My mother did a major clean up before Pesach. We moved all furniture to clean every corner. We collected all breadcrumbs in a piece of paper. This chametz was burned in the stove. We kept special crockery for Pesach in the attic. My mother did the cooking in advance. There were lines to the shochet before Pesach: women sent their children to the shochet with chicken and geese. Then the skins were removed along with the fat from the poultry. The skin was cut into small pieces and the fat was melted in big cast iron pots. Food was only cooked in this fat. The children had a chore to crush some matzah in a mortar. This flour was sieved. My mother made chicken broth with pieces of matzah. We always had gefilte fish on Sabbath and Jewish holidays. My mother made pudding from crushed matzah mixed with eggs. She also made chicken necks stuffed with fried flour and onions. She baked honey cakes and strudels with jam and raisins. On the first day of Pesach we went to the synagogue in the morning and in the evening my father conducted the seder. Besides other traditional food there was a plate with bitter greeneries, horseradish and a boiled egg on it and a saucer with salty water. We dipped greeneries into salty water before eating it. We knew that in this way we honored our ancestors' exodus from Egyptian slavery. We drank special wine on Pesach, red and very sweet. There were silver glasses for every member of the family and one extra glass for Elijah the Prophet [3]. Everybody had to drink four glasses of wine at seder. Children had water added to their wine. I asked my father the four traditional questions [the mah nishtanah] in Hebrew.
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Displaying 12721 - 12750 of 50826 results
Henrich Zinger
On Sukkot we made a sukkah in our yard. The roof was made from corn stems. We decorated the sukkah with ribbons and flowers, put a table inside and had meals in it throughout the holiday.
Before Rosh Hashanah the shofar played after the morning prayer for the whole month of Tishri and Elul at the synagogue. On the eve of the holiday Jews had to offer an apology to those they hurt even if the hurt was unintentional. On Rosh Hashanah my father put on a white shirt and went to the synagogue with my mother. It was mandatory to wear white clothes. When we grew up we also went to the synagogue with our parents. My father had a special prayer book for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. My mother cooked traditional Jewish food: chicken, chicken broth and gefilte fish. We ate apples dipping them in honey and my mother explained that we did this to express our hope for a year full of sweetness ahead.
The family, including children of over five years of age, fasted on Yom Kippur. The kapores ritual was conducted before Yom Kippur. My mother and sister took a white hen in their right hand and my father, my brother and I took a white rooster, said a prayer and waved them over our heads saying in Hebrew, 'May you be my atonement'. We went to the synagogue. Prayers were long on Yom Kippur and when we returned from the synagogue we sat down at the table. After the 24-hour fast all food seemed particularly delicious.
There were the joyful holidays of Chanukkah and Purim. On Chanukkah children received Chanukkah gelt and painted wooden spinning tops. We spent our Chanukkah money on sweets. We played with spinning tops with other children. There were four Hebrew letters, one on each side of the tops, which stood for the words: 'nes', 'gadol', 'haya, 'po', which means 'a great miracle was here'. Every letter had its price. The letter 'nun', which was the first letter in the word 'nes', was the most expensive. Whose spinning top fell on the letter 'nun' took all stakes: candy wrappings, buttons and colorful pieces of glass.
On Purim my mother made hamantashen. There was a custom to take gifts of food to relatives and acquaintances. It was called shelakhmones. All kinds of sweets were put on a tray, covered with a napkin, and children went to deliver the shelakhmones. In the morning of the first day of Purim my father read the Scroll of Esther to us. Purimshpilers disguised as characters from the Scroll of Esther came to perform in Jewish houses. They were usually children of ten to twelve years of age. They were given money or sweets for their performances. I didn't take part in such performances since I was a shy boy.
There were two cheders in Velikiy Berezny: one for boys and one for girls. Girls studied fewer subjects than boys, but they learned everything a Jewish woman should know: to pray and read in Hebrew. Girls went to cheder at the age of five or six - I can't remember exactly - and studied there for a year. Boys went to cheder at the age of three. We had a melamed teaching us, and his assistant helped him to take care of younger children's needs: he gave us food, took us to the toilet, etc. At the age of four we studied the alphabet and reading in Hebrew since we had previously learned words. We also studied Yiddish, learned to read and write, studied Jewish history, traditions and religion. After finishing cheder at the age of seven we went to a general school.
