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I know more about my mother's family. I was born and grew up in the house of her parents in Podol [3], in Kiev. My grandfather, Israel Kapnik, was born to the family of a merchant of Guild II [4] in Kiev in 1855. Only certain categories of Jews were allowed to live in the city, including merchants of Guild I and II and doctors. My grandfather's father built a huge five-storied brick building in Podol. There was a store for manufactured goods on the first floor, owned by my great-grandfather. My grandfather purchased consumer goods in Budapest and Paris. My great- grandfather's family lived on the second floor. The remaining apartments were leased.
My grandfather was the oldest son and inherited the house from his father. He became a merchant of Guild I. He died in 1912. My grandmother, Clara Kapnik, was my grandfather's second wife. He had many children from his first marriage. After his first wife died he got married a second time. My grandmother came from Kiev. She was born in 1865. She was a very smart and business-oriented woman. After my grandfather died she took over his business and managed very well. After the Revolution of 1917 [5] the Soviet power took away their house. My grandmother and the children stayed in three rooms. The store was expropriated, and my grandmother remained with no means of living. The children helped and supported her. My grandmother died in Kiev in 1928. She was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Kurenyovka in Kiev. In the 1960s this cemetery was closed. My grandmother's ashes were removed to the Jewish section of the Lukianovka cemetery.
My grandparents had six children. My mother, Sofia Kapnik, was born in 1892 and she was the oldest child. She had three sisters and two brothers. My mother's first sister, Sarra Kapnik, moved to Leningrad from Kiev. She was a biochemist. She had a problem with her legs and couldn't walk properly. When she retired she moved to Moscow. My mother's second sister, Zhenia Broide [nee Kapnik], worked at a shop in Podol until she retired. She embroidered blouses and handkerchiefs. She had two sons and a daughter. Her sons graduated from the Electro-Technical Faculty of the Polytechnic Institute. They were engineers. Her daughter also studied at the Polytechnic Institute but fell ill with meningitis when she was a 3rd-year student. She recovered, but she became handicapped. As for my mother's third sister I don't remember anything about her.
New One of my mother's brothers, Grigory Kapnik, had a beautiful wife called Bella. Their daughter, Maria, a very pretty and talented girl, moved to Germany in 1925. She lived in many countries. She married a Frenchman. Her parents were against her marriage. The bride and bridegroom signed a wedding contract according to which Maria was to receive nothing in case her husband died. It was a civil contract. Since her husband was French they couldn't have a ketubbah. Her husband died at 40. Maria got a job as a shop assistant at a women's underwear store and then at a cosmetics store. She didn't keep in touch with her parents. They never accepted her marriage with a non-Jew, and she could never forget that they didn't. They found her through the French police. In 1976 she sent me an invitation to come to Paris. I visited her. She lived in a small apartment in the center of Paris. It was nicely furnished. She had beautiful clothes. She loved Paris and always spoke nicely about it. She had many Jewish and Russian friends among the immigrants from Russia. She spoke Russian and French, and there was nothing Jewish in her life. Two years ago I received a letter saying that she had got in a car accident and died. She didn't have any children.
New There was another brother whose name I don't remember. He finished school and worked as a shop assistant at a store. He had a daughter and a son. His son's name was Igor. He perished at the front during the war. My mother's brother and all other members of his family were exterminated at Babi Yar [6]. Their family name, Kapnik, is in the Babi Yar memorial book.
My mother's family was a traditional Jewish family. Her parents went to the synagogue every Saturday. They celebrated Sabbath and all the Jewish holidays. Her parents went to the synagogue every Saturday. My mother didn't tell me any details. When I was growing up it wasn't safe to talk about such things because the Soviet power struggled against the bourgeois and religious past. If a child blabbed about his wealthy ancestors, it might have been interpreted as nostalgia for the tsarist regime, and the whole family might have been arrested or executed. They spoke Yiddish in the family, but they all knew Russian well. My mother's parents believed that girls were to learn to be good housewives. They were a patriarchal family. The boys went to cheder and the girls got religious education at home.
My mother took little interest in housekeeping. She was fond of reading. She read in Yiddish and Russian. She prepared for the grammar school by herself. She was the first child in the family and my grandfather was spoiling her more than the other children. My mother convinced him to send her to grammar school. He gave in, and she was the only girl in the family who finished grammar school. The rest of the children studied at a secondary school. My mother's sister Sarra was the only one to get higher education. She finished the Leningrad Institute of Chemical Industry in the 1930s.
Once my mother told me about Jewish pogroms in Kiev. My mother was a young girl. Once she walked to Podol from Kreschatik [the main street in Kiev]. She reached Kontraktova Square in Podol in the midst of a pogrom. She was wearing a hat. A man approached her, grabbed her hat and threw it on the ground. My mother yelled, 'How dare you?', although she was always shy. He stared at her, and she ran away taking advantage of his momentary confusion. There was nobody around, and she might have been hurt. My mother knocked on the door of a Ukrainian house, and they let her in. This family sent their housemaid to my mother's home to inform her family where she was. My mother's brother came to pick her up. She changed into peasant's clothes and went home.
