My father, Itshok Berznitskiy, was born in Veisiejai in 1880. He studied the Torah and the Talmud in cheder. He was also taught prayers in Hebrew. Apart from cheder, Father also went to the Jewish elementary school. It was common for Jewish people to get married at a young age. My parents got married in 1900, when they were twenty. I was never told about their wedding. It goes without saying that they had a traditional Jewish wedding – under a chuppah in the only synagogue of the town. The wedding party was arranged in the house of Grandfather Velvl, on the bank of the lake.
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Displaying 43861 - 43890 of 50826 results
Shahne Berznitskiy
Father often marked Sabbath and holidays with his fellow-smiths. They got together for lunch and went to the chestnut alley on the square, not far from the cathedral, and sang old Jewish and modern Bund [3] songs. I went there with my mother and brothers. Mother crooned with father and I listened. I still remember one of those songs [the interviewee is singing in Yiddish and translating into Russian]: ‘The smith is standing by the furnace, doing his work. The sparkles are flying around. He is thinking of a bright future. Life shall be good. He is gleaming with perspiration, but he does not feel sweat streaming down his forehead and eyes – he is singing a song about a bright life.
The Great Patriotic War was like a bolt from the blue for us as well as Soviet citizens. I understood that Jews and communists were to leave for the rear as soon as possible, as it was well-known that fascists exterminated them in the first place. On the first day of war a party activist from Marijampole came to Рrienai and ordered everybody to stay in order to resist the enemy. Our party organization was at a loss. We went to the commandant’s office to find out how dangerous it was. The private of the Soviet army stood sentry. It turned out that he was guarding an empty building. The military commandant of the town had already left towards the East. We decided to escape. We had been walking for a long time, when we saw a train ready to depart in one of the stations. A crew of workers was repairing it. I saw a soldier, who had died from the fragment of a shell, by the train station premises. Soon the train was repaired. We took a locomotive that was eastbound. We were on the road for quite a long time. We were bombed on our way. We changed trains in Belarus and went further on. I knew nothing of my siblings, mother and grandmother Mihle.
The four of us were admitted to the division. Here I met many of my acquaintances from Kaunas and none of them knew anything about the fate of my kin. Our division was formed within a couple of months. The first battle I participated in was the Kursk battle [13]. It was a dreadful battle. I was there as a private. Many soldiers were killed in action. There were many of my pals and friends. I was unscathed. After that battle I was promoted to the rank of sergeant. Shortly after the battle I was called to the commander of the unit. It turned out that they had found out from my records that I was a baker, and they sent me to the regiment bakery.
, Russia
Sometimes it was raining cats and dogs, we were being bombed, but still we had to go on with work. Thus I remained a baker in the First Baltic Front [14] till the end of war. Here I joined the Party deliberately. At that time I believed in the ideals of communism and wanted to take part in the formation of the most impartial society in my country.
In fall 1943 I was informed at the headquarters, located five kilometers from the bakery, that my brother was awaiting me. I went there without knowing even who of my brothers had found me. It was my favorite younger brother, Iosif. He was still working with the KGB and came to the front as a security guard of the chairman of the Council of Ministers of Lithuania. He decided to visit the militaries of the Lithuanian division. My brother found me with the help of the documents of the division. I was overwhelmed with joy. We were talking for a couple of hours. I found out about the fate of my relatives: It turned out that on the first day of war the wives and children of NKVD [15] officers were sent to the rear. Iosif managed to make evacuation arrangements for the families of our brothers Isroel and Yankel – Golda with little Liza and Charna with little Aaron, who was only a couple of months old. My brothers were not let on the train, as there was an order for all able-bodied men to stay for the defense from the enemy. Fortunately, Mother was on a visit in Kaunas at that time. She was also evacuated. She was alive and healthy. She lived with Charna and the children in Kirov oblast. Golda, Yankel’s wife, died of typhus fever in the first year of war and Mother brought up her granddaughter Liza. Nothing was known about my brothers Yankel and Isroel, my sisters Sheine and Ester and their families, and my grandmother Mihle. In accordance with the data from the NKVD almost all the Jews on occupied territories underwent cruel tortures and were murdered.
