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My father Yakov Yerukhimovich Husid was born in 1900. He was a printer and later he worked on official positions in the Soviet authorities. He didn’t have any education. He was a self-educated person. Later he took classes, studied in the Institute of Red Professorship. He came from the family of small manufacturers. His father owned a printing house. His sons and two employees worked there.
His father’s name was Yerukhim Husid. Husid must have derived from khasid. They say, our ancestors were rabbis in Czekia. Our kin moved to Ukraine. My grandfather was an intelligent person, as he was good at the printing business. He went to Germany, purchased equipment, disassembled and shipped it to Yelisavetgrad. There he assembled it back and started his business.
He had quite a big family with seven children. His oldest son’s name was Buzia. He was born in 1895, worked as printer and died in Kirovograd in 1940. Leonid was born in 1896. He perished in 1914 in the Red Army. His third son George was born in 1897 and died in Moscow in 1920 from spotted fever. Anna (Nekhama) was born in 1899 she finished high school for nobility and died in Moscow in 1969. Esther was born in 1902 and died in Moscow in 1985. Yekaterina was born in 1907. She outlived them all. She was a member of Komsomol League and a cartographer. She died in 1989. My father was the seventh child. The brothers defended each other with might and main and they often fought with other boys. Of all girls only Ania studied at school, and as for the others, they had to go to work. Their parents thought it was stupid and unreasonable to study and pay money for school when the children could just go to work and earn money. My grandfather was a rough person. I would even call him a skinflint. He slept on his wallet, for example. The family wasn’t religious – I never saw any religious rituals. They lived and worked at the same place. Their printing house and their home were on the same floor. This house is still there, in Kirovograd. It looks very decent even for our time. It’s a four-storied building, built in the modern style. The printing house occupied few rooms. This was in the 30s. After the private enterprise was closed in the country, my father closed his printing business, too. But he wasn’t sitting doing nothing. He started making and selling cream for shoeshine.
As far as the children had a profession of printer they all had jobs at state printing houses. After the civil war began all brothers went to the Red Army. They were energetic boys and they were happy about the revolution. Buzia, the oldest brother, worked as printer his whole life. My father also worked in the printing house. During the Civil war he was in the army. He went to the army as volunteer, and he hadn’t reached 18 by then.
They called him to join the gang of the Greens or the gang of Maruska [1], but he went to the Red Army, although he didn’t even know what it was all about. My father was a gunman.
There were many Jewish men in the Red Army then. Later, in 1924, he became a Bolshevik at the Lenin’s appeal. (After Lenin died in 1924, there was an appeal to join the Party.)
They spoke Russian in my grandfather’s family. However, the parents spoke Yiddish to one another, so that the children could not understand what they were talking about.
My grandfather cooked for the whole family and for the employees in the printing house.
My grandmother’s name (my father’s mother) was Friema. I remember well how she looked. She was small and tiny. Her hair was white. She was a very calm and kind woman, very quiet and noiseless. She never yelled. She knew her duty – to feed a whole guard of ten people. We had simple food, but it was delicious.
However strange it may be, but I don’t remember any books in the house. My grandfather usually printed forms and registers.
His father’s name was Yerukhim Husid. Husid must have derived from khasid. They say, our ancestors were rabbis in Czekia. Our kin moved to Ukraine. My grandfather was an intelligent person, as he was good at the printing business. He went to Germany, purchased equipment, disassembled and shipped it to Yelisavetgrad. There he assembled it back and started his business.
He had quite a big family with seven children. His oldest son’s name was Buzia. He was born in 1895, worked as printer and died in Kirovograd in 1940. Leonid was born in 1896. He perished in 1914 in the Red Army. His third son George was born in 1897 and died in Moscow in 1920 from spotted fever. Anna (Nekhama) was born in 1899 she finished high school for nobility and died in Moscow in 1969. Esther was born in 1902 and died in Moscow in 1985. Yekaterina was born in 1907. She outlived them all. She was a member of Komsomol League and a cartographer. She died in 1989. My father was the seventh child. The brothers defended each other with might and main and they often fought with other boys. Of all girls only Ania studied at school, and as for the others, they had to go to work. Their parents thought it was stupid and unreasonable to study and pay money for school when the children could just go to work and earn money. My grandfather was a rough person. I would even call him a skinflint. He slept on his wallet, for example. The family wasn’t religious – I never saw any religious rituals. They lived and worked at the same place. Their printing house and their home were on the same floor. This house is still there, in Kirovograd. It looks very decent even for our time. It’s a four-storied building, built in the modern style. The printing house occupied few rooms. This was in the 30s. After the private enterprise was closed in the country, my father closed his printing business, too. But he wasn’t sitting doing nothing. He started making and selling cream for shoeshine.
As far as the children had a profession of printer they all had jobs at state printing houses. After the civil war began all brothers went to the Red Army. They were energetic boys and they were happy about the revolution. Buzia, the oldest brother, worked as printer his whole life. My father also worked in the printing house. During the Civil war he was in the army. He went to the army as volunteer, and he hadn’t reached 18 by then.
They called him to join the gang of the Greens or the gang of Maruska [1], but he went to the Red Army, although he didn’t even know what it was all about. My father was a gunman.
There were many Jewish men in the Red Army then. Later, in 1924, he became a Bolshevik at the Lenin’s appeal. (After Lenin died in 1924, there was an appeal to join the Party.)
They spoke Russian in my grandfather’s family. However, the parents spoke Yiddish to one another, so that the children could not understand what they were talking about.
My grandfather cooked for the whole family and for the employees in the printing house.
My grandmother’s name (my father’s mother) was Friema. I remember well how she looked. She was small and tiny. Her hair was white. She was a very calm and kind woman, very quiet and noiseless. She never yelled. She knew her duty – to feed a whole guard of ten people. We had simple food, but it was delicious.
However strange it may be, but I don’t remember any books in the house. My grandfather usually printed forms and registers.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Grigoriy Yakovlevich Husid
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