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My mother began her preparations for a Saturday on Friday. She used to prepare the candles and she cleaned and washed everything. My father also observed the Sabbath. He wouldn’t have worked on Saturday or on a holiday even for gold. My father always wore a cap on his head instead of yermolka [yarmulke]. The Jew must have his head covered – God forbid to not wear anything. Later, when we lived in Kiev, my father attended the synagogue in the Podol district. He used to cover himself with a dirty tallith and stand near the door.
Once, when I was six years old, my father was fixing the roof of the synagogue. It was a two-storied building. My mother sent me to take my father’s lunch to him. She told me to be careful., as I was a lively boy. My father ate his lunch and asked me to help him a little. He told me to sit in the spout while he hit a nail. While he was hammering I swayed and when he looked for me I wasn’t there any longer -- I had fallen off. It was my good luck that I didn’t fall on the bricks – this would have been the end of me. Everybody around started yelling and crying. They called a doctor. They listened to my breathing. My father whispered to me to pee. I did and he said “He’ll be O.K.” He was afraid that I injured my bladder. They took me home. My mother was already grieving for me. I asked her to turn me on the stretcher to show her that I was alive. When I was seven I was scared of train conductors. I used to hide under a bench saying ‘Mommy, here comes the conductor!”. The ticket cost 7 kopecks. My mother didn’t buy me a ticket, although children over 7 years of age needed to have a ticket. When getting off the train my mother always asked the people around to help her with the children. And they always did.
fix 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 brig 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 studied separately from the girls. I was sitting in the first row due to my poor sight. There were about forty children in the class. We studied Russian,
At the age of nine I went to work. My job was to clean the bookstore in the building where we lived. I took to reading books in this store, and I always loved reading.
Once, when I was six years old, my father was fixing the roof of the synagogue. It was a two-storied building. My mother sent me to take my father’s lunch to him. She told me to be careful., as I was a lively boy. My father ate his lunch and asked me to help him a little. He told me to sit in the spout while he hit a nail. While he was hammering I swayed and when he looked for me I wasn’t there any longer -- I had fallen off. It was my good luck that I didn’t fall on the bricks – this would have been the end of me. Everybody around started yelling and crying. They called a doctor. They listened to my breathing. My father whispered to me to pee. I did and he said “He’ll be O.K.” He was afraid that I injured my bladder. They took me home. My mother was already grieving for me. I asked her to turn me on the stretcher to show her that I was alive. When I was seven I was scared of train conductors. I used to hide under a bench saying ‘Mommy, here comes the conductor!”. The ticket cost 7 kopecks. My mother didn’t buy me a ticket, although children over 7 years of age needed to have a ticket. When getting off the train my mother always asked the people around to help her with the children. And they always did.
fix 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 brig 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 studied separately from the girls. I was sitting in the first row due to my poor sight. There were about forty children in the class. We studied Russian,
At the age of nine I went to work. My job was to clean the bookstore in the building where we lived. I took to reading books in this store, and I always loved reading.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Yevsey Kotkov