In fall 1943 I was informed at the headquarters, located five kilometers from the bakery, that my brother was awaiting me. I went there without knowing even who of my brothers had found me. It was my favorite younger brother, Iosif. He was still working with the KGB and came to the front as a security guard of the chairman of the Council of Ministers of Lithuania. He decided to visit the militaries of the Lithuanian division. My brother found me with the help of the documents of the division. I was overwhelmed with joy. We were talking for a couple of hours. I found out about the fate of my relatives: It turned out that on the first day of war the wives and children of NKVD [15] officers were sent to the rear. Iosif managed to make evacuation arrangements for the families of our brothers Isroel and Yankel – Golda with little Liza and Charna with little Aaron, who was only a couple of months old. My brothers were not let on the train, as there was an order for all able-bodied men to stay for the defense from the enemy. Fortunately, Mother was on a visit in Kaunas at that time. She was also evacuated. She was alive and healthy. She lived with Charna and the children in Kirov oblast. Golda, Yankel’s wife, died of typhus fever in the first year of war and Mother brought up her granddaughter Liza. Nothing was known about my brothers Yankel and Isroel, my sisters Sheine and Ester and their families, and my grandmother Mihle. In accordance with the data from the NKVD almost all the Jews on occupied territories underwent cruel tortures and were murdered.
Samuel Birger
Mother lived by herself in her own apartment. Our room was annexed to publishers and she was evicted. Brothers had left Vilnius by that time after graduation of 7-year school. Mother was still working as a janitor. I found a job rather quickly as I was the candidate to KPSS which was rare in Lithuania. I was hired as a locksmith –assembler by electric welding equipment plant. I did very well. I was raised in my class and made pretty good money. When mother turned 55 I insisted on her retirement. I was admitted to the communist party and again I was offered social work. Soon I became the party officer of the second workshop, where welding machines were produced.
I had worked for publishers since 1951. Here in joined komsomol [16]. In 1951 I was drafted in the army. I served in Siberian city Omsk [3500 km from Vilnius] in communications squad. First it was very complicated. It was the time of anti-Semitist campaigns, when Jews were blamed in treason and cosmopolitanism. Common soldiers were not thinking who was right or wrong and I personally felt what anti-Semitism was about. There were cases when I was rudely called ‘zhyd’ [kike]. Clever people helped me out. Headquarters commander of our regiment and political officers were Jews. They involved me in komsomol work. I was assigned secretary of komsomol organization of the battalion and it was a rather important position. Since that time all cavils regarding my nationality stopped. In March 1953 we were maneuvering in the field, we found out about Stalin’s death. Maneuvering was cancelled. We got on the trucks and went to Omsk. During the mourning period we took turns in the sentry by the leader’s portrait. Another splash of anti-Semitism in our regiment took place when Beriya [17] was dismissed from his position and arrested. Our soldiers did not know that he was a Georgian but they thought he was a Jew judging by his last name. Again there were talks that Jews were guilty of everything. My patrons - headquarters commander and political officer suggested that I should join Communist Party. They sent me to the party school of the division. Upon finishing it I became the candidate to the Communist Party. I had a lot of work to do- I was in charge of the paper, had discussions with the soldiers about politics of the party and Soviet government. I was promoted in rank. In 1954 I was demobilized from the army as a first class private.
