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My mother’s parents lived in the village of Pisarevka, Yampol district, Vinnitsa region. They were born in the 1860s. My grandfather, Haim Kupershtock, was a handicraftsman and my grandmother was a housewife. My mother’s parents were religious; they observed all Jewish traditions. My mother and her sister were raised in a religious manner. My grandparents had two daughters: my mother’s sister Boba, born in Pisarevka in 1895, and my mother Pesia, born in 1901.
All I know about Pisarevka is that it was a Ukrainian village and there were few Jewish families living in it. Jews were handicraftsmen: shoemakers, tailors, coppersmiths and tinsmiths. There was no synagogue in their village and Jews went to the synagogue in the neighboring village, some five kilometers away.
My mother’s sister Boba got married and moved to her husband in the nearby village of Shypka. Boba had two sons and a daughter. She grew vegetables in her kitchen garden and kept chickens. She also had a cow and sold some dairy products and milk.
My mother’s whole family was religious and Boba was no exception. She observed Jewish traditions and celebrated Sabbath and Jewish holidays. She also followed the kashrut. Jews bought dairy products from Boba, because they were sure these were kosher products.
My aunt Boba perished at the very beginning of the war. She had a neighbor, a young Moldovan man. After my aunt’s husband died this man was helping her about the house. My aunt treated him like a son, but when the Germans came to the village in 1941 this Moldovan man came to my aunt’s house and killed her with a knife.
Her children survived. After the war her younger son and daughter lived in Chernovtsy and her older son lived in Kishinev. Boba’s older son died in Chernovtsy and her other son died in Israel.
All I know about Pisarevka is that it was a Ukrainian village and there were few Jewish families living in it. Jews were handicraftsmen: shoemakers, tailors, coppersmiths and tinsmiths. There was no synagogue in their village and Jews went to the synagogue in the neighboring village, some five kilometers away.
My mother’s sister Boba got married and moved to her husband in the nearby village of Shypka. Boba had two sons and a daughter. She grew vegetables in her kitchen garden and kept chickens. She also had a cow and sold some dairy products and milk.
My mother’s whole family was religious and Boba was no exception. She observed Jewish traditions and celebrated Sabbath and Jewish holidays. She also followed the kashrut. Jews bought dairy products from Boba, because they were sure these were kosher products.
My aunt Boba perished at the very beginning of the war. She had a neighbor, a young Moldovan man. After my aunt’s husband died this man was helping her about the house. My aunt treated him like a son, but when the Germans came to the village in 1941 this Moldovan man came to my aunt’s house and killed her with a knife.
Her children survived. After the war her younger son and daughter lived in Chernovtsy and her older son lived in Kishinev. Boba’s older son died in Chernovtsy and her other son died in Israel.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Boris Slobodianskiy
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