He was born in Donbass, but his family moved to another place when he was just a small boy. He suffered from famine in childhood [16], it was in 1933, and there was something wrong with food supplies there.
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Displaying 26431 - 26460 of 50826 results
Valentina Fidelman
We got married in 1948. We had no place to live, our room on Nevsky Avenue was very small, and we rented apartments for almost ten years. Our family life was very difficult. We got married not having any accommodation, we didn’t even have a room, but we loved each other.
Then he entered the correspondence department of the Technological Institute and later graduated from the Technological Institute. He worked and studied at the same time. He had a good job, he worked as an engineer although he had no diploma at first, but he was very talented.
He worked in Pavlov Street, where there was a secret defense factory, exactly in his field of expertise – operating airplanes and ships. And, indeed, he could pursue a good professional career. At the age of 26, he was already the chief of laboratory. He developed new planes, and his aircraft never had been in wrecks or catastrophes. He was always away on business trips, but this could have been beneficial for our life. ‘Separation is the same for love, as wind is for fire, it blows out small love, but it heats up the big one!’ and that’s exactly the way it was with our love – he came from business trips, and our life began anew.
He worked in Pavlov Street, where there was a secret defense factory, exactly in his field of expertise – operating airplanes and ships. And, indeed, he could pursue a good professional career. At the age of 26, he was already the chief of laboratory. He developed new planes, and his aircraft never had been in wrecks or catastrophes. He was always away on business trips, but this could have been beneficial for our life. ‘Separation is the same for love, as wind is for fire, it blows out small love, but it heats up the big one!’ and that’s exactly the way it was with our love – he came from business trips, and our life began anew.
Only when our daughter turned ten, and our marriage was twelve years old, did we receive a room. Later he worked in a huge institute near Smolny [the historically significant architectural complex, accommodating the St. Petersburg Administration]. It was also a secret research institution, something to do with radio broadcasting. When the director told him, ‘Fidelman, you are allotted an apartment,’ he answered, ‘No, not everyone in my laboratory has apartments, a room will be enough for me.’ And we were happy, that we received a room in Moscow Avenue.
Our daughter was born in 1950. Her name is Elena Abramovna Fidelman. She took entrance exams at several universities at once, the Institute of Krupskaya and the Theater Institute. It was very difficult to enter, only those who had profitable connections or a lot of money had no problem with that. But, eventually, she passed the examinations and was admitted to the theater faculty in Mokhovaya Street [famous street in the center of St. Petersburg]. Then Elena worked in a theater museum, and later she found a job in a travel agency as a guide. She liked that work very much, she constantly improved her knowledge, and now it’s 20 years that she’s been working as a guide.
In 1954 I was assigned [17] the post of pediatrician doctor at the hospital of Bakhchisarai district of the Crimea [today Ukraine]. After graduation from the institute I worked there [1954-1955]. One nurse was a very unprincipled and careless worker there. Instead of doing normal inoculations, for example against diphtheria, she used half a doze. I caught her doing that. She was fired.
After that I worked as a pediatrician in Petrоslavyanskaya Hospital [1955-1962], and not only as a pediatrician, I carried out various duties. Once, I even had to stop a train: the state farm, in which I worked, was far from the railway, about 1.5 kilometers and you had to go on foot, and this girl had an acute appendicitis. I was called on the phone and asked, ‘Valentina Abramovna, please come!’ so I quickly jumped into a horse-cart and went to the patient. And in 1962 I was directed to improvement courses on children psychiatry in Kolpino [today a district of St. Petersburg], and later, from 1963, I started working with the Kolpino hospital.
After that I worked as a pediatrician in Petrоslavyanskaya Hospital [1955-1962], and not only as a pediatrician, I carried out various duties. Once, I even had to stop a train: the state farm, in which I worked, was far from the railway, about 1.5 kilometers and you had to go on foot, and this girl had an acute appendicitis. I was called on the phone and asked, ‘Valentina Abramovna, please come!’ so I quickly jumped into a horse-cart and went to the patient. And in 1962 I was directed to improvement courses on children psychiatry in Kolpino [today a district of St. Petersburg], and later, from 1963, I started working with the Kolpino hospital.
Now I am a volunteer of the Jewish Charitable Center ‘Hesed Avraham’ [18], giving out parcels in the department of humanitarian aid. Very frequently I attend lectures on the history of the Jewish people in Hesed. But I don’t go to the synagogue; I’m satisfied with the secular communication in Hesed. My God is in my soul.
Grandmother was respected by everyone in town. She finished Jewish school, and then received some other education, I don’t remember exactly. She was religious. She always helped the poor, in general she was a wonderful person, and I loved her madly. I consulted Grandmother literally on all issues. She was very clever; her advice was always reasonable. Grandmother spoke Russian. She dressed according to her time and was always very fastidious about her appearance.
