Tag #151496 - Interview #77988 (rachel persitz)

During the revolution and the Civil War, when the power in Kiev was switching from the Reds [5], the Whites [6] and Denikin units [7] to military units of Simon Petliura [8], there were many pogroms in town. My mother took my sister and me to our grandmother Riva and grandfather Haim in Chernobyl. There were also bandits in Chernobyl, and we had to hide either in the attic or in the cellar of our grandparents' house. My sister was older and aware of the fearful reality. I didn't understand why we had to sit in the cellar when there were beautiful fields, woods and the Pripiat River outside. We stayed in Chernobyl for almost a year. When the Soviet power was established in Kiev we returned to Kiev.