If they had been tougher to their enemies there might be no terrorist attacks. Strong people must act strong. Why were there so many victims among us during the war? There were strong guys - couldn't they resist the aggression? I think it was fear, fear of something - even if they were to be killed, if they had resisted they would have at least done something.
I am 80 years old. I don't leave my home. I receive food packages from Gemilot Hesed. I also get an allowance as a former ghetto inmate. I read Jewish newspapers Shomrey Shabos and Or Sameach - both are in Russian and watch Jewish programs on TV. I am interested in all events in Israel. I believe that establishment of the state of Israel is the best thing that Jews could expect. Only I wouldn't move there. I saw in the ghetto how Jews could treat their own people. I think Russians then had sometime a better attitude towards Jews than Jews themselves. But I still think it is good to have a Jewish state. It must be strong and not give up to an enemy. If they had been tougher to their enemies there might be no terrorist attacks. Strong people must act strong. Why were there so many victims among us during the war? There were strong guys - couldn't they resist the aggression? I think it was fear, fear of something - even if they were to be killed, if they had resisted they would have at least done something.
, Ukraine
Communella Bunikovskaya
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On 28 April 2001 my sister Inna and Michael moved to Israel. At least 25 people came to the railways station to say 'good bye' to them when they were leaving. They are pensioners and live in Richon Le Cion.
I got a job of biologist at the sanitary-epidemiological facility. In Krasnodar I became a candidate to the Party, since I realized that I had to be a communist to make a career. I became a member of the Party at the sanitary facility and when I went to the district party Committee to obtain my diploma they asked me why I wasn't working at school in a district town. They said 'Communists have to work at critical jobs rather than relax in laboratories'. I replied that I had passed my exams to the post-graduate school and was waiting for their decision. They said that I had to work at school rather than continue my studies at the post-graduate school.
On 5 March 1953 Stalin died. I was a five-year student. I remember that my former classmate and I walked along streets in Kiev shedding bitter tears. Students at the University wore black-and-red armbands. My father was a devoted communist and this was a hard blow for him even though he was repressed and also, he was more informed about 1937, but he never changed his convictions even after denunciation of the cult of Stalin and never discussed this subject with anyone.
On 5 December, when the rector's order was issued I went to the Human Resources office to obtain the documents, but they refused to issue any to me. They said there were no photographs in my file. I brought them photographs and they told me to come back in few days. Every time I went to see them they told me to come again. I lost my patience and said that I was going to see their manager. His secretary didn't let me into his office, but I almost pushed her aside. Donets, Human resources manager, said 'You've never been and never will become a student of University. You were expelled from Mechanic and mathematic Faculty for non-attendance'. I assured him that I didn't miss one class at the Faculty of Biology. He told me that I had no right to attend the Faculty of Biology since I was a candidate to the mechanic and mathematic faculty.
In 1948 I finished school with all excellent marks, but one or two good marks in my school certificate. I got a '4' in composition - there was also a comment 'indistinct development of the subject'. This was the result of prejudiced attitude towards me due to my nationality, but I decided not to argue with school commission of teachers.
There were 3 synagogues. I don't know how big they were and I was too small to ask any questions about it. There also was a charity community to support poor Jews and a Jewish cemetery. In late 1930s the synagogues were closed and the rabbi was exiled to Siberia.
My grandmother strictly followed Jewish traditions: my mother told me that they spoke Yiddish, had kosher food and on Friday my grandmother lit candles. They had special tableware and utensils for Pesach. Children always got some new clothes at Pesach. They had plentiful Seder and all traditional Jewish food on their table. Before Pesach all children got involved in searching chametz and its removal from the house. During Pesach the children searched for afikoimen: a piece of matsa hidden in a pillow. The children got a reward when they found afikoimen. At Chanukkah the children got few coins - Chanukkah gelt. At Purim my grandmother made gomentashy.
, Ukraine
Shura and my mother studied in a Jewish private grammar school for 2 years. This was grammar school for girls: they studied Hebrew and religion, manners, housekeeping and general subjects like mathematic and literature. They studied in Yiddish.
, Ukraine
During the war my father became a member of the Communist Party. At the beginning of 1942 our father volunteered to the front. Our mother was assistant human resources manager at the founding shop. We stayed in a room with a stove in a wooden barrack in the outskirts of the town. This stove didn't provide sufficient heating - in the morning our hair was iced to the wall so cold it was. We lived on the second floor and our window faced a work farm. In the morning trucks brought dead bodies of inmates to dump them in a pit and we could hear the sound of dead bodies hitting the frozen ground.
