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In 1908 a 4 year primary school was established in Medvin. There were 4 or 5 Jewish boys and local Ukrainian children studying in it. I have horrible memories of that time. We, Jews, were beaten each day by our non-Jewish co-students. Inspector of the school (I think, his last name was Vorona) was a terrible anti-Semite. In the morning when all students were lined for the Christian prayer to be said in Russian, he shouted “Why aren’t you crossing yourself? Why are you standing like a zhyd?” We studied there for about six weeks and then we were told to stay home. It turned our that Danilov, the local priest called a meeting of farmers and they decided that Jews should be expelled from school. The Jews wrote a complaint. This case reached Nikolay II (the last Russian emperor). Nikolay II gave his consent to satisfy their request. But to be true, we were happy to be expelled, because it was impossible to bear these tortures. I didn’t study for few years afterwards. I stayed at home and read everything I could bump into. As I mentioned before we had a collection of books at home.
Period
Interview
Abram Karmazin