Tag #146596 - Interview #78224 (Lev Khapun)

There was another interesting story about those blacksmiths. There was a draft to the tsarist army, and one day in 1898 they were all drafted into it. Since the brothers departed for the army, all their cousins and other relatives came to see them off. The draftees got drunk for courage and arrived drunk for the draft. On that day the natives began to mock at the Jewish guys, who came to the draft. The latter tolerated that for some time, but then beat them up. Blacksmiths were very strong guys, of origin and because of their occupation, since they worked with sledgehammers all day long. A serious fight began, and all draftees scattered away, so the draft was closed for that day. A guard told me about this incident when I worked at a plant in Vinnitsa. He was drafted at that time, too. He told me this story, which happened to him, and when I later asked my father about it, he told me that it had really happened.