When we were left without the bread-winner, aunt Leya was helping us out a lot. Her husband Moishe came back from the front with impaired stomach. When Leya found a job, she took her children from the orphanage. The biggest tragedy of the family was that son Rahmil could not forgive his mother for leaving him and his sister in the orphanage. He thought that it would have been better to share the last slice of bread, and stay with mother. Rahmil could not live in the family and left for studies in Kaliningrad. There he served in the army and after demobilization started living on his own. Etka lived with her parents. In 1949 Moishe was arrested when anti-Semitist state campaigns commenced [Campaign against ‘cosmopolitans’] [14]. He was sentenced to 10 years in camps in accordance with the political article 58 of Civil Code of USSR [It was provided by this article the any action directed against upheaval, shattering and weakening of the power of the working and peasant class should be punished] – and nobody explained what he did wrong. There was no trial, he merely was arrested and that was it. After husband’s arrest aunt Leya lived modestly by herself. There was nothing she could help us with. Moishe came back home after Stalin’s death, when unfairly condemned were released. In 1956 he was rehabilitated [15]. His health was completely undermined and Moishe died in 1959. Aunt Leya survived him by eight years and died in 1967. She was buried next to my father in Jewish cemetery of Vilnius in accordance with the Jewish rites. Her children Rahmil and Etka are currently living with their families in Israel. They have grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Life was hard on us. Father was the only bread-winner. She worked as a loader. He carried heavy rolls of paper and print samples to the publisher. In the period of 1946-47 bread and primary goods were sold by food cards. We had to stand in the line at night in order to get the products by cards- the way it was in military years. Once, our food card was stolen and we had been starving for entire week. I went to study. It was even harder for me than in pre-war period as I was an overage. In 1948 our family was stuck by a sorrow. Father’s heart, being troubled by a hard physical labor, suddenly stopped. Father was buried in summer 1948 at the age of 48. It was a Jewish funeral with all Jewish rites being observed. He was carried to the cemetery on the boards and shivah was observed at home. When the mourning was over, it was decided by our family that I had to work as I was the oldest brother in the family and so-to-say the only bread-winner. I became apprentice of the printer and soon started working independently. I worked on platen, where rather high skills were required. I set printing mould, evened it and followed the quality of printing. I liked my job. Unlike my school I felt confident there. Mother also had to look for a job. She started working as a janitor in a bar by train station.
In early 1946 mother and I finally got a permit, took the train and went home. We went on an ordinary passenger train, in an open-plan carriage. After several years of deprivation that trip seemed a holiday top me. We had spent the whole day in Moscow as we had to change trains there. I was impressed by the capital. I had never seen such a huge city before. Father met us in Vilnius. It did not take my parents long to make a decision to stay in Vilnius. Nobody wanted to go to Jonava as there were practically no Jews. We were not willing to walk along the streets imbibed with the blood of our kin. Almost all surviving Jonava Jews, or those ones who returned from the front and evacuation settled either in Vilnius or Kaunas. We had stayed in the synagogue for couple of days. Here all new-coming Jews came over. We settled in one of empty apartments, but hardly had we stayed there for couple of days and we were evicted. It was a large apartment in downtown area. Some sort of organization took it for its office premises. At night a ceiling fell in another apartment we were told to move in. At last we were provided with the room at Russo street (it was previously called Russkaya). Half of the house was taken by publishes. Our room was not heated. There was a large round iron stove in the room and we stoked it with firewood. The five of us settled in that room - mother, father, father, I and two my brothers. Aunt Vera was offered a job of a house-keeper by roentgenologist Shneider. She settled in his house. His wife was a dentist. Vera did all house chores and took care of children. Vera and I were happy as those were the years of hunger and every exra ‘mouth’ in the family was a burden.
Finally my younger brothers and I went to school in town Bavly. All of us- 7-year old Gershko, 10-year old Natan and at the age of twelve went to the first grade. Subjects were taught in Tartar and I learnt the language very well. Life gradually was getting better. But in spring 1944 father was called in the military enlistment office. This time he was drafted in Lithuanian division 16. Mother and I stayed in Bavly. During his service in that division father took part in liberation Vilnius, Lithuania. When the war was over, he had stayed in the army for couple of more months. We dreamt to come back home. We were supposed to have an invitation letter in order to come in Lithuania. When father was demobilized from the army he settled in Vilnius and sent us an invitation.