,
1942
See text in interview
We didn't take any warm clothes since we believed that we would come back home in a short time. There was a big carpet in our living room where my parents stored photographs, documents and some other papers and just few items of clothing. We traveled in a freight railcar in for about 3 weeks. We passed by a bombed train - I remember the frightening sight of wounded and dead people. We had a one-liter packet of caviar with us and this was all we ate on the road - there wasn't even bread; since then I hate red caviar.
I went to school in 1937. I was 6 and a half year old while children were admitted to school at the age of 7. Director of the school said that since classes were full he could only admit me in the class for children that remained in the 1st form for the 2nd year. My father agreed to this condition. I studied in a Russian school. I don't know whether there were Jewish schools in Makeevka, but our father wouldn't let us go to a Jewish school anyway. Besides, neither my sister nor I knew Yiddish.
My mother and father communicated in Yiddish, but my father forbade my mother to teach my sister and me Yiddish. He believed that this language would die out and Jews would get assimilated. Our mother sometimes tried to tell us sayings in Yiddish that she learned from her mother and grandmother, but my sister and I didn't understand them. We didn't observe any Jewish traditions in our family. This was the period of struggle against religion [9] and I don't remember any other Jewish families observing traditions at that time.
, Ukraine
We lived in a 3-room apartment (there was a living-room, a children's room and a study in the apartment) on the 2nd floor of a 4-storied building in the center of Makeevka. This house was cold the 'House of doctors and engineers' since there were families of intelligentsia living in it.
, Ukraine
My mother believed that if it hadn't been for the revolution of 1917 their family would have remained poor and that she owed everything she had to the revolution. Her sisters were doing well. Ania got a higher education. My sister and I and my mother's nephews and nieces also got a higher education.
, Ukraine
In the end of 1941 they evacuated from Mariupol, but got in encirclement and were exterminated by Germans. In 1950s I found a sheet of paper with my mother's notes: 'In summer 1941 my husband's family: his mother, sister Rosa, brothers David and Isaac and Isaac's daughter was martyrized by fascists during a mass shooting of Jews in Mariupol.
Natalia (Bronislava) Chepur
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In 1958 our daughter Alyona was born. Her full name was Elena Lvovna Chepur. Her nationality in the passport is written "Ukrainian". She faced some anti-Semitism in her childhood. She always communicated with many Jews. She finished the department of Physics and Mathematics at the Pedagogical University. She is a teacher of Mathematics at school #77. This is the same school where my mother worked as a leader of the Komsomol unit. In 1971 Lyova and I got divorced. My family is not religious, but I have always felt that I belonged to the Jewish environment. If I were among Ukrainians they always began to ask questions about who I was. I have felt very comfortable among the Jews. My daughter identifies herself as a Jew. Her husband A. Karpovskiy is a Jew. He is a teacher of Mathematics in a Jewish school. He sometimes introduces some traditions to us like celebration Pesach, and Purim.
Presently I work at the magazine "Economy of Ukraine". I am editor-translator. I also help my granddaughter Anna Sergeevna Grischenko (born in 1980) to write her thesis for the university. She is finishing the Department of Roman and German languages at Kiev University.
I haven't been in Israel, but I would like to go there. As for emigration, I am the follower of Konrad and Stevenson ideas. I do not deserve to be supported by this country. I can earn money here and I can find a job. I won't be able to find a job there. I do not visit Hesed. I shall work as long as I can. But my heart goes out for Israel, of course.
Presently I work at the magazine "Economy of Ukraine". I am editor-translator. I also help my granddaughter Anna Sergeevna Grischenko (born in 1980) to write her thesis for the university. She is finishing the Department of Roman and German languages at Kiev University.
I haven't been in Israel, but I would like to go there. As for emigration, I am the follower of Konrad and Stevenson ideas. I do not deserve to be supported by this country. I can earn money here and I can find a job. I won't be able to find a job there. I do not visit Hesed. I shall work as long as I can. But my heart goes out for Israel, of course.
, Ukraine
She was a Soviet person. She did not think that Soviet power good, but lives on this laws and was afraid punishments from this authorities for her faith. She was very unhappy about her mother Lisa (Leys) giving a part of her pension to the Jewish community. (I guess it was an underground community). Sarah Markovna couldn't celebrate Jewish holidays as a Soviet teacher, but she went to shochet to slaughter a chicken for the communist holiday - 1st of May. Their life was an intricate mixture of t Jewish traditions and Soviet laws.
