Selected text
The arrests that began in 1937 and lasted until the beginning of the war didn't affect our family. [The interviewee is referring to the so- called Great Terror.] [6] Many of my father's acquaintances and friends were arrested. My mother told me that people were afraid of noises in the evening, such as the (knocking on a door or the sound of an approaching car). My father believed that everything was done on behalf of the Communist Party and thought that Stalin was right. My father was one of the 'ardent communists' as they were called.
In 1938 my father was sent to the Party's advanced training course for political officers in Mogilyov. He was rarely at home at that time. My mother had a housemaid to help her about the house and with the baby. After his training my father got an assignment with the NKVD [7] Special Department in the army. He became a professional military. This happened before the war with Finland. [the Soviet-Finnish War] [8]. My father went to the front. He was wounded and had his toes frost-bitten. He had to stay in hospital for a while. After he was released he got a job in Kamenets-Podolsk in Ukraine. My mother and Elizabeth followed him.
On 22nd June 1941 [when the Great Patriotic War began] [9] my father was taking a course in medical treatment at a sanatorium. My mother and my sister were in Kamenets-Podolsk. My father was taken from the sanatorium to the front. When the air raids began my mother and sister were evacuated as the family of a military. They were allowed to bring two suitcases of luggage. My sister was 4 years old and my mother was eight months pregnant. They were evacuated on trucks. These trucks were bombed on the way. People jumped off the trucks to hide. My mother got off the truck a couple of times, but that was all she could manage to do in her condition. During the air raids that followed she stayed on the truck. Her companions told her to let her daughter run with them to hide, but my mother refused saying that if they were destined to die they would share that fate.
Their initial destination was Khmelnitskiy, but it was already occupied. They stopped at some railroad station on the way to Khmelnitsky. There they were put on a train to Orenburg. In the vicinity of Poltava my mother started to go into labor and had to get off the train. She delivered her baby on the ground near the train. She told me that the baby's back was dirty with soil when she lifted it from the ground. My mother and her baby were taken to hospital, and my sister was taken to a children's home. The luggage with their clothes was left on the train. My mother stayed in hospital for a week. After she was released she went to the children's home to pick up Elizabeth. My mother went to see the commandant of Poltava. She told him that she had had a baby and the commandant took her to a storage facility. He allowed her to take all she needed. This was storage of luggage from people who had been on trains that had been bombed. The commandant helped my mother and the kids to get on the train. My mother named the baby boy Jacob, after my father's father, Yankel. My mother didn't have milk to feed the baby. She told me that she used to wrap a piece of brown bread in gauze, dipped it into water and gave it to Jacob as a pacifier.
In 1938 my father was sent to the Party's advanced training course for political officers in Mogilyov. He was rarely at home at that time. My mother had a housemaid to help her about the house and with the baby. After his training my father got an assignment with the NKVD [7] Special Department in the army. He became a professional military. This happened before the war with Finland. [the Soviet-Finnish War] [8]. My father went to the front. He was wounded and had his toes frost-bitten. He had to stay in hospital for a while. After he was released he got a job in Kamenets-Podolsk in Ukraine. My mother and Elizabeth followed him.
On 22nd June 1941 [when the Great Patriotic War began] [9] my father was taking a course in medical treatment at a sanatorium. My mother and my sister were in Kamenets-Podolsk. My father was taken from the sanatorium to the front. When the air raids began my mother and sister were evacuated as the family of a military. They were allowed to bring two suitcases of luggage. My sister was 4 years old and my mother was eight months pregnant. They were evacuated on trucks. These trucks were bombed on the way. People jumped off the trucks to hide. My mother got off the truck a couple of times, but that was all she could manage to do in her condition. During the air raids that followed she stayed on the truck. Her companions told her to let her daughter run with them to hide, but my mother refused saying that if they were destined to die they would share that fate.
Their initial destination was Khmelnitskiy, but it was already occupied. They stopped at some railroad station on the way to Khmelnitsky. There they were put on a train to Orenburg. In the vicinity of Poltava my mother started to go into labor and had to get off the train. She delivered her baby on the ground near the train. She told me that the baby's back was dirty with soil when she lifted it from the ground. My mother and her baby were taken to hospital, and my sister was taken to a children's home. The luggage with their clothes was left on the train. My mother stayed in hospital for a week. After she was released she went to the children's home to pick up Elizabeth. My mother went to see the commandant of Poltava. She told him that she had had a baby and the commandant took her to a storage facility. He allowed her to take all she needed. This was storage of luggage from people who had been on trains that had been bombed. The commandant helped my mother and the kids to get on the train. My mother named the baby boy Jacob, after my father's father, Yankel. My mother didn't have milk to feed the baby. She told me that she used to wrap a piece of brown bread in gauze, dipped it into water and gave it to Jacob as a pacifier.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
faina minkova