There was no Jewish school in Velikiy Berezny. We went to the eight- year Ukrainian school. My sister Helena and my brother Leopold also went to this school. Boys and girls studied together. There were many Jewish children in this school and there were also Ukrainian and Hungarian ones. There was no anti-Semitism. We used to fight or argue, but there were never any conflicts about nationality issues. I had Jewish and non-Jewish friends. I studied well at school. I was good at all subjects.
When I turned 13 my parents arranged for a bar mitzvah and from then on I was considered to be of age. On Saturday during my bar mitzvah I was told to come to the Torah for the first time in my life. I recited a prayer. The first tallit in my life was put on me. In the evening my parents arranged a dinner party and invited our relatives and friends. I remember that my younger brother felt very jealous about it since I was treated as an adult.
I finished school at the age of 14. My parents offered to send me to study at a garment factory in Czechoslovakia. There was a Zionist organization that organized training for teenagers helping them to get a profession and then go to Palestine. The Zborovitz garment factory belonged to this organization. I don't remember in what town this factory was located. There were other children from Velikiy Berezny and from other towns of Subcarpathia in the factory. We lived in a big building, ten to twelve tenants in one room. There was a canteen downstairs where we had kosher food. We had festive meals on Sabbath and Jewish holidays. We celebrated Sabbath on Friday evening and on Saturday we had a day off. We observed Jewish traditions and laws. We were trained to operate equipment at the factory and studied Hebrew and Yiddish. I worked for two years at the factory. I enjoyed my life there very much. I returned from Czechoslovakia in 1930 and my father sent me for training with a tailor.
I returned from Czechoslovakia in 1930 and my father sent me for training with a tailor. I studied there for three years. Of course, the training itself didn't take that long, but apprentices used to help their master's wife about the house, too. They fetched water, looked after the children and did what they were told to do.
After finishing my training I began to work at my master's shop. I was a fabric-cutter.
After finishing my training I began to work at my master's shop. I was a fabric-cutter.
My best friend was a barber in the village. He wasn't a Jew. He was a very nice person. We didn't care about nationality then. What mattered was whether a person was decent and honest.
My sister Helena got married in 1934. She had a traditional Jewish wedding with a rabbi and a chuppah in Velikiy Berezny. My father bought a house in Uzhgorod for the newly-weds.
My younger brother finished school and I began to teach him to be a tailor.
In 1936 I was recruited to the Czech army. I served in an infantry unit in Czechoslovakia. We had military and sport training and studied theory. There were rooms in the barracks, eight to ten tenants in each room. There were beds, tables and chairs, bookshelves and wardrobes in each room. There was a library in our unit and we could read in our spare time. We celebrated the religious holidays of all religions: Jewish, Catholic and Christian, every confession had its holidays. On Jewish holidays Jewish soldiers were invited to the synagogue where festive dinners of traditional Jewish food were arranged for them. Local Jewish families often invited Jewish soldiers to their homes on Sabbath and Jewish holidays. Matzah was delivered for the Jews from the synagogue on Pesach and for Christians Easter bread was made at Easter. The soldiers were allowed to go to the synagogue or church.
We didn't follow the kashrut, but I managed to observe all other Jewish laws. Every morning I put on my tallit and recited a prayer, and on Sabbath and Jewish holidays I went to the synagogue. Religiosity was appreciated. My fellow comrades were of various nationalities. There was one other Jewish soldier. There were Czechs and Hungarians. We never had any conflicts related to our nationality. Officers had a friendly attitude toward young soldiers. There were no brutal attitudes, nothing like what is happening in the Ukrainian army nowadays. We were like a team staying close together.
I returned home in 1939.
We didn't follow the kashrut, but I managed to observe all other Jewish laws. Every morning I put on my tallit and recited a prayer, and on Sabbath and Jewish holidays I went to the synagogue. Religiosity was appreciated. My fellow comrades were of various nationalities. There was one other Jewish soldier. There were Czechs and Hungarians. We never had any conflicts related to our nationality. Officers had a friendly attitude toward young soldiers. There were no brutal attitudes, nothing like what is happening in the Ukrainian army nowadays. We were like a team staying close together.
I returned home in 1939.
