From the time I learned to read I spent most of my time reading and even burst into tears when my nanny took me for a walk. When I turned six my nanny was replaced with a governess, a Russian woman. She was a beautiful, slender, fair-haired woman wearing dark gowns. She seemed very strict to me compared to my nanny. The governess taught me French, French verses and children's songs that we sang together. I have more clear memories of my life from that time.
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Displaying 14641 - 14670 of 50826 results
sophia vollerner
My mother died during the epidemic of Spanish flu in 1915. She was buried in accordance with Jewish traditions in Lukianovka Jewish cemetery 14.
They had a traditional Jewish wedding with a rabbi and a chuppah arranged by Gitlia's parents in Odessa. After the wedding the newly-weds moved to Kiev. Gitlia was a housewife and a loving mother for me and my brother. She didn't have children of her own.
My parents weren't particularly religious, but they observed Jewish traditions. They didn't follow the kashrut. I remember that when my grandfather Yankel came to visit us Gitlia showed him dishes for dairy products and for meat products, but she just pretended that we had separate utensils. We always celebrated Sabbath at home. Gitlia lit candles and said a prayer. We prayed for the health and wealth of our family and relatives and sat down for a festive dinner. However, I don't remember that the family followed the ban to work on Sabbath. A Christian cook did the cooking on Sabbath, so it wasn't necessary to make food for two days.
On holidays my parents went to the synagogue. My father fasted at Yom Kippur, but he didn't stop smoking on these days. We observed Jewish holidays at home. My father believed that my brother and I had to know traditions. We had matzah at Pesach and didn't eat bread on these days. There was a major clean-up of the house, but I don't remember looking for breadcrumbs with my brother. We had special dishes for Pesach that were kept in a cupboard. There was traditional food at Pesach: gefilte fish, chicken broth and matzah pudding with eggs and potatoes. There were strudels with jam and raisins, honey and sponge cakes. There were greeneries, a boiled egg and a saucer with salt water on the table. There were tall silver glasses on the table: my mother's dowry.
There were always four of us on the first seder at Pesach: our parents, my brother and I. During the seder adults drank four glasses of wine. My brother and I drank water with a few drops of wine in it. There was one extra glass for Elijah the Prophet 16 on the table. In the evening my father always conducted the seder. He said all the necessary prayers. I can still remember the words of these prayers, but I don't know the meaning. My brother posed the four traditional questions [the mah nishtanah] that my father had taught him. Our father broke a piece of matzah and my brother or I had to steal one piece [the afikoman] and hide it. I usually let my brother do it since he was younger. Later he gave it back to our father for a small ransom: a candy or a toy.
There were always four of us on the first seder at Pesach: our parents, my brother and I. During the seder adults drank four glasses of wine. My brother and I drank water with a few drops of wine in it. There was one extra glass for Elijah the Prophet 16 on the table. In the evening my father always conducted the seder. He said all the necessary prayers. I can still remember the words of these prayers, but I don't know the meaning. My brother posed the four traditional questions [the mah nishtanah] that my father had taught him. Our father broke a piece of matzah and my brother or I had to steal one piece [the afikoman] and hide it. I usually let my brother do it since he was younger. Later he gave it back to our father for a small ransom: a candy or a toy.
My father didn't make a sukkah at Sukkot since we lived in the central street of the city, but we always had fruit that grew in Israel. At Chanukkah our parents gave us money. At Chanukkah Gitlia lit one candle each day in a big bronze chanukkiyah. At Purim my father read the Book of Esther to us and told us the story of evil Haman and brave Mordecai who rescued Jews from a terrible death. We also celebrated birthdays with relatives and friends. They were all Jews. My parents got together with their Jewish relatives.
After the Revolution of 1917, during the Civil War, there were Jewish pogroms in Kiev. They happened on the outskirts of the town: Demeevka, Solomenka and Podol. My father was rather loyal to the Revolution of 1917. He wasn't quite enthusiastic about it, but there wasn't open aversion on his part either. He was critical about the new regime, but I guess my father accepted the Revolution as a reality that couldn't be changed. Fortunately our family didn't suffer. After the Revolution my father even continued practicing medicine. Of course, we were 'compacted', so to speak, that was a usual process at that time. There were other tenants accommodated by the authorities in our apartment, but I don't remember those people. My father took it easy since it was a common practice at that time. We only had my father's office, the bedrooms and the living- room left. It wasn't a big change for me. We had the same furniture and it was our home, only smaller. We had our housemaids helping us with the housework, who stayed with us until the Great Patriotic War.