,
1945
See text in interview
We had stayed in a village for a year. In spring 1943 Leya fell from the horse and injured her leg. She had stayed in the hospital for a long time. When she recouped, she insisted on our moving to town Bavly, 30 kilometers away from our village. We rented a room from Tartars. They treated us good. More modern and educated people lived there. It was not important for them which religion people were professing. Mother and aunt were offered a job in some workshop. In summer 1943 father managed to find us. He had worked on some sort of construction site out of Moscow. Due to his health he was sent in the rear. We were so happy that father was again with us. He found a job at some workshop as a guard. At nights I came to my dad. We fell asleep at large cutting tables. That year, 1943 aunt Leya found her children. As it turned out they were saved by Jonava inhabitants. They took them away from burning town and then gave them to the Lithuanian orphanage in village Konstantinovo, Kirov oblast. Aunt Leya left for her children. She decided not to take them from the orphanage as they might have died by hunger. Leya found a job in a village not far from orphanage and came to see her kids rather often.
Aunt Leya also moved in our place. She was not only literate, but also had a more robust health and stamina. Leya went to work in timber rafting. She worked with men. In summer I also started working- herding kolkhoz cattle. I knew how to ride since childhood and it was easy to take a horse and ride along the pasture. The chairman of kolkhoz was very pleased with me and gave me trudodni [13]. In summer I was involved in harvesting. I tilled the land on tractor. I did not go to school in that village either because there was no school at all, or because I had other things to worry about- earn my bread and butter. We did not know anything about father at that time and thought that he was not alive. Mornings and evenings through mother had been praying about him. On Yom-Kippur she and the aunts fasted in spite of the fact that by the vissicitude of fate our life turned into a long fasting.
In spring 1942 aunt Leya Adashkene came to us without preliminary notice. Her husband Moishe was drafted in the newly formed Lithuanian division # 16 [12]. Leya managed to find us somehow. It was a joy mixed with bitterness. Leya told us about their way to evacuation. She said that the six of them – she, her husband, their son Rahmil, daughter Etka and grandmother Shifra left Jonava couple of hours later than we did. The sixth was a baby, who was couple of weeks old. Leya gave birth to her youngest son in May 1941. They were fiercely bombed on their way and they hid in one of the houses. That building was hit by a shell and everybody who was there scattered from the building. I cannot get how it could have happened that during terrible bombing and panic they lost each other – Leya lost her husband Moishe, Rahmil and Etka. The baby was killed at once and wounded grandmother Shifra was on the brink of death in the devastated house –her legs were torn from blast. Leya frantically was running around the town in flames. She found Moishe but she could not see children. They went farther and settled somewhere in Gorky oblast. As soon as Moishe found out about reforming of Lithuanian division in December 1941, he left there. Leya had been looking for her children and kin for a long time and finally she found out about us from some of her acquaintances. She thought we were the only ones out of her family who survived.
All fugitives, who got off the train, took trucks. We were taken to village Zavolgiye . All evacuees were housed in barracks and offered jobs. There was a large brick plant in nearby village. Mother and aunt Vera went to work at the plant. Aunt Vera molded bricks- shoveled heavy clay paste in the mould. When the clay got hard, it was fired in the furnace. My mother stood behind the furnace and put the bricks on special trays on trolleys. It was a hard work. Neither mother nor Vera was involved in hard physical labor before war. Brother and I remained in the barrack. At nights, when mother and auntie worked in night shifts, I was scared off by huge rats running in the field and tired people, who had been clattering with big sticks on the floor. In the afternoon I walked around the village and asked for food. In general Tartars had an attitude towards Jews, but they were sorry for children. I, being incapable of studying in my native town, rather quickly learnt how to ask for certain things in Russian and Tartar. I had a flaxen sack, in which I brought my catch- chumps of bread, spuds, sometimes apple and. Mother and aunt received food cards [11]. Just 200 grams of halfdone rye bread was given for children and grandmother, so we were constantly being starving. In late 1941 grandmother Haya died by hunger. Her health was also ruined by maladies and yearn for grandfather. As usual on that day I walked around the village and when I came back in the barrack Haya’s body was cold. Having never seen cadavers, I felt no fear or pity. By that time all my senses had become numb due to constant famish. Mother and aunt Vera buried grandmother themselves and read kaddish over her body. They dug a grave outside the village and brought grandmother’s body covered in a sheet, buried her and put a heavy stone on her grave. They tried their best. Tartars, who were Muslims, refused from burying a Jew. Mother used to pray a lot here in those hard conditions. There was no way we could think of traditions as the most important was to survive. Sometimes Jewish women got together and prayed for their loved ones and children.