She didn’t tell me anything about her own childhood, but mentioned that she was brought up in a very religious Jewish family, where all Jewish holidays and laws were observed. And she required that from us.
From Grandmother’s home, I definitely remember Pesach. She had some sort of a special sideboard, where she kept the dishes used only at the time of Pesach. There were not only plates, but also knives, and every kind of utensils, everything to do with meals. The holidays were celebrated by all the family; everybody came, and, naturally, children participated as well. They were sticking around, helped themselves to various delicious things, not quite aware of which holiday it was, although Grandmother used to explain to us that it was in honor of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt.
We also baked triangles for Purim and liked them very much, those with poppy-seed, we called them hamantashen – Haman’s ears. I only remember those triangles, and in the morning, under our pillows, all of us found money – gifts were in the form of money.
I don’t remember other holidays. All manifestations of religious sentiment were persecuted in those times [1]; we were warned. We lived, you could say, a double life. All that was done in our home, all these Jewish holidays, they couldn’t have been taken out into the street or to school.
The house was on the bank of the river Terek, from the windows you could even see Kazbek [a large mountain range in the Caucasus]. Grandmother’s house was one-storied, in Gorky Street, which was perpendicular to our street, we lived in Lenin Street. Grandmother had three rooms. One was for visitors, the second one – for children, and the third – for my adult aunts. In general, everyone lived together in that small one-storied house. Grandmother was very tidy and never hired anybody to help her around the house, just she and her children kept the household. She taught us tidiness very early. I remember she taught us from the age of eleven to maintain the cleanliness.
In the time of the Holocaust she lived in Vladikavkaz, which was not occupied by the Germans. She escaped the ordeal.
My maternal grandfather was from the family of Zaretsky, his full name was Zorakh Abramovich Zaretsky. People called him Zakhar Abramovich [2], or in the Jewish way - Zorakh Abramovich. He was born in 1870. The family was famous due to the fact that Great-great-grandfather was a ‘Tsar Nikolai’s soldier’ [3], and, because of that, his relatives could live in St. Petersburg [4].
Grandfather was a very respectable man. He was a rabbi. And in my childhood, when I came for a visit, I saw how he performed religious ceremonies. He sat down at a table, prayed, put on a striped tallit with tzitzit. Grandfather would pray, and if we misbehaved, he asked us to be quiet and listen to the prayer. We understood some Hebrew, but certainly, not all of it. And after that we were to kiss the tzitzit and say that we would be good and obedient children. Then Grandfather had breakfast and went to the synagogue, not every day, but quite frequently.
Also he gathered young people around himself – it was all forbidden then – and studied Jewish books with them. And he often told us about the Ten Commandments: don’t steal, don’t kill, be honest, and the like. He put on a solemn suit and a tie. He wore a kippah, and he had a hat with wide brims, like Hasids [5] have. When he was going to the synagogue, he put it on.
Also he gathered young people around himself – it was all forbidden then – and studied Jewish books with them. And he often told us about the Ten Commandments: don’t steal, don’t kill, be honest, and the like. He put on a solemn suit and a tie. He wore a kippah, and he had a hat with wide brims, like Hasids [5] have. When he was going to the synagogue, he put it on.
Grandfather, certainly, didn’t eat anything ‘wrong,’ only the kosher food. He would go to the synagogue, there were special men called shochetim there, who would cut poultry according to special rules, he ate only the kosher food and taught us to do the same.
By origin he must have been from Belarus, because he moved to Leningrad from Belarus [in 1927]. He must have come from some place near Kalinkovichi, because it was there that he married my grandmother. Her surname was Gorelik. She was a perfect housewife, looked after the house very strictly. She had eight children, four sons and four daughters [Klara, Maryasya, Avraam, Konstantin, Tasya, Fima, Asya and the smallest boy died in early childhood]. But she was very severe, with a difficult character. I communicated very little with her. Only when we went to our dacha [7] in Belarus in the summer, in Shokinki, on the bank of the Berezina River, we had to be together and talk: we went to the woods, gathered mushrooms; there were wonderful woods in the area before the war.
Grandmother Faina died in 1940, she was buried at the Jewish cemetery in Kontorskaya Street in Leningrad [St. Petersburg]. Almost all my relatives: Grandmother, Grandfather, my sister, Mom, Daddy and Uncle Abrasha, all are buried in Kontorskaya Street, near the synagogue. For all of them they read the burial service in the synagogue. And the custom was to cut off a small piece of the nearest relatives’ clothes, daughter’s and son’s, for some reason.
My mother, Klara Zakharovna, they also called her Chayusya in the Jewish way, was, like Granddad, a kind, good and sympathetic person. She was born in 1906 and died in 1987. She is buried beside my sister Tsilya. Mom studied, as she told me, in a Jewish school, there were only four grades there. Rather early, at 16 years of age, she was engaged to my father, so she probably studied at school until she turned 16. They spoke only Yiddish at home, and used Russian only when talking to children and neighbors. Both languages were spoken.