I returned home in 1939. Subcarpathia belonged to Hungary since 1938. The Hungary of this time was different from the Hungary where my parents lived when they were young. This was a fascist Hungary. There was a war in Poland and the Germans were killing Polish Jews. There were many refugees from Poland. Hungary declared itself an ally of Hitler's Germany. The oppression of Jews in Hungary began. A number of anti-Jewish laws [4] were issued. Jews weren't allowed to own enterprises or stores. They had to give them voluntarily into non-Jewish ownership or they became property of the state. Then Hungarian passports were introduced. All Jews had to prove that they were born in Hungary or they were subject to deportation. I don't know where they were deported. Passports were issued in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. To go there was expensive. Jews had no right to hold official posts. Life became much more difficult.
In 1939 Germany began World War II. Hungary was an ally of Germany during the war. Mobilization to the Hungarian army began. In 1941 Germany attacked the USSR [this was the beginning of the so-called Great Patriotic War] [5] and I was mobilized to a forced labor battalion in the army. At the beginning we had German commanders that were later replaced by Hungarians. We were sent to excavate trenches along the Don River in the USSR [Don is a big river in Central Russia]. Hungarian officers were commanders of the Don front. They behaved brutally. We were ordered to do all kinds of hard work. We had no right to refuse and they shot people for disobedience. Our task was making trenches. All roads were covered with snow and we had to clean the snow for the army troops. Frosts were so severe in January - February 1942 that people froze to death within a few minutes if they fell down. We were given spades and if someone dropped his spade he died. There was a strong wind blowing and it was only possible to walk with a spade. I had a woolen mask that my sister had knitted to cover my head and face. There were only Jews recruited to labor battalions. There were about 1,000 Jews in our unit. I don't know how many survived, but I don't think there were many survivors. I believe, about 1%. Besides inhuman work conditions Jews were shot by Russians while they didn't have any weapons to defend themselves.
In February 1942 our battalion was attacked by the Soviet troops. The Hungarian military ran away. There were nine of us left and we were wandering about not knowing in what direction to go. We bumped into a house at the border of a forest with a kitchen where they cooked meals for Hungarian soldiers. We asked them if they wanted to hire us in exchange for food. We had to chop wood and peel potatoes. Soldiers got some black coffee and rum or cognac to cheer up before combat action. We also got some coffee or rum occasionally. Regretfully, we didn't stay there long. One night some drunken German officers broke into the room where we slept. They yelled, 'Wake up, communists!'. They thought that all Jews were communists for some reason. We couldn't understand what it was all about when we were told to get dressed, take our rucksacks with our belongings and go to the kitchen. When we came there the food stock supervisor began to yell at us, 'You, dirty Jews, communists, drank the cognac and rum that our soldiers need so much!' It was the Germans that drank it, but they blamed us. The officers began to beat us. I bowed down protecting my head and they kept hitting me on my rucksack. They wouldn't have been held responsible if they had killed us. When they got too tired they told us to go into the yard.
The snow around was so deep that we couldn't run away. We were lying in the snow. When we pulled ourselves together we moved on. We were looking for our fellow comrades. We couldn't speak Russian. I spoke Ruthenian, but this was the dialect of Ukrainian hutsul people, the language that we spoke in the village. We finally found our headquarters and were sent back to work. We did the hardest work, but we didn't have a choice. There was no escape from there. People got shot for attempting to run away. So, we would have been shot by the Hungarian, German or Russian military if we had tried to escape and were captured.
In February 1942 our battalion was attacked by the Soviet troops. The Hungarian military ran away. There were nine of us left and we were wandering about not knowing in what direction to go. We bumped into a house at the border of a forest with a kitchen where they cooked meals for Hungarian soldiers. We asked them if they wanted to hire us in exchange for food. We had to chop wood and peel potatoes. Soldiers got some black coffee and rum or cognac to cheer up before combat action. We also got some coffee or rum occasionally. Regretfully, we didn't stay there long. One night some drunken German officers broke into the room where we slept. They yelled, 'Wake up, communists!'. They thought that all Jews were communists for some reason. We couldn't understand what it was all about when we were told to get dressed, take our rucksacks with our belongings and go to the kitchen. When we came there the food stock supervisor began to yell at us, 'You, dirty Jews, communists, drank the cognac and rum that our soldiers need so much!' It was the Germans that drank it, but they blamed us. The officers began to beat us. I bowed down protecting my head and they kept hitting me on my rucksack. They wouldn't have been held responsible if they had killed us. When they got too tired they told us to go into the yard.
