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When the war began we started gluing paper crosses on the windows. Kharkov was bombed for the first time in July 1941. I went to see my friend, who volunteered to the front. At that time the air raid began. I was far from home and walked all the way home with bombs exploding all around.
We evacuated at the beginning of the evacuation period. My father's sister Zina and her daughter, who had just got married, went with us. Her daughter's husband was chief engineer at the Kharkov railcar factory, so we evacuated with the factory. We had very little luggage although there were no restrictions as to the luggage we could bring with us. My father took our clothes out of the suitcases and put books there instead. My mother took three antique cups. We didn't realize that we would be leaving for long.
Our train wasn't bombed. We were approaching Ponyri station. There was another train ahead of us. When it stopped all passengers went to get some bread at a store. When our train stopped at the station we saw dead people close to the store. They perished during the air raid.
Our trip took about a month. We reached Alma-Ata [3,000 km from Kharkov, in Kazakhstan]. My father decided to get off in Alma-Ata because there was a university in this town, and he was hoping to get a job. The secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU of Alma-Ata issued an order to allow evacuated people stay in Alma-Ata. My father went to see him and we got permission to stay.
A very nice Russian family called Kochergin gave us shelter. Kochergin was a Candidate of Geography Sciences and a lecturer at the Alma-Ata University. His family was very kind to us. In Alma-Ata my father became head of chair of psychology at the Pedagogic Institute. He wrote a book called The Basics of Psychology while working there.
It was a hard time. I remember a tragic episode. I met my co-student from Kharkov University. I was very happy to see her. We heard on the radio that Kharkov and Kiev Medical Institutes evacuated to Kzyl-Orda [in Kazakhstan]. They were admitting students. She and I decided to go there. I had friends there and stayed with them. She went with her mother, and they rented a room. After two days this girl died of typhoid. We couldn't get a coffin to bury her. We got a wardrobe and put her in this wardrobe. It was winter, and we were too weak to dig a grave. We buried her and returned home. We sat down and the first words that somebody pronounced were, 'Who is next'. And then Vera Nazariantz, Armenian and a beauty, stood up shocked and began to dance a folk dance. She had her hair loose and she danced liked crazy! By the way, she doesn't remember this, but we do. We were watching her, and then we said, 'We shall live!'. Vera became deputy director of the Public Library in Kharkov. We are still very good friends. She lives in Australia now.
We evacuated at the beginning of the evacuation period. My father's sister Zina and her daughter, who had just got married, went with us. Her daughter's husband was chief engineer at the Kharkov railcar factory, so we evacuated with the factory. We had very little luggage although there were no restrictions as to the luggage we could bring with us. My father took our clothes out of the suitcases and put books there instead. My mother took three antique cups. We didn't realize that we would be leaving for long.
Our train wasn't bombed. We were approaching Ponyri station. There was another train ahead of us. When it stopped all passengers went to get some bread at a store. When our train stopped at the station we saw dead people close to the store. They perished during the air raid.
Our trip took about a month. We reached Alma-Ata [3,000 km from Kharkov, in Kazakhstan]. My father decided to get off in Alma-Ata because there was a university in this town, and he was hoping to get a job. The secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU of Alma-Ata issued an order to allow evacuated people stay in Alma-Ata. My father went to see him and we got permission to stay.
A very nice Russian family called Kochergin gave us shelter. Kochergin was a Candidate of Geography Sciences and a lecturer at the Alma-Ata University. His family was very kind to us. In Alma-Ata my father became head of chair of psychology at the Pedagogic Institute. He wrote a book called The Basics of Psychology while working there.
It was a hard time. I remember a tragic episode. I met my co-student from Kharkov University. I was very happy to see her. We heard on the radio that Kharkov and Kiev Medical Institutes evacuated to Kzyl-Orda [in Kazakhstan]. They were admitting students. She and I decided to go there. I had friends there and stayed with them. She went with her mother, and they rented a room. After two days this girl died of typhoid. We couldn't get a coffin to bury her. We got a wardrobe and put her in this wardrobe. It was winter, and we were too weak to dig a grave. We buried her and returned home. We sat down and the first words that somebody pronounced were, 'Who is next'. And then Vera Nazariantz, Armenian and a beauty, stood up shocked and began to dance a folk dance. She had her hair loose and she danced liked crazy! By the way, she doesn't remember this, but we do. We were watching her, and then we said, 'We shall live!'. Vera became deputy director of the Public Library in Kharkov. We are still very good friends. She lives in Australia now.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
izolda rubinshtein