Selected text
I was born in Kiev in 1920. I was called Izolda after my mother's father, Israel. I was the only child. I lived in Kiev the first three years of my life. I have no memories of this period. In 1923 my father was offered a job in Kharkov. He was to be a lecturer at Kharkov University and take part in the development of optimal psychological occupational recommendations. He agreed, and we moved to Kharkov. Kharkov was a big industrial and cultural center. It was the capital of Ukraine at that time. There were few Jews in Kharkov and they were assimilated Jews like my parents.
We spoke Russian in the family. My parents were atheists. Or, to be more precise, my father was a convinced atheist. He didn't observe any Jewish traditions, and we didn't celebrate any Jewish holidays. My mother tried to observe some Jewish traditions. She didn't go to the synagogue, but she fasted on Yom Kippur. When we managed to get some matzah on Pesach my mother only ate matzah. But she had bread for me and my father for Pesach. I wasn't raised Jewish. My parents believed religiosity to be a vestige of the past. They didn't teach me Yiddish for the same reason. They weren't party members, but we always celebrated Soviet holidays in our family: 1st May and 7th November [October Revolution Day] [7]. My mother made a festive dinner, and we had guests. They were mainly my father's colleagues. We also had birthday parties.
My mother always tried to look nice at home. She wore stylish blouses and a suit. My father tried to convince her to wear different dresses, something more casual, but my mother believed that a professor's wife should wear austere clothes.
I remember our house in Kharkov. It was a big house. We lived in two rooms and had a balcony. It was a big communal apartment [8] with a common kitchen. There was the family of a shoemaker who lived there. A Jewish family, the Rudayevs, the secretary of the Academy of Sciences also lived in two rooms. Rudayev was a very talented and interesting man. In 1937 he was arrested [during the so-called Great Terror] [9] and perished in a labor camp. The son of his first wife, Lyonia Rudayev, was very talented. After finishing school he entered the Polytechnic Institute. The management found out that his father had been arrested and expelled him from the institute. He managed to find a job as a secretary at a lawyer's office and entered the Law Faculty at Poltava University. He studied there by correspondence. He had a heart disease, but that didn't stop him from going to the military registration office on the first day of the war and volunteer to the front. He sent us a telegram reading, 'Hi and farewell'. Lyova perished near Belaya Tserkov. His family couldn't evacuate because his grandmother was paralyzed and couldn't be moved. They were a nice family. My schoolmate saw the Germans shoot Rudayev's son and daughter in the street. His wife and mother perished during the mass shooting of Jews in Kharkov.
We spoke Russian in the family. My parents were atheists. Or, to be more precise, my father was a convinced atheist. He didn't observe any Jewish traditions, and we didn't celebrate any Jewish holidays. My mother tried to observe some Jewish traditions. She didn't go to the synagogue, but she fasted on Yom Kippur. When we managed to get some matzah on Pesach my mother only ate matzah. But she had bread for me and my father for Pesach. I wasn't raised Jewish. My parents believed religiosity to be a vestige of the past. They didn't teach me Yiddish for the same reason. They weren't party members, but we always celebrated Soviet holidays in our family: 1st May and 7th November [October Revolution Day] [7]. My mother made a festive dinner, and we had guests. They were mainly my father's colleagues. We also had birthday parties.
My mother always tried to look nice at home. She wore stylish blouses and a suit. My father tried to convince her to wear different dresses, something more casual, but my mother believed that a professor's wife should wear austere clothes.
I remember our house in Kharkov. It was a big house. We lived in two rooms and had a balcony. It was a big communal apartment [8] with a common kitchen. There was the family of a shoemaker who lived there. A Jewish family, the Rudayevs, the secretary of the Academy of Sciences also lived in two rooms. Rudayev was a very talented and interesting man. In 1937 he was arrested [during the so-called Great Terror] [9] and perished in a labor camp. The son of his first wife, Lyonia Rudayev, was very talented. After finishing school he entered the Polytechnic Institute. The management found out that his father had been arrested and expelled him from the institute. He managed to find a job as a secretary at a lawyer's office and entered the Law Faculty at Poltava University. He studied there by correspondence. He had a heart disease, but that didn't stop him from going to the military registration office on the first day of the war and volunteer to the front. He sent us a telegram reading, 'Hi and farewell'. Lyova perished near Belaya Tserkov. His family couldn't evacuate because his grandmother was paralyzed and couldn't be moved. They were a nice family. My schoolmate saw the Germans shoot Rudayev's son and daughter in the street. His wife and mother perished during the mass shooting of Jews in Kharkov.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
izolda rubinshtein
Tag(s)