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I was born on 2 September 1919. I still have my Birth Certificate signed by the Kiev Rabbi. There was a number of Jewish pogroms 9 at that time and my mother came home from hospital with me a day after a pogrom. There was a Ukrainian janitor – Stepan, a strong broad shouldered man. He had no education, but was eager to study and my father was helping him. My mother told me that in a day or two after we returned from hospital bandits came to our house. We lived on the 2nd floor. Stepan told all tenants to close their doors and let nobody in. He stood by our door with an ax and said ‘You will only enter this apartment over my dead body!’ Pogrom makers retreated. Stepan always did physical work for us and brought wood for heating the house. He was very grateful for my father’s help. My father taught Stepan until he could go to study at rabfak 10. He finished rabfak and got a job at a housing agency. We loved and trusted Stepan.
At the end of 1919 Kiev was liberated from Denikin troops 11 by the Red army. My father was very enthusiastic about the Soviet power. All Jewish intellectuals believed this was a start of a new and bright life. My father became First legal advisor and then Head of Legal department of the Revolutionary Committee of the province and then – Provincial Executive Council, Town Council and Regional Executive committee.
In 1921 my younger brother Boris was born. I have dim memories about our apartment since I was too young. We lived in a 3-storied building. I remember our entrance to the building with a high front door and wide staircase with many stairs. We had a big apartment with high ceilings: a spacious dining room, my father’s office and a smaller children’s room with 3 beds in it. There was also my parents’ bedroom, kitchen, toilet and a bathroom. This apartment seemed huge to me. I remember a long hallway where my brother and I used to run playing. There was a homeopathic pharmacy, where they sold herbal medications, next door where my mother often left me when she had to go out. Employees there allowed me to play with drawers.
My parents spoke Russian to me and my brothers. Yiddish was their mother tongue and they spoke Yiddish with my grandmother and grandfather. We didn’t study Yiddish: there was a popular opinion at that time that young people wouldn’t need Yiddish in the future.
At the end of 1919 Kiev was liberated from Denikin troops 11 by the Red army. My father was very enthusiastic about the Soviet power. All Jewish intellectuals believed this was a start of a new and bright life. My father became First legal advisor and then Head of Legal department of the Revolutionary Committee of the province and then – Provincial Executive Council, Town Council and Regional Executive committee.
In 1921 my younger brother Boris was born. I have dim memories about our apartment since I was too young. We lived in a 3-storied building. I remember our entrance to the building with a high front door and wide staircase with many stairs. We had a big apartment with high ceilings: a spacious dining room, my father’s office and a smaller children’s room with 3 beds in it. There was also my parents’ bedroom, kitchen, toilet and a bathroom. This apartment seemed huge to me. I remember a long hallway where my brother and I used to run playing. There was a homeopathic pharmacy, where they sold herbal medications, next door where my mother often left me when she had to go out. Employees there allowed me to play with drawers.
My parents spoke Russian to me and my brothers. Yiddish was their mother tongue and they spoke Yiddish with my grandmother and grandfather. We didn’t study Yiddish: there was a popular opinion at that time that young people wouldn’t need Yiddish in the future.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Frida Khatset