Selected text
I know very little about this period of my mother’s life. My mother and Aunt Vera told me about the horrible pogroms in Kiev in 1910. The two girls left Kiev and got to Chernobyl. Some Ukrainian acquaintances of Luba lived there and my mother and Aunt Vera waited there until the situation in Kiev calmed down.
After my grandfather died my mother inherited his shop and went to work at 16. It was a garment store. She also altered clothes, if necessary. She got married when she was 17. I don’t know her first husband’s first or last names, only that he was Jewish. When my mother was 18 in 1912 she gave birth to a girl. The cradles were tied to the ceiling then and the girl fell out of her cradle and died. She was only a few months old. When World War I began my mother’s husband was called up to the army. He fell ill with spotted fever there and died in 1914.
In 1915 my mother married a much older man. His name was Mikhail and his last name – Lvovich. They lived very well and loved each other dearly, but they didn’t have any children. This was Mikhail’s second marriage, his first wife died. Mikhail owned a bakery, located in their apartment. They lived in the basement in Yaroslavskaya Street in Podol. They had a big room and a kitchen. There was a big stove where Mikhail baked bread and rolls and bagels. They sold their products right from the window of their room. Besides, wholesale dealers came and bought huge trays filled with baked goods. Mikhail Lvovich was a religious Jew. He observed all traditions and rituals. At Pesach he had a permit to bake matzah and sell it. They did not bake bread during Pesach, of course.
After the revolution the authorities expropriated my mother’s shop. But the bread trade was very profitable and supported them very well. Mikhail adored my mother; he was buying her gold jewelry and jewelry with precious stones and was hiding them in her wardrobe. When my mother found them and asked where they were from he answered that if they were in her wardrobe it meant that they belonged to her.
In 1933 there was famine in Ukraine. Although they had a bakery it was a difficult time for them. The farmers didn’t have any grain so there wasn’t anything to make the bread from. My mother had to take some of her jewelry to the Torgsin [the store where one could buy food products for hard currency and gold].
In 1933 my mother’s husband Mikhail came down with spotted fever and died. My mother’s housemaid, a plain Russian woman, informed the NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) that my mother had plenty of gold. My mother did have quite a lot of golden jewelry. They took my mother to 15, Korolenko Street in Kiev where NKVD was located. Investigation officers threatened my mother and demanded that she give them her gold. They locked her in the basement with many rats. My mother yelled and cried, and in the morning when the officers came she promised to give them all gold that she had to get out of that basement. She went home and gave them everything. She only left her wedding ring. Therefore, after her second husband’s death she became instantly impoverished.
My mother was a very beautiful and sociable woman. Her future husband was one her father’s acquaintances. He proposed to her after my mother became a widow.
After my grandfather died my mother inherited his shop and went to work at 16. It was a garment store. She also altered clothes, if necessary. She got married when she was 17. I don’t know her first husband’s first or last names, only that he was Jewish. When my mother was 18 in 1912 she gave birth to a girl. The cradles were tied to the ceiling then and the girl fell out of her cradle and died. She was only a few months old. When World War I began my mother’s husband was called up to the army. He fell ill with spotted fever there and died in 1914.
In 1915 my mother married a much older man. His name was Mikhail and his last name – Lvovich. They lived very well and loved each other dearly, but they didn’t have any children. This was Mikhail’s second marriage, his first wife died. Mikhail owned a bakery, located in their apartment. They lived in the basement in Yaroslavskaya Street in Podol. They had a big room and a kitchen. There was a big stove where Mikhail baked bread and rolls and bagels. They sold their products right from the window of their room. Besides, wholesale dealers came and bought huge trays filled with baked goods. Mikhail Lvovich was a religious Jew. He observed all traditions and rituals. At Pesach he had a permit to bake matzah and sell it. They did not bake bread during Pesach, of course.
After the revolution the authorities expropriated my mother’s shop. But the bread trade was very profitable and supported them very well. Mikhail adored my mother; he was buying her gold jewelry and jewelry with precious stones and was hiding them in her wardrobe. When my mother found them and asked where they were from he answered that if they were in her wardrobe it meant that they belonged to her.
In 1933 there was famine in Ukraine. Although they had a bakery it was a difficult time for them. The farmers didn’t have any grain so there wasn’t anything to make the bread from. My mother had to take some of her jewelry to the Torgsin [the store where one could buy food products for hard currency and gold].
In 1933 my mother’s husband Mikhail came down with spotted fever and died. My mother’s housemaid, a plain Russian woman, informed the NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) that my mother had plenty of gold. My mother did have quite a lot of golden jewelry. They took my mother to 15, Korolenko Street in Kiev where NKVD was located. Investigation officers threatened my mother and demanded that she give them her gold. They locked her in the basement with many rats. My mother yelled and cried, and in the morning when the officers came she promised to give them all gold that she had to get out of that basement. She went home and gave them everything. She only left her wedding ring. Therefore, after her second husband’s death she became instantly impoverished.
My mother was a very beautiful and sociable woman. Her future husband was one her father’s acquaintances. He proposed to her after my mother became a widow.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Raissa Yasvoina
Tag(s)