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My father Moisey Kogan was born on 28 April 1900. My father told me a lot about his childhood. My father went to cheder at the age of 6. There were two rooms in cheder: one for senior and another room for junior boys. There was a teacher and his assistant called behelfer [assistant melamed]. This assistant taught children their ABC and often carried the youngest ones to school. My father started learning the Torah at the age of 8, I guess. They studied Hummash [Pentateuch in Yiddish]. My father found cheder dull and he entertained himself as much as he could: stuffed an inkpot with paper, chatted with his classmates, glued rabbi’s beard to the desk when he was dozing off explaining Rashi’s commentaries on Hummash. [Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040-1105), is known by the acronym RASHI. His commentaries on the Hebrew Bible and Babylonian Talmud are accepted as the most fundamental ones] Melamed hit my father on his back with his stick. At the age of 9 my father was expelled from cheder for his conduct.
At the age of 10 my father went to study at a Russian elementary school. Schoolchildren were children of local craftsmen, small tradesmen and clerks and also, farmers from neighboring villages. Children from wealthier families studied in a grammar school. It would have been bearable at school if it hadn’t been for terrible anti-Semitism propagated by teachers and rooted among the pupils. The majority of children came from tradesmen’s families. They didn’t like Jews for making strong competition to their parents. Jewish children even received lower marks at school. My father told me that once his teacher of history called him to the blackboard. The teacher and classmates listened to my father’s answer holding their breath. His teacher Shevchenko stated that this was an exemplary answer, but put him ‘3’. His teacher of mathematic Zizdo did the same. They rarely put a higher mark than ‘3’ to my father. When my father entered a technical school he only received excellent marks in mathematic.
My father was quite advanced for his age at 13. He was interested in politics and was familiar with all details of the ‘Beilis case’ [10] and followed the subject discussions in the State Duma. He was 17 when the February revolution took place. In August 1917 my father entered a technical construction school in Odessa. He studied and worked. In January 1918 my father returned to Novomirgorod since he could not make his living in Odessa and was starving. The power switched from one group to another in Novomirgorod from ‘Petliura units’ [11], to the ‘greens’ [12] and other gangs [13]. Jewish men organized a self-defense unit [14]. They patrolled the area at night, but they couldn’t fight bigger units, of course.
At the age of 10 my father went to study at a Russian elementary school. Schoolchildren were children of local craftsmen, small tradesmen and clerks and also, farmers from neighboring villages. Children from wealthier families studied in a grammar school. It would have been bearable at school if it hadn’t been for terrible anti-Semitism propagated by teachers and rooted among the pupils. The majority of children came from tradesmen’s families. They didn’t like Jews for making strong competition to their parents. Jewish children even received lower marks at school. My father told me that once his teacher of history called him to the blackboard. The teacher and classmates listened to my father’s answer holding their breath. His teacher Shevchenko stated that this was an exemplary answer, but put him ‘3’. His teacher of mathematic Zizdo did the same. They rarely put a higher mark than ‘3’ to my father. When my father entered a technical school he only received excellent marks in mathematic.
My father was quite advanced for his age at 13. He was interested in politics and was familiar with all details of the ‘Beilis case’ [10] and followed the subject discussions in the State Duma. He was 17 when the February revolution took place. In August 1917 my father entered a technical construction school in Odessa. He studied and worked. In January 1918 my father returned to Novomirgorod since he could not make his living in Odessa and was starving. The power switched from one group to another in Novomirgorod from ‘Petliura units’ [11], to the ‘greens’ [12] and other gangs [13]. Jewish men organized a self-defense unit [14]. They patrolled the area at night, but they couldn’t fight bigger units, of course.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Remma Kogan