Lyova's father moved to Kiev before the war. He worked as an engineer at the power substation. He lived on the ground floor in the center of Kiev. From there he went to the front. Sarah Markovna, her mother and 3 sisters were in the evacuation in the Urals. Lyova studied at the Institute of Irrigation and Drainage in Rovno that was a real good place for young Jews to go to, therefore that then in Kiev of Jews in institutes nearly did not take - this was state policy. Others went to higher educational institutions in Leningrad, Moscow or on the Volga. After finishing the Institute Lyova went to work at draining swamps in Western Siberia. From there he went to serve in the army for two years, returned to Kiev afterwards and found a job. We got married in 1957. We had a wedding in Kiev in 1957 and many of Lyova's relatives were there at the wedding. It was an ordinary wedding. After the wedding I plunged into the Jewish everyday life that was described in the works of Sholem Aleichem [6]. We visited my mother-in-law each holiday. I was taken to different homes and introduced to their relatives and acquaintances. They commented "You are so thin" and then behind my back "She's so thin that she has no looks whatsoever!"
Early in the morning we would go to the market. Sarah Markovna is wearing a silk dress. I, stupid girl, say to her "Sarah Markovna, there's your undergown looking out of your dress". "So what! It's beautiful" she would reply. People would recognize and bow to her "Sarah Markovna, you have visitors?" "Yes, they do not forget me". Now we are at the market. Sarah Markovna picks up a chicken with 2 fingers and the scene begins. "How much is this chicken?" "Chicken!? This hen has laid eggs for two years already!" Sarah Markovna takes the chicken and blows into its butt "What an old chicken!" "It cannot be a chicken if you are trying to tell me that it is as old as you think it is". We were standing behind and almost fainting. She was buying the chicken in the long run. Lyova is carrying it holding it by its legs. Every passer-by can't help commenting "Madam Eigel, you've bought the best chicken at the market!" She "Of course I did. It cannot be otherwise!" We head to the ravine where a shochet is living. He has to slaughter the chicken. We stand in the line of colorful Jewish women. The Jewish conversation is on. It's a pity we didn't put down the conversations then. The cutter was a short Jew with a small beard and thick hair. His hair covers him all. Sabbath and the 1st of May. He can hardly cope. The hens are hanging with their heads down. Some of them are running around already. The cutter calls Tsylia. Tsylia is a girl in a nightgown and something on top of it. Her gorgeous black hair is full of feathers and down. The shochet asks her to help. The girl plucks the chicken; the feathers are flying around making everybody sneeze. This was the 1st time when I saw a shochet. We go back. The chicken is big, yellow and fat. The people who we meet ask "Madam Wigel, did you pay much for this chicken?" Soon all Uman knows that Sarah Markovna will be cooking chicken clear soup today…
Lyova took me to the ravine to show me the "Babiy Yar" in Uman. The family of my mother's brother Shlyoma perished there. My husband is rendered Jew accidentally, we simply have liked each other. I never distinguished people upon their national accessories, for me person can be either good, or bad. I never felt an anti-Semitism with respect to itself, to me always everywhere well pertained. Family of husband me much well has taken and I with the pleasure beginning to participate in their Jewish life's, me was of interest learn of Jewish traditions that, what I was poured the whole life.
Lyova's father moved to Kiev before the war. He worked as an engineer at the power substation. He lived on the ground floor in the center of Kiev. From there he went to the front. Sarah Markovna, her mother and 3 sisters were in the evacuation in the Urals. Lyova studied at the Institute of Irrigation and Drainage in Rovno that was a real good place for young Jews to go to, therefore that then in Kiev of Jews in institutes nearly did not take - this was state policy. Others went to higher educational institutions in Leningrad, Moscow or on the Volga. After finishing the Institute Lyova went to work at draining swamps in Western Siberia. From there he went to serve in the army for two years, returned to Kiev afterwards and found a job. We got married in 1957. We had a wedding in Kiev in 1957 and many of Lyova's relatives were there at the wedding. It was an ordinary wedding. After the wedding I plunged into the Jewish everyday life that was described in the works of Sholem Aleichem [6]. We visited my mother-in-law each holiday. I was taken to different homes and introduced to their relatives and acquaintances. They commented "You are so thin" and then behind my back "She's so thin that she has no looks whatsoever!"
