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When we returned from evacuation we noted a change in the attitude towards Jews. It was possible to hear ‘zhyd’ 23 in the streets that was never a case before the war. I also remember statements written in Russian and Ukrainian on the wall of some houses in the central part of the city ‘Whom did the Soviet power give education? Zhydy. Whom did the Soviet power give apartments? Whom did the Soviet power give this and that…’ This was the first time I bumped into evidence that Germans inspired antagonism of the local population against Jews. We knew from Soviet newspapers that they had exterminated Jews in their country. I got to know about Babi Yar in evacuation. Soviet newspapers didn’t mention that this was extermination of Jews, but that Germans were killing Soviet people. When we returned to Kiev eye witnesses told us the whole story. My father’s sister Dunia and her husband and Alfred’s sickly grandmother Julia perished in Babi Yar. Germans killed elderly people who were not able to walk as far as Babi Yar in their homes.
After the war my father was a member of the Town Collegium of Attorneys. He was responsible for helping Jews who were returning form evacuation to get back their apartments. This was not even a Jewish issue –this was the issue of protection of human rights. It was hard to have these issues resolved since apartments in the central part of the town were occupied by high-level officials. My father worked very hard. He hardly ever went to bed before 2 o’clock in the morning and got up at 8-8.30 in the morning. He did morning exercises and sponged himself down until he grew very old. My father reviewed all cases at home. He also worked part-time for the Town Council and executive committees and was too busy at work to review these applications in every detail. Besides, my father read special textbooks in law practices in the USSR and Ukraine. His colleagues and clients respected him a lot. Once we went to a party many years after my father died and one of the attendees said to me ‘ Your father taught so many generations of lawyers!’
My mother worked at a library after the war. One had to work to survive: employees received food coupons. My mother was not very fond of her work – she was a librarian. She was used to being a housewife and giving all her time to her husband and children. During and after the war we didn’t observe any Jewish traditions.
After the war my father was a member of the Town Collegium of Attorneys. He was responsible for helping Jews who were returning form evacuation to get back their apartments. This was not even a Jewish issue –this was the issue of protection of human rights. It was hard to have these issues resolved since apartments in the central part of the town were occupied by high-level officials. My father worked very hard. He hardly ever went to bed before 2 o’clock in the morning and got up at 8-8.30 in the morning. He did morning exercises and sponged himself down until he grew very old. My father reviewed all cases at home. He also worked part-time for the Town Council and executive committees and was too busy at work to review these applications in every detail. Besides, my father read special textbooks in law practices in the USSR and Ukraine. His colleagues and clients respected him a lot. Once we went to a party many years after my father died and one of the attendees said to me ‘ Your father taught so many generations of lawyers!’
My mother worked at a library after the war. One had to work to survive: employees received food coupons. My mother was not very fond of her work – she was a librarian. She was used to being a housewife and giving all her time to her husband and children. During and after the war we didn’t observe any Jewish traditions.
Period
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Frida Khatset