Tag #155677 - Interview #94776 (Grigoriy Stelmakh)

Khmelnik was a typical Jewish town with its specific way of life. The town was beautifully buried in verdure. Jews resided in the center of the town and constituted 90% of the population. Most of the Jewish families were poor. Jews dealt in crafts: they were dealers, suppliers, tailors and shoemakers. There was Ukrainian, Polish and Russian population in Khmelnik. They mostly dealt in farming. There were rich Ukrainian and Russian landlords and merchants. They owned luxurious mansions and had servants and big plots of land. There was a market in the center of the town. Jews had their shops and stores there. There were also three synagogues, I guess, and a church in the center of the town. There was a Russian grammar school in the town, and Jewish children also studied there. Jewish and other children got along so well that Jewish children even were invited to parties in the mansion of a Russian landlord on the outskirts of the town.