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When I was six years old I started attending Jewish school. I was small and they didn't want to admit me. But I was bored at home, I was a smart girl, and so Mamma convinced them to let me go to school. At the Jewish school we studied the same subjects as in Russian or Ukrainian schools. The only difference was that the language of instruction was Yiddish. But we didn’t have any special subjects related to the history of the Jewish people, their culture, or their religion. I studied at this school for five years and then went to the Russian school. Our entire class moved to the Russian school because the Jewish one closed. This was around 1932. Goldhar, the director of the Jewish school, was arrested in the early 1930s. He was charged with having ties to Zionists. I don’t know what happened to him, but I never saw him again.
When I got to the Russian school, I made quite a few Russian and Ukrainian friends. They treated us very well. All nationalities were equal back then. Podol, where we lived, was a historically Jewish neighborhood. Many Jewish families lived there. One of my classmates was Misha Reider, who became a musician and worked in the philarmonic. His brother, Abram Reider, became a military pilot and served in the army throughout the entire war. There were also our neighbors, the Olevskiy family, who all got a higher education and became candidates and doctors in the sciences. Basically what I'm saying is that, before the war, the Jews were treated the same as any other nationality. I didn't know the word "zhyd," I'd never heard it.
I liked my school. I liked math the most out of all my subjects. I was also part of the school's dancing and singing clubs. Soviet schools only observed Soviet holidays, and rejected all the others. So if I had missed school and stayed home to celebrate a Jewish holiday, I would have been punished as if I had just been skipping. But we did celebrate the Soviet holidays: the 1st of May, October Revolution Day. I remember our regional office sent a wagon to take all the residents to the festive parade in Kreschatik. After the parade, we had guests; Mamma laid the table and they all enjoyed themselves.
When I got to the Russian school, I made quite a few Russian and Ukrainian friends. They treated us very well. All nationalities were equal back then. Podol, where we lived, was a historically Jewish neighborhood. Many Jewish families lived there. One of my classmates was Misha Reider, who became a musician and worked in the philarmonic. His brother, Abram Reider, became a military pilot and served in the army throughout the entire war. There were also our neighbors, the Olevskiy family, who all got a higher education and became candidates and doctors in the sciences. Basically what I'm saying is that, before the war, the Jews were treated the same as any other nationality. I didn't know the word "zhyd," I'd never heard it.
I liked my school. I liked math the most out of all my subjects. I was also part of the school's dancing and singing clubs. Soviet schools only observed Soviet holidays, and rejected all the others. So if I had missed school and stayed home to celebrate a Jewish holiday, I would have been punished as if I had just been skipping. But we did celebrate the Soviet holidays: the 1st of May, October Revolution Day. I remember our regional office sent a wagon to take all the residents to the festive parade in Kreschatik. After the parade, we had guests; Mamma laid the table and they all enjoyed themselves.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Raissa Makarevich