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My mother was born in Kamenets-Podolsk in 1919. They gave her the name Shprintse. The local rabbi issued her birth certificate, and we still have it. My mother went to a mixed kindergarten with both Ukrainian and Jewish kids in it. The teacher treated all the children very well. My mother told me that later she began to work around the house, helping her mother.
My mother attended secondary school for eight years and also attended music school. There was a piano at my grandfather’s house. Mother had a very good sense of music and used to sing very well. She had quite a few friends – both Russian and Jewish. Her Jewish friends Genia and Donia (I don’t know their last names) were not evacuated during the war and were killed. Donia died in Lvov and Genechka – in Kamenets-Podolsk. Sonia, another friend of my mother’s, also was also killed in Kamenets-Podolsk. My mother graduated from music school and worked as a kindergarten music teacher. Actually, she had several professions. She completed a short-term course for medical nurses in 1936 and worked as a nurse in hospital for some time in 1936 – 1939. She also completed studies at an accounting school in the 1940s and got a job of assistant accountant at the Tractor Manufacture and Sales Company.
My mother attended secondary school for eight years and also attended music school. There was a piano at my grandfather’s house. Mother had a very good sense of music and used to sing very well. She had quite a few friends – both Russian and Jewish. Her Jewish friends Genia and Donia (I don’t know their last names) were not evacuated during the war and were killed. Donia died in Lvov and Genechka – in Kamenets-Podolsk. Sonia, another friend of my mother’s, also was also killed in Kamenets-Podolsk. My mother graduated from music school and worked as a kindergarten music teacher. Actually, she had several professions. She completed a short-term course for medical nurses in 1936 and worked as a nurse in hospital for some time in 1936 – 1939. She also completed studies at an accounting school in the 1940s and got a job of assistant accountant at the Tractor Manufacture and Sales Company.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Zinaida Leibovich