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There are 11 of us in my family: my wife and I, our children, grandchildren and my in-laws. We get together for all the birthdays of my relatives and on holidays. We mainly celebrate Soviet holidays: New Year's, 1st May and October Revolution Day [26]. Our mostly cherished holiday was 9th May, Victory Day [the official date of the victory over Nazi Germany in the USSR]. On Pesach we always had matzah, we bought it at the synagogue in Peresyp [27]. My mother, who lived with us, taught my wife how to cook gefilte fish. My children knew they were Jewish. They studied in a Soviet school and had both Jewish and Russian friends. In my house we used to read a lot. We liked to go to the theater. We were fond of guest performances from Moscow and Leningrad.
In the 1960s I built a summerhouse in Bolshoy Fontan [a recreation zone in Odessa]. In the summer we went there for vacations. I enjoyed these gatherings as much as my parents did. My mother died in 1984. When she was dying she bequeathed me to burn my father's belongings after her death and to bury her. She took off her wedding ring and gave it to me. She was devoted to her husband her whole life. Some years ago I met Boris Gelman, a journalist from Sevastopol, who helped me to get information about my father's death. My father served in the hospital of the 172 division in Sevastopol and perished in November 1941 when the ship Armenia sunk.
In the 1960s I built a summerhouse in Bolshoy Fontan [a recreation zone in Odessa]. In the summer we went there for vacations. I enjoyed these gatherings as much as my parents did. My mother died in 1984. When she was dying she bequeathed me to burn my father's belongings after her death and to bury her. She took off her wedding ring and gave it to me. She was devoted to her husband her whole life. Some years ago I met Boris Gelman, a journalist from Sevastopol, who helped me to get information about my father's death. My father served in the hospital of the 172 division in Sevastopol and perished in November 1941 when the ship Armenia sunk.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Leonid Dusman