During World War I [1914-1918], Daddy stayed in their house in Belarus for some time [that is, being a soldier, was quartered in their house]. He was a medical assistant. Grandmother had given him an education. He finished a Medical Assistants School. He liked Mom very much, and they became engaged. They got acquainted in my mother’s house, where he stayed. They got married in the synagogue, already in St. Petersburg; Grandfather ordered them to come here and there was a real wedding ceremony. They received a marriage certificate in Hebrew or Yiddish, I don’t know exactly, in the synagogue. Daddy was born in 1898. She was 18, and he was 26. And then, because Grandmother lived in Vladikavkaz, they moved there after my birth.
In Vladikavkaz we had one half of a house, a one-storied building, all houses were basically one-storied there. Three good rooms: a nursery, a dining room and the bedroom for parents. The kitchen was shared with the neighbors. The neighbors were under supervision, because he was a former White Army [8] soldier and she was a teacher, so they were often visited by the NKVD [9]. We had very good relations with our neighbors.
In the courtyard there was a front garden with trees and acacia. I remember it well. We, the children, used to climb and eat it, the white acacia – it was very tasty. There were other bushes and garden flowers. Mom loved gardening very much. We lived not without troubles, but I think we could make ends meet. My sister [Tsitsilia] was three years older than I was, she was born in 1924, and I – in 1927, and ten years later my brother Vladimir was born there, in Vladikavkaz [1937].
In the courtyard there was a front garden with trees and acacia. I remember it well. We, the children, used to climb and eat it, the white acacia – it was very tasty. There were other bushes and garden flowers. Mom loved gardening very much. We lived not without troubles, but I think we could make ends meet. My sister [Tsitsilia] was three years older than I was, she was born in 1924, and I – in 1927, and ten years later my brother Vladimir was born there, in Vladikavkaz [1937].
Daddy was an actor by nature; he acted in the national Ossetian Theater in Vladikavkaz. He was companionable and emotional, while Mom was silent, quiet. I, probably, took after my father. I always remember Father in a good mood, he was always affable to people, he had a very good voice; he sang and participated in Jewish performances. The theater was located in Stalin Avenue, in the center. And they staged various plays, Russian, Ossetian and Jewish. My recollections are obscure, I was a little girl then, but I attended plays with pleasure, I saw all those performances.
Tamara-Alexandra Goldenberg
Grandmother was unemployed, she was a housewife. She was a wonderful home-maker. She was an excellent cook. After lunch she did physical exercise. Sevastopol is situated in a mountainous area, on the Black Sea coast. Often she used to stroll with us along Sevastopol and its outskirts. I cannot say I spent a lot of time with my grandmother. She mostly went to those children, who needed her help. My mother was a housewife, besides we had a house-keeper. So, there was no need of Grandmother’s help.
She must have finished lyceum. Neither she nor Grandfather appeared to be religious. I do not remember Grandmother broach religious topics. She never observed Sabbath or other traditions. All her children were either unreligious like my father, or started professing other beliefs. Grandmother suddenly died in 1931 in our house. She was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Sevastopol. There were a lot of people at Grandmother’s funeral. All relatives got together: her children with their wives, children and grandchildren.
Alexander Goldenberg was born in 1885. He was a gynecologist and obstetrician. He lived and worked in Bakhchisarai. He delivered many children in Bakhchisarai. Uncle Sasha, as everyone called him, died during the Great Patriotic War [5], he was shot with other Jews from Bakhchisarai in 1942, though he became Muslim and his second wife was Tartar, but it did not help.
In 1940 Adolf graduated from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute and became an engineer. He was mobilized to tank troops at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.
It was difficult for Adolf to find a job after the war, maybe because he was a Jew. He worked at a scientific and research institute as an engineer. He was a post-graduate, and then defended his doctorate degree. He was very intelligent. We were friends. He was fair and kind. He was involved in metallurgy, and was a good expert.
Semion was the youngest brother, born in 1887. He was a lawyer and economist. Semion was educated in Saint Petersburg. At that time Jews were banned to study in the capital institutions of higher education [cf. Percent of Jews admitted to higher educational institutions] [7]. Semion obtained the service record of his grandfather Shlema Malinskiy in the Sevastopol archive. His grandfather’s military merits were taken into consideration and Semion was accepted.
Aunt Adelaida, the youngest sibling, was born in 1896. She graduated from a medical institute in Moscow. She was a doctor, a radiologist. She went to war and stayed in the front-line hospital. The Russian philosopher Ivan Chetverikov was her husband. [Ivan Pimenovich Chetverikov (1880–1969): was a Russian thinker and philosopher. He was a professor of Kiev Ecclesiastical Academy in the 1900s-1910s. He went through exile and imprisonment during the Soviet regime. In 1941 he was mobilized in the Soviet Army. Upon the end of the war he remained in Germany.