The town was rather calm as there was no bombing. We were told to go to the train station, where the train with refugees was about to leave. We got on ordinary passenger car, which was cram full with people. In half an hour there was a raid of fascist planes and the car which seemed chock-a-block, was additionally packed with local dwellers, who also decided to leave. The train headed towards east. In a while we had to change the trains and took goods car as our car was overcrowded and there was more space in goods car. We were on the road for a long time. At the stations father and uncle got off the car to bring some boiled water. Sometimes they brought some yucky gruel, which was cooked for fugitives. Couple of time we were given rye bread and big lumps of sugar. I hunkered for sugar, but mother gave us a tiny peace and hid the rest. The train was often bombed. Again, the way it was during our escape from Jonava, fascists saw that they were bombing peaceful citizens. At the beginning of the raid we rushed from the cars and hid in the nearby bushes. Many people remained motionless after raid. Many people perished. In couple of days mother and grandmother Haya said they did not want to leave the car during bombing- are as it may. Soon there was another unpleasant thing. At one of the stops father was taken by military patrol, which walked along the station. Father was drafted in the labor front [10] and we could hardly say good-bye to him. Uncle Katz stayed with us, he was older, so he was not touched. It took us a bout three weeks to reach Tat aria, having covered the distance of 2000 kilometers. I do not remember the name of a big junction point, where we got off. Uncle Katz and his wife decided to move further to Chuvashia. We decided to stay here.
Moishe Adashkish – aunt Leya’s husband – removed water barrel from fire-fighting machine and the workers made the trailer very swiftly. Leya and her children, grandmother Shifra and Moishe got on that trailer and left as well. Though, they left couple of hours later than we did. We did not know what happened to them until 1942. We joined the flow of refugees. It was a scary scene: whole families with old people and kids went on the carts, or on foot along dusty road. Retreating units of Soviet army went along with us. Refugees were bombed, and the fascist definitely saw that they were bombing peaceful people. The planes flew at a low altitude and shot wretched people from gun at a contour flying. In couple of kilometers our relative- joiner Katz and his wife Rahil joined us. He rescued us as he was very literate, could read geographic maps and could speak Russian. Some Russian officer gave him a map and advised not to be on the bombed road, but to go through a forest. We took back roads to reach Latvia. At one of the stations a Soviet officer stopped us and demanded to give him horses. He explained that horses were needed in the front and took the eight horses which belonged to us. We took goods train along with other refugees. We had covered only 100 kilometers and were told to get off the train. There was a barn right in the middle of the field and we were told to go there. The officer said that the train was to head to the front to evacuate the wounded. He also added that the war would be over in couple of weeks and they would come and get us. We stayed in the barn for couple of days. Uncle Katz and father went to the nearest town. There they found out that German army was 3-4 kilometers away from us. Uncle and father came to get us. We packed quickly and were on the road. In couple of kilometers grandfather Alter sat by the curb of the road and said that he could not walk any longer. Grandfather asked us not to wait for him and go on. He said he would rest for a while and then he would catch up with us. The picture of my grandfather swathed in the blanket, waving goodbye to us, was embossed in my memory for ever. It was the last time I saw my grandfather Alter. We moved on. Uncle was constantly looking at the map. There was all kind of trouble on our way. I caught cold. Father and uncle carried me in hands by turns as I had a fever. My brother Natan got lost. Mother, like insane, had been running along the road until some local woman brought him to us. We walked for about 200 kilometers and reached Russian town Velikiye Luki.