My grandfather Yankel died in 1920. He was buried in accordance with the Jewish traditions in the Jewish cemetery in Kiev. My father recited the Kaddish over his grave. Every year my father had a remembrance ceremony for him conducted at the synagogue. I remember that each year he took honey cake and vodka to this ritual. My grandmother Brandl died in 1930 and was buried beside my grandfather's grave.
I passed the exam to the senior class of grammar school in August 1917. I was well-prepared and had no problems with the exam. Gitlia was a good teacher. She was good at mathematics and physics and could explain difficult things in an easy way. After the Revolution the grammar school became a secondary school. The school was round the corner from our house; I didn't even have to cross the street. Later my brother went to the same school. All life long we were very close to each other, but at that time I was always angry with him since he followed me everywhere and it really got on my nerves. He wanted to be closer to his older sister, and he courageously tolerated my mocking. My brother and me had the same teachers and the majority of schoolchildren were children of the intelligentsia. There were many Jewish children. I don't remember any instances of anti- Semitism. I had Jewish and Russian friends. With some of them I stayed friends all my life. All of them have passed away already.
At school I became a pioneer. I liked it. A red necktie, pioneer saluting and marching attracted me. During the admission ceremony we took an oath to be devoted to communist ideals. I remember how on the appeal 'To struggle for the cause of workers and peasants be ready!', we answered in chorus, 'Always ready!'. There were pioneer groups in various institutions. I, for example, was a member of the pioneer group at the House of the Red Army. We were engaged in sports, prepared political reports on the international situation. We celebrated all revolutionary holidays. We went to parades with red flags. I have dim memories about this period, though. We didn't celebrate revolutionary holidays at home. Later I didn't join the Komsomol 18 or the Communist Party. I stayed away from politics my whole life. I had an equally negative attitude to public activities.
In 1923 my father hired a teacher for my brother and me. We had private classes three times a week. He was a relatively young man with a small beard. He didn't have payes. I remember I was surprised that he didn't take off his hat when he entered the house like other visitors did. He kept his hat on even during our classes. He taught us Hebrew, Jewish traditions and history, the Torah and the Talmud. We studied for two years. I guess my father wanted to prepare my brother for his bar mitzvah. I can still remember many words in Hebrew, traditions and rituals.
I finished secondary school in 1925. At that time the educational system was different from now. There were seven years of studies at secondary school, then students went to trade school where they studied general subjects and got professional training. I went to a cooperative school. My father paid for my education. My brother went to an electro-technical trade school. Training in trade schools lasted two and a half years. After trade school students could enter an institute where they studied for three and a half to four years. It was an intensive course since the country needed experts. In trade school we studied mathematics, two foreign languages - English and German - and literature. Besides, there were special subjects: commercial arithmetic, commodity research and law. Such schools issued a certificate and diploma about professional training. They were much like modern colleges. I had very good company at school: three girls and three boys. Out of the six of us one girl was Russian, the others were Jews. We were all fond of literature. We read a lot, discussed books and tried to write verses. We went to theatres and to the opera.
My father began to work as a dentist in a military unit. He had a permit for private practice issued by the financial department. However, he had to work for the state as well since my brother and I had to submit certificates about his place of work when entering the institute. I finished trade school in 1928, and in the same year I entered the Faculty of Economics of Kiev Trade Economic Institute. My parents insisted that I went to study at the Medical Institute, but I didn't have the slightest intention of doing that. I was sick and tired of listening to medical discussions at home. I wanted to study at the philology department, which was called Faculty of History and Philology, but many people were telling me that they studied works by Stalin for the most part and that was true.
We got married after graduation. I kept the last name of my father in marriage. My husband was Ukrainian and my parents were against this marriage: it wasn't Alexandr they were against, but that I married a man of a different religion. