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When I was a child, we lived with my parents in a basement in the main street in Rovno. There was a book store on the upper floor, and there was a staircase downstairs (18 steps). Our living space was not divided into rooms. There was some hay on planks that served as a bed for my mother and her children. The remaining area served as my father’s shop. He made whatever he had orders for, like tins, cups, buckets, cans, etc. They cooked on a small primus stove and used a bucket for a toilet.
There were five of us kids in the family. My mother used to go to her parents’ home in Rafalovka each time she give birth, then she and the baby returned to my father in Rovno by train. My oldest brother Yankel, Yakov Abramovich Glaston, was born in 1902. He was a tinsmith, like all of us. He lost his eye on the front during the WWII. His daughter Musia lives in Israel now. He died in 1958 in Kiev. I was the second child. My mother called me Senechka. Then came my sister Genia born in 1906. She was a laborer all her life. My sister Polia was born in 1908. She was a nurse. She had a son Lyonechgka -- I live with him now. Polia died in 1975. The youngest – Izia (Isaak) Abramovich Kotkov was born in 1910. He lives in Canada.
Life was not much fun in Rovno. We lived in a basement, it was cold, and we didn’t have enough to eat. My father was a typical failure. He was a rough and wild man. He was always dirty. Mommy used to cry a lot in that basement. Father beat us. My mother told him off and cursed him for beating us so hard. She told him one couldn’t beat children on the head and face with wire. He offended the girls, too. He would say he didn’t want his children. We had a terrible relationship with him, and when we grew up none of us wanted to stay with him.
We kids didn’t respect him, but we loved our mother. She always stood up for us and cared for us. We lived a very poor life. We had to alter and repair our old clothes. My father used to go and ask some rich Jewish family whether they had anything they wanted to give away. He used to bring back a huge bag and we were so happy that there were so many clothes for us. We went to school. There was a primary school for Jewish children. Yankel (Yasha) was the first one to go to school. Then it was my turn. We boys studied separately from the girls. I sat in the first row due to my poor eyesight. There were about forty children in the class. We studied Russian, arithmetic and grammar. We didn’t study Yiddish at school, but in summer, when I went to visit my mother’s parents in Rafalovka, I had a teacher who taught me to write and read in Yiddish. Everything had to be af Yiddish (in Yiddish). My grandfather paid for these classes. There were 3 to 5 pupils that came to this teacher to study. My friends were Jewish children, of course. I studied Yiddish, my teacher was a rabbi, and I had to learn to read the prayer book. My grandfather took me to the synagogue with him and we used to pray together.
There were five of us kids in the family. My mother used to go to her parents’ home in Rafalovka each time she give birth, then she and the baby returned to my father in Rovno by train. My oldest brother Yankel, Yakov Abramovich Glaston, was born in 1902. He was a tinsmith, like all of us. He lost his eye on the front during the WWII. His daughter Musia lives in Israel now. He died in 1958 in Kiev. I was the second child. My mother called me Senechka. Then came my sister Genia born in 1906. She was a laborer all her life. My sister Polia was born in 1908. She was a nurse. She had a son Lyonechgka -- I live with him now. Polia died in 1975. The youngest – Izia (Isaak) Abramovich Kotkov was born in 1910. He lives in Canada.
Life was not much fun in Rovno. We lived in a basement, it was cold, and we didn’t have enough to eat. My father was a typical failure. He was a rough and wild man. He was always dirty. Mommy used to cry a lot in that basement. Father beat us. My mother told him off and cursed him for beating us so hard. She told him one couldn’t beat children on the head and face with wire. He offended the girls, too. He would say he didn’t want his children. We had a terrible relationship with him, and when we grew up none of us wanted to stay with him.
We kids didn’t respect him, but we loved our mother. She always stood up for us and cared for us. We lived a very poor life. We had to alter and repair our old clothes. My father used to go and ask some rich Jewish family whether they had anything they wanted to give away. He used to bring back a huge bag and we were so happy that there were so many clothes for us. We went to school. There was a primary school for Jewish children. Yankel (Yasha) was the first one to go to school. Then it was my turn. We boys studied separately from the girls. I sat in the first row due to my poor eyesight. There were about forty children in the class. We studied Russian, arithmetic and grammar. We didn’t study Yiddish at school, but in summer, when I went to visit my mother’s parents in Rafalovka, I had a teacher who taught me to write and read in Yiddish. Everything had to be af Yiddish (in Yiddish). My grandfather paid for these classes. There were 3 to 5 pupils that came to this teacher to study. My friends were Jewish children, of course. I studied Yiddish, my teacher was a rabbi, and I had to learn to read the prayer book. My grandfather took me to the synagogue with him and we used to pray together.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Yevsey Kotkov