Early morning, on the 22nd of June 1941 father left for Kadeinai with the cargo of 10 cubic meters of forest. Somehow he managed to find out about the outbreak of great patriotic war and made the only right decision he could possibly make under the circumstances. Father unloaded the cargo and turned back home. He told mother and grandmother to pack right away. Father had not doubts- escape from Hitler as Jews would not be spared. Father harnessed three horses and tied two of them on the side to change horses later. Our belongings were loaded on the platform- linen, pillows, blankets, winter clothes, sacks with provision. The four of us sat there- mother, I and two brothers. Father was reining. Grandfather Alter harnesses three of his horses and grandmother Haya and aunt Vera got on his card. We were on the road.
Our life practically remained unchanged. The horses, which were considered the property of cooperative society of cabmen, stayed in our stables and father groomed them they way he used to. I spent almost all the summer with father- helped him load the goods and take them to the villages, procure hay and products. In autumn I went to the first grade of my school. The teaching remained in Ivrit. None of us knew Russian. The second year of studies was hard on me. It was mostly likely incapable.
Town changed when the Soviets came to power. Clever people made an innuendo that father could be repressed for being an owner. Thus father and grandfather Alter entered cooperative society of cabmen and started paying taxes on a regular basis. This way father managed to avoid deportation [9], which was inevitable for many dwellers of the town. It was not that important for Soviet regime whether the family was rich or not. If the host had some sort of the property, it was nationalized and the family was exiled. I remember our neighbors were evicted. They were rich people, the owners of furniture factory. Unfortunately, I do not remember their names. All members of their family-(old people and kids as well) got on the carts . They were taken to the goods station and sent to Siberia.
In June 1940 Soviet army troops came in Lithuania [8]. For about 24 hours Soviet soldiers had been marching across our town. Almost all inhabitants, including me had kept long hours at the bridge across Neris and watched troops moving across Kaunas. There were tanks, planes and infantry. It was mirthful and appealing to us boys, and adults were astir. Though, my parents calmly took Soviet regime. No Soviet troops were positioned in Jonava. They were in the camp in the forest not far from the town. When Soviet soldiers appeared in town, we were running after them begging for starlets from their field caps, which was the most valuable trophy for us. A large screen was installed on the central square, which was renamed Kaunasskaya when the Soviets came. Soviet movies were demonstrated there. Though, I hardly anything understood in Russian, I liked Soviet comedies very much, where happy Soviet life and common working people were depicted.
There was school named after Sholem Aleichem in Jonava [7], where subjects were taught in Yiddish. In 1939 I went to Ivrit pre-school. Frankly speaking it was hard for me to study. Things teachers told were unclear to me. I was really lacking behind as compared to the others, more well-prepared students. There was nobody at home who could help me out. I did not like school and was looking forward to holidays. Summer holidays of 1940 brought changes for the entire Lithuania.
In the evening Jonava inhabitants dressed to the nines and took a walk on Liberty Square. Later the cinema was open there. It was the only amusement for the dwellers of the town. I do not remember whether there was a permanent theatrical troupe in town, but I can recall from childhood that there were theatrical performances. Though, my parents did not attend theater. They were illiterate and rather uncultured. That is why we children were not raised to have a thirst for knowledge. I went to school when I turned eight. Before that I used to play with my brother in the yard, ran along with other boys in the street. The only hobby father could afford was football. He was a very ardent fan of that sport. I remember he took me to the stadium with him when football team of Maccabi [5] came in town. There were sports clubs of Maccabi in Jonava as well, there was also Betar [6]. I do not know whether there were other Zionist organizations in our town. My parents were apolitical. I went to the cinema rather often because my aunt Leya used to work in the cinema as a barmaid and she let me in so that I could watch a movie for free. I enjoyed mute comedies most of all.