Early in the morning we would go to the market. Sarah Markovna is wearing a silk dress. I, stupid girl, say to her "Sarah Markovna, there's your undergown looking out of your dress". "So what! It's beautiful" she would reply. People would recognize and bow to her "Sarah Markovna, you have visitors?" "Yes, they do not forget me". Now we are at the market. Sarah Markovna picks up a chicken with 2 fingers and the scene begins. "How much is this chicken?" "Chicken!? This hen has laid eggs for two years already!" Sarah Markovna takes the chicken and blows into its butt "What an old chicken!" "It cannot be a chicken if you are trying to tell me that it is as old as you think it is". We were standing behind and almost fainting. She was buying the chicken in the long run. Lyova is carrying it holding it by its legs. Every passer-by can't help commenting "Madam Eigel, you've bought the best chicken at the market!" She "Of course I did. It cannot be otherwise!" We head to the ravine where a shochet is living. He has to slaughter the chicken. We stand in the line of colorful Jewish women. The Jewish conversation is on. It's a pity we didn't put down the conversations then. The cutter was a short Jew with a small beard and thick hair. His hair covers him all. Sabbath and the 1st of May. He can hardly cope. The hens are hanging with their heads down. Some of them are running around already. The cutter calls Tsylia. Tsylia is a girl in a nightgown and something on top of it. Her gorgeous black hair is full of feathers and down. The shochet asks her to help. The girl plucks the chicken; the feathers are flying around making everybody sneeze. This was the 1st time when I saw a shochet. We go back. The chicken is big, yellow and fat. The people who we meet ask "Madam Wigel, did you pay much for this chicken?" Soon all Uman knows that Sarah Markovna will be cooking chicken clear soup today…
Lyova took me to the ravine to show me the "Babiy Yar" in Uman. The family of my mother's brother Shlyoma perished there. My husband is rendered Jew accidentally, we simply have liked each other. I never distinguished people upon their national accessories, for me person can be either good, or bad. I never felt an anti-Semitism with respect to itself, to me always everywhere well pertained. Family of husband me much well has taken and I with the pleasure beginning to participate in their Jewish life's, me was of interest learn of Jewish traditions that, what I was poured the whole life.
, Ukraine
In 1955 I graduated from the university and then finished my post-graduate studies. I worked as editor in academic publications. I also did translations from Russian to Ukrainian. My husband is a Jew. His name is Lev Yakovlevich Kuperman. I met him through my mother's friend Klara. She sent him to our house with a parcel. Lyova was born in Uman in 1932. Lyova's mother Sarah Markovna Eigel was a teacher in Uman. She came from a rabbi's family.
My mother said "Good bye" to the colleagues, took her suitcase with my clothes for the summer and we went to the railway station. There we heard that Dimitrovka was already occupied by the Germans. We ran back to the pier. The boats were still there and we sailed to Dnepropetrovsk. Again a horrific bombing began in the vicinity of the Kiev. We got into a pit. I remember the earth shaking and the fear. Later we kept moving. I remember sailing under the bridge. A bomb hit it but it didn't explode. We reached the railway station at the dusk. We boarded some platform for coal transportation. The crowd of people was in panic. I remember somebody calling "Dovid! Dovid! Somebody must have lost his child in this crowd. The train left at night. We were crossing the Salskiye steppe, moving across the fields with wheat and elevators in the fields. The heat was oppressive. We got off the train when it stopped to get some water. We were black from the coal dust. We finally reached Stalingrad.
The most important events in the house were when we bought a new checkered sofa and when my father brought an iron. My father was fond of doing technical things. He made a detector radio and then a valve receiver following the drawings from the "Technical Youth" magazine. Once he brought his detector radio to the Dimitrovka village, where father was born, put it on the window sill and turned it on. All neighbors came to listen to the sounds of it - it was like a miracle for them. They had never heard anything like that before. I was raised by housemaids and yard janitors.
, Ukraine
By the late 1920s my mother finished her trade school and then studied and finished the Institute of Social Sciences. She got a diploma as German and Mathematics teacher in [secondary] school. In the 1930s she worked in a Kiev secondary school . She was Komsomol leader of the school - there were three such in Kiev. She conducted komsomol meeting, published school newspaper, organized a celebration of communist holidays in the school, in general have charge of communist upbringing of the pupils. They reported directly to the Komsomol district committee. She worked at the school until 1940.
, Ukraine
My father was very capable and always wanted to learn. He has finished in the village 7 classes of the secondary school, and when him was 14 years old has arrived in the Kiev. First it has entered on rabfak (there took all, who wanted to learn, formation was free), has got room in dormitory, afterwards has entered to the Department of Physics and Mathematics, Kiev State University.
, Ukraine
In 1919 a gang on horses rode across Mankovka. I don't know exactly whether they were a cavalry or just bandits. Their neighbors managed to grab Inga and the girls and hide them (the boys were older and were apprentices in the neighboring villages) and hide them in the shed. Inga was watching what was going on in their yard through a chink in the wall of this shed. She saw her husband killed - he was my grandfather Mendel. Inga went crazy. She was sent to a mental hospital where she got better. She was living in Birobidjan [1] when I was born and visited us in Kiev. There happened to be some argument at home - perhaps, my father said something to her, but she left and never came back. She never wrote a letter to my mother. That's all we know about her.
, Ukraine