Selected text
During the war Aunt Etia and uncle Mihail, Asia and Fira were
evacuated with their plant to Stalingrad and later, to Nizhniy Tagil.
Vladimir, born in 1925, was a communications operator on the front. He was
severely wounded and lost a leg. After the war he married the fiancée of a
schoolmate who had perished on the front. He lived in Podmoskovie. In 1990
he emigrated to Israel. Arkadiy studied at a tank school before the war. He
received an offer to stay at the school as a lecturer, but he believed that
a Jew should be on the front lines in order to avoid any reproaches or mean
jokes. Arkadiy perished in his first battle not far from Kursk. Aunt Ethel
and Uncle Mihail died in the mid-1960s in Kharkov.
My mother's brother, Mark, was a member of the CPSU Town Committee
Bureau in Kiev. When the war began, he was responsible for the evacuation
of enterprises from Kiev. He was too late to evacuate himself, and left
the town with a group of comrades when the Germans were very close. They
were all captured by the Germans in the Darnitsa woods. The Germans shot
the communists and Jews. Fania, Mark's wife, heard about it from Mark's
comrade, a Russian from this group. He went through concentration camps and
survived. Lyonia, Mark's older son, perished during the war. His younger
son, Volodia, lives in Israel.
I also knew my mother's younger sister Ida. She married a man in the
military and lived in Odessa. During the war she and her children, Tania
and Volodia, were evacuated to Ashgabad. Her husband Lyova was at the front
line throughout the war. After the war he worked at the Officer Training
School in Odessa. Aunt Ida died sometime in 1965. I don't know where her
children Tania and Volodia are now - we haven't kept in touch. I don't know
anything about the rest of my mother's brothers and sisters. Some of them
emigrated to America in the early 1920s, and others perished during the
civil war. I don't even know their names.
My mother was the 6th or 7th child in her family. Two years of Jewish
primary school was all the education my mother received before the
revolution, because she had to help her mother and older sister about the
house. The Revolution opened bright prospects for my mother. She was eager
to study. She left for Kharkov, where her older sister, Etia, was living.
In Kharkov, my mother went to study at the rabfak. However, she didn't
study for long and wasn't much of a success at school. She went to work as
a seamstress at the garment factory. She became a Komsomol member and
later, a party member. In 1929 she became secretary of the Party Committee
of the factory and met with Minister Postyshev. We even had a photo of Mama
posed with him. Mama destroyed this picture after Postyshev was arrested.
evacuated with their plant to Stalingrad and later, to Nizhniy Tagil.
Vladimir, born in 1925, was a communications operator on the front. He was
severely wounded and lost a leg. After the war he married the fiancée of a
schoolmate who had perished on the front. He lived in Podmoskovie. In 1990
he emigrated to Israel. Arkadiy studied at a tank school before the war. He
received an offer to stay at the school as a lecturer, but he believed that
a Jew should be on the front lines in order to avoid any reproaches or mean
jokes. Arkadiy perished in his first battle not far from Kursk. Aunt Ethel
and Uncle Mihail died in the mid-1960s in Kharkov.
My mother's brother, Mark, was a member of the CPSU Town Committee
Bureau in Kiev. When the war began, he was responsible for the evacuation
of enterprises from Kiev. He was too late to evacuate himself, and left
the town with a group of comrades when the Germans were very close. They
were all captured by the Germans in the Darnitsa woods. The Germans shot
the communists and Jews. Fania, Mark's wife, heard about it from Mark's
comrade, a Russian from this group. He went through concentration camps and
survived. Lyonia, Mark's older son, perished during the war. His younger
son, Volodia, lives in Israel.
I also knew my mother's younger sister Ida. She married a man in the
military and lived in Odessa. During the war she and her children, Tania
and Volodia, were evacuated to Ashgabad. Her husband Lyova was at the front
line throughout the war. After the war he worked at the Officer Training
School in Odessa. Aunt Ida died sometime in 1965. I don't know where her
children Tania and Volodia are now - we haven't kept in touch. I don't know
anything about the rest of my mother's brothers and sisters. Some of them
emigrated to America in the early 1920s, and others perished during the
civil war. I don't even know their names.
My mother was the 6th or 7th child in her family. Two years of Jewish
primary school was all the education my mother received before the
revolution, because she had to help her mother and older sister about the
house. The Revolution opened bright prospects for my mother. She was eager
to study. She left for Kharkov, where her older sister, Etia, was living.
In Kharkov, my mother went to study at the rabfak. However, she didn't
study for long and wasn't much of a success at school. She went to work as
a seamstress at the garment factory. She became a Komsomol member and
later, a party member. In 1929 she became secretary of the Party Committee
of the factory and met with Minister Postyshev. We even had a photo of Mama
posed with him. Mama destroyed this picture after Postyshev was arrested.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Leonid Karlinsky