I vaguely remember the rest of the holidays. Rosh Hashanah was associated with a lot of deserts. I liked apple with honey. On Yom Kippur parents fasted and spent the whole praying. We, children were not compelled to fast. We took advantage of the absence of parents and ate everything we could at home. I liked Sukkoth. The stands for sukkah were kept in the shed. Father set up those stands in the yard and put fir branches over them. For the whole week we had eaten in sukkah and played in the yard in spite of cold weather. When we felt bored playing in our sukkah, we ran to aunt Leya’s yard and played in her sukkath. I liked to watch singing and dancing Jews carry torah scroll from synagogue on Simchat Torah holiday. The joyous procession went around synagogue and entered it from another entrance located in front of the main one. We, children, were most looking forward to Channukah. We liked to play with spinning top and eat tasty latkes. Mother lit candles in a sconce called channukia, which was on the window-sill. Grandfather Alter gave so-called chanukkah gelt, we were so agog to get. On Purim mother baked hamantashen with poppy. I do not remember anything else regarding this holiday. Maybe there were pageants in rich families and shelakmones were taken to each other. The only thing I remembered was freshly baked poppy rolls and scrumptious meal.
We marked all Jewish holidays. Usually the whole family including grandfather Alter with grandmother Haya, aunt Leya with her family and aunt Vera got together in our large kitchen. I remembered Pesach best of all. We started getting ready for the holiday beforehand. The preparation was thorough. There was a large pot in the middle of the yard over the fire. All dishes- pots, casseroles, pans -were put in it for koshering. There were special Paschal table dishes and silverware. It was a festive set. It was kept on the garret and taken out only before the holiday. In the evening before seder all non-kosher dishes as well as bread and loaves were put in special sacks and taken to the garret so that there was no leavened bread in the house. The children were bought new clothes before the holiday. I remember one funny story in connection with this. Parents bought me new clothes- a suit consisting of velvet pants and jacket, hat and patent leather shoes. My cousin Rahmil and I played ‘war’ game in the yard. During the game I tore my pants when I was climbing down the fence –my pants were caught in the fence and when I was trying to free myself, they got ripped. I decided not to go home. At dusk, I heard worried voices of my parents, who were looking for me in the orchard. I was hiding in the bushes. Of course, father found me very quickly. I was not punished strictly as it was a big holiday and people were supposed to be kind, towards their loved ones and especially to children. There was another Paschal story. This time father had to take a strap. Father was on the cabstand, the place at the end of the street we lived in Jonava, where freight and passenger cabs were parked. Clients came over there to hire a cab. When I was a teenager there was another frollick on Pesach. As a kind of childish protest I climbed to the garret, took a chunk of bread with a piece of sausage and went to the cabstand where my father was working. Having seen me father was in stupor because of my boldness. Then he darted out after me with a whip. Father bore a grudge against me for a long time and could not forgive me that foolish prank. Usually the celebration of Pesach was very ceremonious. Mother, grandmother and aunt Vera cooked a lot of scrumptious dishes. Some of them were made from matzah. There were also chicken broth, chicken stew, fish and deserts- imberlakh and matzah cake. In the first Pascal evening the relatives got together. As a rule aunt Leya with her husband and children came over. There were other relatives as well. Grandfather Alter, clad in festive white shirt and a vest was reclining on the pillows at the head of the table. He carried out seder. Grandpa hid a piece of matzha under pillow. I and other children had fun looking for it. One of the children asked four traditional questions. First I was the one who asked questions, later the youngest was asking them.
