In the 1970s many Jews were leaving the Soviet Union. My mother sympathized with them and used to say that she wouldn't mind moving either, but my father was strictly against it. One could see in his eyes that he believed all these people betrayed their motherland and communist ideals. Besides, he would have never been allowed to leave the country. He dealt with sensitive information at his work. He lectured on the coding of radiograms at the KGB intelligence department. When my mother's sister Alexandra moved to the US my father shouted that she was a traitor and he didn't even want to hear her name. But she wrote letters to us, and he read these letters with great interest. He also listened to Western radio, especially programs about Israel.
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Major events (political and historical)
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Holocaust
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Displaying 11071 - 11100 of 50826 results
evgenia shapiro
During the Yom Kippur War [11] in 1973 my parents were stuck to their radio and very concerned about the situation.
We didn't observe any Jewish traditions. My parents were devoted communists and everything about religion seemed to be a vestige of the past to them, but my mother and father often talked in Yiddish.
My parents arranged parties at home on Soviet holidays. Most of their friends were Jews. They discussed quite a few Jewish issues like the departure of Jews from the Soviet Union, anti-Semitism and the situation in Israel. There were no religious Jews among their friends. They were all Soviet people and many of them were members of the Communist Party.
I was an engineer at a construction company in Kiev. I was responsible for the selection and preparation of sites for housing construction.
For ten years I went to work in Nefteyugansk [3,000 km from Kiev]. My daughter stayed with my parents in Kiev. Engineers and workers had an opportunity to get a job in the North where salaries and wages were higher due to the severe climate and work conditions. It was also difficult to cope with the hardships of life there because of the polar night that lasts half a year and when there is no sun. People signed contracts for several years to make a significant amount of money. There were oil deposit developments and construction sites in the North. So, work in the North was better paid, and I wanted to earn a little before my retirement. I had the time of my life in the North. I worked with nice people. We were a great team. I lived in a room with a fridge and a TV. We celebrated holidays and birthdays together. We flew a helicopter to pick mushrooms. We put on our rubber boots and anti- mosquito nets and went to pick red bilberries. I enjoyed it very much there. I returned to Kiev in 1984 when my daughter decided to get married. I still keep in touch with my former colleagues from Nefteyugansk.
My father retired from the army in 1959. He got a job as a senior engineer at the equipment department in Montazhspetsstroy. This company was involved in the preparation of construction sites. My father worked there until 1994 when he turned 86.
In the early 1990s, when Jewish life in Ukraine began to revive, my father used to watch TV programs about Israel. He said that he might have done well if he had moved to Israel. We discussed departure but my father kept saying that he couldn't leave his wife's grave.
We subscribed to Jewish newspapers and went to Jewish concerts. My father said that he would have attended the Jewish community, but that he was too old for any activities of this kind. He was 90.
In his last days he only spoke Yiddish. We couldn't understand what he wanted, but he didn't say a single word in Russian during the last week of his life. A few days before he died he began to sing prayers. My father died at the beginning of 2001. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Kiev.
My sister, Margarita, finished secondary school in Kiev and graduated from the Construction Institute in Rovno.
She worked as construction engineer in design institutes in Kiev for many years.
Her husband, Andrei Gurin, isn't a Jew. They have two sons: Alexei and Anton. They all moved to Germany in 1997. They live in Berlin.
My daughter Tatiana finished secondary school in Kiev and graduated from the Construction Institute in Kiev.
She is a construction engineer and works at a design institute.
Anna is finishing school now and Yuri studies at the Faculty of Biology at Kiev State University.
I am very pleased that Jewish life has revived in Ukraine. I don't take part in it, as I'm very busy at home taking care of the housework and looking after my grandchildren. But I always enjoy going to a concert of Jewish music or some other performances. I receive food packages from Hesed.
We won't move to Israel. My daughter wouldn't be able to find a decent job there. Besides, she isn't very good at languages and wouldn't be able to learn Hebrew. My grandchildren also want to live and study in their hometown.
In 1941, when the Great Patriotic War [7] began, we were evacuated to Evgaschino village in Siberia. We were evacuated from the Far East because the headquarters of the armed forces in the Far East were concerned about a possible attack by the Japanese army. My father served in the unit that was receiving reports from Richard Zorge [8], a legendary Soviet intelligence officer. They were all deciphered in Moscow. When they received information that the Japanese weren't planning any military actions they ordered us to return to the military unit.
Until July 1943 my father was a military commissar of the radio unit of the Far East front, and later he became head of this unit. He was the only Jewish head of the communications unit in the Red Army. My father had organizational skills and was a professional.
In 1942 the Eastern front headquarters transferred my father to the position of a commander of the communications battalion in Saratov. My mother and I followed him, but children weren't allowed to be with their parents during the war. I remember hiding in a bag. Other children were also transported in bags. When the train was inspected by the conductor's crew its passengers pretended they were having a snack on 'sacks full of potatoes'. I believe the head of the crew knew that there were children in those sacks, but he never made any comments in this regard.