My grandfather was the oldest son and inherited the house from his father. He became a merchant of Guild I. He died in 1912. My grandmother, Clara Kapnik, was my grandfather's second wife. He had many children from his first marriage. After his first wife died he got married a second time. My grandmother came from Kiev. She was born in 1865. She was a very smart and business-oriented woman. After my grandfather died she took over his business and managed very well. After the Revolution of 1917 [5] the Soviet power took away their house. My grandmother and the children stayed in three rooms. The store was expropriated, and my grandmother remained with no means of living. The children helped and supported her. My grandmother died in Kiev in 1928. She was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Kurenyovka in Kiev. In the 1960s this cemetery was closed. My grandmother's ashes were removed to the Jewish section of the Lukianovka cemetery.
My grandparents had six children. My mother, Sofia Kapnik, was born in 1892 and she was the oldest child. She had three sisters and two brothers. My mother's first sister, Sarra Kapnik, moved to Leningrad from Kiev. She was a biochemist. She had a problem with her legs and couldn't walk properly. When she retired she moved to Moscow. My mother's second sister, Zhenia Broide [nee Kapnik], worked at a shop in Podol until she retired. She embroidered blouses and handkerchiefs. She had two sons and a daughter. Her sons graduated from the Electro-Technical Faculty of the Polytechnic Institute. They were engineers. Her daughter also studied at the Polytechnic Institute but fell ill with meningitis when she was a 3rd-year student. She recovered, but she became handicapped. As for my mother's third sister I don't remember anything about her.
New One of my mother's brothers, Grigory Kapnik, had a beautiful wife called Bella. Their daughter, Maria, a very pretty and talented girl, moved to Germany in 1925. She lived in many countries. She married a Frenchman. Her parents were against her marriage. The bride and bridegroom signed a wedding contract according to which Maria was to receive nothing in case her husband died. It was a civil contract. Since her husband was French they couldn't have a ketubbah. Her husband died at 40. Maria got a job as a shop assistant at a women's underwear store and then at a cosmetics store. She didn't keep in touch with her parents. They never accepted her marriage with a non-Jew, and she could never forget that they didn't. They found her through the French police. In 1976 she sent me an invitation to come to Paris. I visited her. She lived in a small apartment in the center of Paris. It was nicely furnished. She had beautiful clothes. She loved Paris and always spoke nicely about it. She had many Jewish and Russian friends among the immigrants from Russia. She spoke Russian and French, and there was nothing Jewish in her life. Two years ago I received a letter saying that she had got in a car accident and died. She didn't have any children.
New There was another brother whose name I don't remember. He finished school and worked as a shop assistant at a store. He had a daughter and a son. His son's name was Igor. He perished at the front during the war. My mother's brother and all other members of his family were exterminated at Babi Yar [6]. Their family name, Kapnik, is in the Babi Yar memorial book.
My mother's family was a traditional Jewish family. Her parents went to the synagogue every Saturday. They celebrated Sabbath and all the Jewish holidays. Her parents went to the synagogue every Saturday. My mother didn't tell me any details. When I was growing up it wasn't safe to talk about such things because the Soviet power struggled against the bourgeois and religious past. If a child blabbed about his wealthy ancestors, it might have been interpreted as nostalgia for the tsarist regime, and the whole family might have been arrested or executed. They spoke Yiddish in the family, but they all knew Russian well. My mother's parents believed that girls were to learn to be good housewives. They were a patriarchal family. The boys went to cheder and the girls got religious education at home.
My mother took little interest in housekeeping. She was fond of reading. She read in Yiddish and Russian. She prepared for the grammar school by herself. She was the first child in the family and my grandfather was spoiling her more than the other children. My mother convinced him to send her to grammar school. He gave in, and she was the only girl in the family who finished grammar school. The rest of the children studied at a secondary school. My mother's sister Sarra was the only one to get higher education. She finished the Leningrad Institute of Chemical Industry in the 1930s.
Once my mother told me about Jewish pogroms in Kiev. My mother was a young girl. Once she walked to Podol from Kreschatik [the main street in Kiev]. She reached Kontraktova Square in Podol in the midst of a pogrom. She was wearing a hat. A man approached her, grabbed her hat and threw it on the ground. My mother yelled, 'How dare you?', although she was always shy. He stared at her, and she ran away taking advantage of his momentary confusion. There was nobody around, and she might have been hurt. My mother knocked on the door of a Ukrainian house, and they let her in. This family sent their housemaid to my mother's home to inform her family where she was. My mother's brother came to pick her up. She changed into peasant's clothes and went home.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
izolda rubinshtein
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