We thoroughly got ready for Sabbath. Mother and aunt Vera cleaned apartment, washed floors and polished furniture. Gefilte fish was slowly baked in the oven. It was a traditional Sabbath dish. Grandfather went to the synagogue every day, and father went there on Fridays and Saturdays. He usually put a dressy black suit on, when he went to the synagogue. Grandfather usually wore a kippah, and father wore a cap. Women took care of cooking. We had a huge stove. On Friday mother put cholnt there. It was a large pot with meat, potatoes and beans. Neighbors brought their pots with cholnt to us as we had a large stove. On Friday, when father and grandfather came back from the synagogue, we, dressed up, were sitting at the table, being agog to see them. Mother or grandmother lit the candles. Father read a prayer over bread and wine and the supper started. On Sabbath both parents went to the synagogue. Our neighbors came to us to pick up their cholnts on their way from the synagogue. On that day we were not supposed to work. Usually some of the peasants came to us to stoke the stove, give fodder to the horses and do other necessary work. It was amazing that the peasant who came to us on Sabbath spoke Yiddish to my parents. At that time people of different nationalities got along very well. My father was acquainted with a lot of non-Jews. Russians, Poles and Lithuanians worked for the Jews in the stores, in furniture production and due to that they were fluent in Yiddish. My mother did not speak Russian, but she spoke broken Polish. She did not know Lithuanian either.
Father also took care of provision for family. He often went to the village and brought potatoes, vegetables and beef. When father brought meet mother made it kosher herself. She used board with special notches so that the blood from meet could trickle down. Usually, she bought meet in Jewish stores. One peasant, Old-believer brought us milk and other dairy products. Poultry-chicken, turkeys and geese -were purchased in the market and taken to shochet. Sometimes I went there with my mother. Shochet had a small shed in the yard of synagogue. He swiftly cut fowl’s throat and then hung it over a special tub with the funnel, wherefrom blood trickled down. After that women plucked the poultry in the yard. In our family kashrut rules were strictly observed .
There was joiner’s shop in the frontal part of the building. That premise was rented by a Jewish family, where two brothers dealt with furniture production. There was an orchard in front of the house. There were fruit trees, chestnuts, black currant and gooseberry bushes. The stables of my father and grandfather Alter were in the heart of the orchard. There were five big dray horses in the stables. Grandfather owned three of them. Both grandfather and dad dealt with goods transportation. Father harnessed troika (three horses harnessed abreast) in a large cargo cart with the platform and carried goods. He often went to Kaunas, Kadeinai and other Lithuanian towns. Father made good money. I remember that in the 1930s, when president Smetona was in power [4] my father daily earned 15 litas. It was a lot of money. It was enough for food and family of the family of five, forage for the horse their grooming and for the rent of the house. Father usually gave money to mother and left a small amount for himself for cigarettes as he was a hard-boiled smoker. In summer father procured forage for the horses. When I grew up, I went with father to mow hay. We brought full carts if forage. It was hard to take care of five horses. Sometimes father hired people who groomed horses.
Our family lived in a large house with mother’s parents. It was not our place, we rented two large apartments. Our rooms were to the right from the entrance and grandfather Alter and grandmother Haya lived to the left from us. The landlord of the house was old believer Aleksandrov. Our family occupied two rooms. We, boys, slept in one of them. We had good wooden beds. The youngest Gershko slept in a cradle in the parents’ bedroom – it was a lighter and cozier room. Parents’ large and comfortable bed with a tester was made by Jonava joiners. There was a round table in the middle of the room. There was also a leathern couch, small bookcase with few books. There was nobody to read them as parents were illiterate. Grandfather Alter and grandmother Haya occupied two smaller rooms. One of them was a drawing-room and another narrow one like a pencil – box was their bedroom. The most spacious was the kitchen of 50 square meters. There was a large Russian stove [3] and tables there. There was a large round table in the middle of the kitchen. The whole family dined there on Sabbath and holidays.
My parents got married in 1930. They went under chuppah in the synagogue. They had a wedding party in grandfather Alter’s wedding. There were very many people as newly-weds had common relatives. I was born on the 3rd of March 1931. I was named after my grandfather Samuel Iosif and that name was written in my birth certificate issued by rabbi. In 1933 mother gave birth to a son Natan. The family called him tenderly Notke. In 1936 my brother Gershko was born.