Tag #155999 - Interview #94776 (Grigoriy Stelmakh)

My father’s life story is quite interesting. He was the product of his epoch. He was born in 1912. He went to cheder like all Jewish boys and then finished a Jewish school. And then… I would say he was drawn in with the ‘wheel of history’. The revolutionary outburst had its impact on children: Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and Jewish boys and girls had gatherings and marched across the town with slogans and banners in support of the soviet power and Lenin [5] calling to refuse from religion: ‘Away with rabbis and priests’. There were many religious people in Khmelnik and my religious grandfather was ashamed of meeting eyes with other respectable people in the town when his son propagated such slogans. My grandfather beat my father many times for sound reasons. He was not allowed to leave the house and tied inside. These contradictions developed into a conflict between my father and religious grandfather and as a result, my father left his home at the age of 14. He headed to Kamenets-Podolskiy, 100 km west of his home where he joined Komsomol [6]. He became a Komsomol activist. Komsomol sent him to the Kiev region where he was involved in various Komsomol activities: struggle against kulaks [7], organization of kolkhozes and Komsomol units in towns. By the age of 20 he already joined the Communist Party.