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We found a place to live. Mother and Aunt Sarah were very weak and elderly, so it was hard for them to work. I understood that I would be the only bread-winner of the family and started looking for a job. I found a job as a hair dresser. Before our departure, I took all the instruments with me, I even had rollers for making hair curly. I was gladly offered a job.
In spite of hard military times, I had a lot of clients. All kinds of ladies! The doctors from the rear hospital, wives of militaries, evacuees, women of easy virtue… All of them were very different, but willing to look good. Women wanted to remain feminine and I really liked the fact that I could help them. I made hair-dos. I tried to do my best especially when ladies wanted to have their pictures taken to be sent to their husbands to the front. I was very pleased when the lady showed me the letter from her husband saying how beautiful she looked. There were so few joys at that time, so I was happy for making someone feel good!
Apart from that work I also had some odd jobs. Twice a week I gave drawing lessons at the Pioneer House [21], made inscriptions on gravestones, painted posters, slogans. I worked till night. Then I got lucky. The Moscow theater named after Lenin was evacuated to Fergana from Moscow. I found out that there was a vacancy for an artist. I offered my services and was employed. I made posters, decorations. It was not complicated.
In 1943 I got a letter from the Estonian government. I was offered to go take classes at the art institute in a city in Bauhinia, near Oaf. Of course I felt so happy. It was my cherished dream. Mother and Aunt Sarah got food cards for dependents. There were few products and they would have died if I had not worked. I could not leave them by themselves.
Aisik, my sister Masha’s husband, was drafted into the army in 1942, when the Estonian Corps [22] was founded. He went through the war and finally he took part in the liberation of Estonia from the fascists. The Estonian corps liberated Tallinn from German troops and moved farther, to the islands. Masha often got letters from her husband. She got the last letter from him after his death. He was killed in action on Sharma Island. His elder brother Samuel told us about it after the war. He was a military doctor in the Estonian corps. Samuel saw Aisik walk into a mine field and he was blown up. After battles the soldiers of the Estonian corps buried their perished friends.
After the war Samuel took Anzac’s ashes from Saaremaa to the Jewish cemetery in Tallinn and arranged for a traditional Jewish funeral. In the 1970s Shmuel immigrated to the USA. Very few people from Aisik’s family survived the Holocaust. Some of them were killed in action, others murdered by Germans in Estonia.
In spite of hard military times, I had a lot of clients. All kinds of ladies! The doctors from the rear hospital, wives of militaries, evacuees, women of easy virtue… All of them were very different, but willing to look good. Women wanted to remain feminine and I really liked the fact that I could help them. I made hair-dos. I tried to do my best especially when ladies wanted to have their pictures taken to be sent to their husbands to the front. I was very pleased when the lady showed me the letter from her husband saying how beautiful she looked. There were so few joys at that time, so I was happy for making someone feel good!
Apart from that work I also had some odd jobs. Twice a week I gave drawing lessons at the Pioneer House [21], made inscriptions on gravestones, painted posters, slogans. I worked till night. Then I got lucky. The Moscow theater named after Lenin was evacuated to Fergana from Moscow. I found out that there was a vacancy for an artist. I offered my services and was employed. I made posters, decorations. It was not complicated.
In 1943 I got a letter from the Estonian government. I was offered to go take classes at the art institute in a city in Bauhinia, near Oaf. Of course I felt so happy. It was my cherished dream. Mother and Aunt Sarah got food cards for dependents. There were few products and they would have died if I had not worked. I could not leave them by themselves.
Aisik, my sister Masha’s husband, was drafted into the army in 1942, when the Estonian Corps [22] was founded. He went through the war and finally he took part in the liberation of Estonia from the fascists. The Estonian corps liberated Tallinn from German troops and moved farther, to the islands. Masha often got letters from her husband. She got the last letter from him after his death. He was killed in action on Sharma Island. His elder brother Samuel told us about it after the war. He was a military doctor in the Estonian corps. Samuel saw Aisik walk into a mine field and he was blown up. After battles the soldiers of the Estonian corps buried their perished friends.
After the war Samuel took Anzac’s ashes from Saaremaa to the Jewish cemetery in Tallinn and arranged for a traditional Jewish funeral. In the 1970s Shmuel immigrated to the USA. Very few people from Aisik’s family survived the Holocaust. Some of them were killed in action, others murdered by Germans in Estonia.
Period
Location
Fergana
Russia
Interview
Siima Shkop