The snow around was so deep that we couldn't run away. We were lying in the snow. When we pulled ourselves together we moved on. We were looking for our fellow comrades. We couldn't speak Russian. I spoke Ruthenian, but this was the dialect of Ukrainian hutsul people, the language that we spoke in the village. We finally found our headquarters and were sent back to work. We did the hardest work, but we didn't have a choice. There was no escape from there. People got shot for attempting to run away. So, we would have been shot by the Hungarian, German or Russian military if we had tried to escape and were captured.
Lev Khapun
They lived in friendship and never discussed each other's family matters. My paternal grandfather and grandmother were religious people. Their family observed all holidays and fasts when they occurred. They baked matzah, kept kosher and took poultry to the shochet at the marketplace, it was not allowed otherwise. Everybody went to the carver. One brought him a chicken; he read a prayer, cut the chicken and let the blood flow. There were also women, who later plucked the chicken. No one cut the chicken on his or her own, only with the help of a carver.
Holidays were celebrated by the whole family. Hamantashen, triangles with poppy-seeds, were made for holidays [for Purim]. When everybody gathered at the table, songs were sung; and the men drank wine and plum or sour cherry nalivka. Wine and nalivka are prepared by different methods. For nalivka a big bottle is used, into which sour cherries, or plums, or raspberries or other berries are poured; then sugar is added, but no water. The sugar melts bit-by-bit and liquid appears; its volume increases and nalivka is ready. Wine is produced when the berries are drafted and wine ferments. When nalivka is produced the berries are not drafted.
Holidays were celebrated by the whole family. Hamantashen, triangles with poppy-seeds, were made for holidays [for Purim]. When everybody gathered at the table, songs were sung; and the men drank wine and plum or sour cherry nalivka. Wine and nalivka are prepared by different methods. For nalivka a big bottle is used, into which sour cherries, or plums, or raspberries or other berries are poured; then sugar is added, but no water. The sugar melts bit-by-bit and liquid appears; its volume increases and nalivka is ready. Wine is produced when the berries are drafted and wine ferments. When nalivka is produced the berries are not drafted.
They observed all holidays according to the Jewish tradition. Later they didn't only celebrated Jewish holidays, but also [Soviet] revolutionary ones.
All in all my relatives were superstitious. They believed that if someone was scolded, it would influence his life. And many of them, especially women, were very much afraid to be scolded. There was also a taboo among the Jews: it was prohibited to gossip. Jews have a word called 'mouser' in their language. If a person was given this nickname, everybody started to avoid him. Here's an example: My grandmother had a neighbor. When the Germans came, he, a Jew, became a priest and behaved really badly. He did not assist his fellow countrymen. Everyone was killed, but they didn't touch him. After the war he put on soldier's boots, breeches and a soldier's blouse and walked with ease. No one informed against him. Mouser means the end, a complete boycott on a person. That's why nobody said anything about that traitor.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
Father was taken to the army during the Imperialistic War [WWI]. He didn't want to go to war, but he was a healthy man. However, the conditions were such, that one wasn't accepted to the army in case of absence of teeth. So father went to the dentist and pulled out healthy teeth without anesthesia. But after he had pulled out his teeth, he was nonetheless enrolled for the army. He served in the infantry under Kerensky [2]. He had a picture of himself: so slender, with shoulder straps and a red bow on his chest. The Revolution had already begun, and those who were supporting it wore bows. The Jews were suppressed under the tsar, but Kerensky abolished all prohibitions, the Jewish Pale [3], for instance. That's why father supported him.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
When my father participated in the Civil War [1918-1921], there was no Communist Party in Vinnitsa; there was a trade union. The trade union protected itself from gangs, which consisted of peasants. Why not rob the Jews with impunity? The peasant bandits took carts, stole things and left. People tolerated it for some time, but then they lost all patience. They organized their own guard and began to defend themselves from the gangs. Once they rushed into a village with a weird name, there was Malye Khutora and Bolshiye Khutora, where the bandits came from.
