Tag #153636 - Interview #103503 (SIMA-LIBA NERUBENKO )

In 1938 my son Vladimir was born. I wished so much to take my son to my hometown. I decided to go there in 1939. I didn’t notify anybody and went there in summer when all relatives were there for a summer vacation. Our neighbors saw me walking from the station. They ran to my mother to tell her that her daughter was coming home. Of course, my mother forgot all resentment and came out to meet me. We hugged and kissed. On that summer all children came on a visit and my mother’s brother Israel and his wife came from Leningrad. We spoke Yiddish again and our mother cooked our favorite food. We even enjoyed eating our father’s jam. We were happy to be together and we didn’t realize that it was for the last time. My father wished Grigoriy had come. He said “It’s O’K that he is not a Jew as long as he is good man”. My husband couldn’t come with me. He was in the army and took part in the Finnish campaign 8. I was having the time of my life – my brothers and sisters were together and we lived the life that we were used to – we obeyed our parents, had kosher food and recalled our childhood. The synagogue didn’t function at that time, but my father prayed at home and my mother always lit candles at Shabbat.