In 1944 my father went to the front.
In 1942 the Eastern front headquarters transferred my father to the position of a commander of the communications battalion in Saratov. My mother and I followed him, but children weren't allowed to be with their parents during the war. I remember hiding in a bag. Other children were also transported in bags. When the train was inspected by the conductor's crew its passengers pretended they were having a snack on 'sacks full of potatoes'. I believe the head of the crew knew that there were children in those sacks, but he never made any comments in this regard.
In 1944 my father went to the front.
We stayed in Saratov. My mother was a typist in a military unit. We lived in a small room in a barrack with two beds, a table and a couple of chairs. We didn't have any personal belongings - it was all army property. My mother received food packages, and I don't remember any lack of food.
I went to school in Saratov, but I don't have many memories about it. There was no anti-Semitism. I got along well with my teachers and schoolmates. Children went to the hospital after classes to help patients write letters to their families or fetch them water. I also went to the hospital. Nurses put me on a stool and told me to sing to patients. I sang popular romances by Izabella Yurieva and Claudia Shulzhenko. [Both of them were Russian pop singers and People's Artist of the USSR.] The patients enjoyed my singing and applauded me.
In 1944, when Kharkov was liberated, my father got an assignment to form a military unit in Kharkov. My mother and I followed him to Kharkov.
At the end of 1944 my father got an assignment in Kiev for half a year, and from there he was sent to be commander of the battalion in Ploiesti, Romania.
At the end of 1944 my father got an assignment in Kiev for half a year, and from there he was sent to be commander of the battalion in Ploiesti, Romania.
My most vivid memory from our short stay in Kiev is the march of German captives along the streets of Kiev. They were dirty and shabby, these people. They could hardly walk and supported one another. A street- cleaning vehicle followed them, washing the streets.
When my father left for Romania my mother and I moved to Lvov. Families of the military weren't allowed to stay at military units located abroad. We lived in a room in a communal apartment in the center of town. It belonged to a military unit, and our neighbors were families of military. Within a few months all Polish inhabitants of the town were allowed to leave for Poland, and we received a three-bedroom apartment with luxurious furniture, all kinds of utensils and a grand piano from its former tenants. When we entered this apartment for the first time my mother slid down to the floor, overwhelmed by the luxury of it.
Rifka Vostrel
Jewish religion and religions in general don't have an impact on our daily lives. My sister and I are both atheists. We are aware of our roots and are very proud of them, but don't practice religion. Our children and grandchildren know that they have Jewish mothers and grandmothers, but how they live is their own choice. We told them the truth about their origin and they can do with that whatever they want to!
Croatia
After Dr. Gruner, who was a cantor, died, my father took over his duties. He became a 'non professional' cantor because he wasn't educated in schools. On the contrary, everything he knew he had learnt in his parents' home. In the community, every holiday was celebrated and it was my father who led the ceremonies.
Sometimes even rabbis from abroad came and celebrated holidays with us. Since we are Sephardim my father read the prayers in Ladino. He didn't only lead the holiday celebrations but did everything else that was required, such as burials and the like.
When Rabbi Menahem Romano from Sarajevo died, he used to go there and help out in the community. Unfortunately, my parents died very young. My mother died when she was only 60 years old and my father at the age of 69. They were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Zagreb.
Jewish life after the war was very active. It's not true that communism forbade us to attend services or celebrate holidays. Many people came to the community to socialize.
Sometimes even rabbis from abroad came and celebrated holidays with us. Since we are Sephardim my father read the prayers in Ladino. He didn't only lead the holiday celebrations but did everything else that was required, such as burials and the like.
When Rabbi Menahem Romano from Sarajevo died, he used to go there and help out in the community. Unfortunately, my parents died very young. My mother died when she was only 60 years old and my father at the age of 69. They were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Zagreb.
Jewish life after the war was very active. It's not true that communism forbade us to attend services or celebrate holidays. Many people came to the community to socialize.
In El-Shatt I finished my 3rd grade of high school. Every Sabbath my father held a service in one part of our tent. We celebrated every holiday there. That's how we lived in El-Shatt for 14 months.
We found out that the war was over in the night of 9th May 1945. We all came out of our tents and celebrated the end of the war. We were very excited and impatient to return to Yugoslavia. The return was organized in groups. We came back in July 1945. A new life, and lifestyle, reconstruction, hope and enthusiasm in a free homeland was about to start.
We found out that the war was over in the night of 9th May 1945. We all came out of our tents and celebrated the end of the war. We were very excited and impatient to return to Yugoslavia. The return was organized in groups. We came back in July 1945. A new life, and lifestyle, reconstruction, hope and enthusiasm in a free homeland was about to start.