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I will tell you about my mother's family. HerMy mother came from athe family with many children just like my father. Her father, Moishe Shulkin, was born in Gomel in 1879. My grandfather was a very good cabinet maker. He was married twice. His first wife was Broha Shulkina, my mother's mother. Grandmother Broha was born in Gomel in 1879. I don't know her nee maiden name or what kind of family she came from. My grandparents had two daughters. My mother's younger sister, Golda [Shulkina], was born in 1902. My grandmother Broha died in an accident in 1905. A year later my grandfather got married for the second time. I remember my mother's stepmother, Hena. She was a very nice woman. My grandfather and her had six children: five daughters and a son.
I wouldn't say that my mother's father and stepmother were extremely religious. They led a secular life. My grandfather took an active part in the underground movement and was a member of the Social-Democratic Party. He had an underground publishing house in the basement of his house where they published a Bolshevik newspaper for a long time. I read that in a party history textbook somewhere. He published a newspaper and also continued making furniture. My grandmother was responsible for the housekeeping. I'm not aware of any persecution of my grandfather in regards to this publishing house. He was a convinced revolutionary and communist. He might have followed into the footsteps of many revolutionaries during the period of the Stalinist repression [the so-called Great Terror] [8], but he died before, in 1933. My grandfather was a member of the Russian Social-Democratic Party, but that didn't mean that the family didn't remember that they were Jews. During Chanukkah they lit the chanukkiyah at home; they had a mezuzah on the door and my grandmother lit candles on Saturdays.
My grandparents didn't go to the synagogue. They observed Jewish traditions in the family and celebrated holidays. The children were given Jewish names. Boys were circumcised. They spoke Yiddish in the family. As far as I remember my grandmother Hena didn't follow the kashrut. She died in March 1941.
My grandparents' children helped my grandmother with the housework. The older children looked after the younger ones. The girls helped with the laundry and cleaning and the boys helped my grandfather with the carpentry. So everybody was busy doing something. The children didn't get any education. My mother learned how to read and write after the Revolution.
My mother's sister Golda lived a long life. She was single and didn't have any education. She was a laborer at a factory. She lived in Moscow from 1922 until her death in 1983.
I wouldn't say that my mother's father and stepmother were extremely religious. They led a secular life. My grandfather took an active part in the underground movement and was a member of the Social-Democratic Party. He had an underground publishing house in the basement of his house where they published a Bolshevik newspaper for a long time. I read that in a party history textbook somewhere. He published a newspaper and also continued making furniture. My grandmother was responsible for the housekeeping. I'm not aware of any persecution of my grandfather in regards to this publishing house. He was a convinced revolutionary and communist. He might have followed into the footsteps of many revolutionaries during the period of the Stalinist repression [the so-called Great Terror] [8], but he died before, in 1933. My grandfather was a member of the Russian Social-Democratic Party, but that didn't mean that the family didn't remember that they were Jews. During Chanukkah they lit the chanukkiyah at home; they had a mezuzah on the door and my grandmother lit candles on Saturdays.
My grandparents didn't go to the synagogue. They observed Jewish traditions in the family and celebrated holidays. The children were given Jewish names. Boys were circumcised. They spoke Yiddish in the family. As far as I remember my grandmother Hena didn't follow the kashrut. She died in March 1941.
My grandparents' children helped my grandmother with the housework. The older children looked after the younger ones. The girls helped with the laundry and cleaning and the boys helped my grandfather with the carpentry. So everybody was busy doing something. The children didn't get any education. My mother learned how to read and write after the Revolution.
My mother's sister Golda lived a long life. She was single and didn't have any education. She was a laborer at a factory. She lived in Moscow from 1922 until her death in 1983.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
efim pisarenko
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