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I remember my uncles and aunts would take me out of town to welcome the daughter of the local rabbi. Since the closest train station was far away, she had to take a phaeton to get to our town. When her phaeton reached the town, young local men stopped it, unhamessed the horses and pulled the phaeton themselves. They brought her and the rabbis' wife to the rabbi's house. In the evening there was a big reception with traditional Jewish meals there.
I can remember myself at a very young age. I remember my parents held me in front of a mirror and I would point at myself in the reflection and say, 'Ni, ni...' Since then people began to call me Nina and they still call me so today.
When I was six months old, my parents took me and moved back to Yekaterinoslav, which later became Dnepropetrovsk. I wasn't the only child in the family - I had a brother, who was four years older than me, Israel Yakovlevich Averbukh, born in 1917. He was born in Yekaterinoslav shortly after the February Revolution [see Russian Revolution of 1917] [1]. When my parents' friends came to congratulate them on the birth of their son, everyone wore red rosettes in their buttonholes and everyone was happy that a democratic regime would finally replace the Russian Empire.
When I was approximately one and a half years old, my family moved to Kiev because my father's younger brother lived there and worked as a doctor, so he was wealthier than my parents. By that time my father had lost his job as the director of the Yekaterinoslav yeshivah, because at that time the Bolsheviks closed all religious educational institutions. Today, the Yekaterinoslav yeshivah is the only Jewish religious institution of higher learning in Ukraine.
I can remember myself at a very young age. I remember my parents held me in front of a mirror and I would point at myself in the reflection and say, 'Ni, ni...' Since then people began to call me Nina and they still call me so today.
When I was six months old, my parents took me and moved back to Yekaterinoslav, which later became Dnepropetrovsk. I wasn't the only child in the family - I had a brother, who was four years older than me, Israel Yakovlevich Averbukh, born in 1917. He was born in Yekaterinoslav shortly after the February Revolution [see Russian Revolution of 1917] [1]. When my parents' friends came to congratulate them on the birth of their son, everyone wore red rosettes in their buttonholes and everyone was happy that a democratic regime would finally replace the Russian Empire.
When I was approximately one and a half years old, my family moved to Kiev because my father's younger brother lived there and worked as a doctor, so he was wealthier than my parents. By that time my father had lost his job as the director of the Yekaterinoslav yeshivah, because at that time the Bolsheviks closed all religious educational institutions. Today, the Yekaterinoslav yeshivah is the only Jewish religious institution of higher learning in Ukraine.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Deborah Averbukh