They were in different locations. The townsmen mutilated a lot of people; some were killed. The bandits were punished, because they were rapists, robbers and mutilators. After that event the peasants' banditry stopped, but new gangs were formed: first Petlyura [4] came and then the Poles occupied the territory. A Jew, whose family was killed by Petlyura's gang, later murdered Petlyura. This Jew pursued him and found him in Paris. Petlyura had one minister who was Jewish, it was only a rumor, and I don't know details. We know his descendants, his relatives.
They were in different locations. The townsmen mutilated a lot of people; some were killed. The bandits were punished, because they were rapists, robbers and mutilators. After that event the peasants' banditry stopped, but new gangs were formed: first Petlyura [4] came and then the Poles occupied the territory. A Jew, whose family was killed by Petlyura's gang, later murdered Petlyura. This Jew pursued him and found him in Paris. Petlyura had one minister who was Jewish, it was only a rumor, and I don't know details. We know his descendants, his relatives.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
During the NEP [5] times [1921-1924] my father became a NEP-man and started a cooperative, and relatives joined it. They took a half-dilapidated house near the bridge, repaired it and worked there. They earned some money for their work and it was distributed not according to the contribution of the member, but according to the number of children in his family.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
After the NEP time, my father joined the Communist Party, as it was prestigious, in fashion and convenient at that time. He was a man of principle, didn't change his mind and didn't take bribes.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
After the NEP time, my father joined the Communist Party, as it was prestigious, in fashion and convenient at that time. He was a man of principle, didn't change his mind and didn't take bribes.
When the pogroms began, and after the Soviet Power and other trouble came, many of our relatives emigrated. It was possible to emigrate during the NEP time and after. Several families got together, not only relatives, and left for America. However, when they arrived, they were not let in, embargo was already introduced. So they decided to go to Mexico. Thus five or six families lived and worked in Mexico. Aunt Sonya, Peisya and Clara also went there.
Father also wanted to leave for Mexico, but grandmother didn't want to. She had daughters and she wanted to take them with her, but father said that would be too many people and refused. So they stayed while the others left.
Father also wanted to leave for Mexico, but grandmother didn't want to. She had daughters and she wanted to take them with her, but father said that would be too many people and refused. So they stayed while the others left.
My father was well-off. He owned two houses in Vinnitsa, one of them a two-storey building. He sold the houses for nothing and sent the money to his relatives in Mexico. He also sold the houses because the collectivization started and everything would have been taken away anyway.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
My grandfather on mother's side, Leiba Simkhanovich Gutkin [1885-1918], was a tailor. To be more precise, he was more of an organizer than a tailor. He set up several tailor's workshops in Odessa, which sewed clothes for sale, mostly suits. He was mobilized into the army and fought in the Russian- Japanese war [1904-1905]. He came from Odessa, which means his behavior was rather peculiar. There was a colonel, also from Odessa. My grandfather helped that colonel very much, almost saved his life. The colonel told my grandfather: 'Why are you a Jew, get converted into Russian Orthodoxy, or at least Islam, but don't be a Jew. Then I will make you an officer and you'll be a respected man.'
In order to avoid the conversation, my grandfather told him, 'I'll think about it.' The war ended, he returned to Odessa, and the colonel started to serve at the Odessa garrison. My grandfather found out that he had come back and wanted to pay his respects to the colonel. And the latter told him again, 'I will make you an officer, reject Judaism.' My grandfather didn't. So he told him again, 'We will organize shvanya for you.' Shvanya is a tailor's workshop. Since that man was a colonel, he began to place orders with my grandfather for soldier's uniforms. Thus grandfather became the owner of several workshops.
In order to avoid the conversation, my grandfather told him, 'I'll think about it.' The war ended, he returned to Odessa, and the colonel started to serve at the Odessa garrison. My grandfather found out that he had come back and wanted to pay his respects to the colonel. And the latter told him again, 'I will make you an officer, reject Judaism.' My grandfather didn't. So he told him again, 'We will organize shvanya for you.' Shvanya is a tailor's workshop. Since that man was a colonel, he began to place orders with my grandfather for soldier's uniforms. Thus grandfather became the owner of several workshops.
My grandmother believed in God, but when the collectivization started and non-ferrous metals were collected from the citizens, grandmother handed in her copper candlestick for Chanukkah, and her menorah.
In 1934-1935 a serious famine [7] broke out in Ukraine and one third of the population died.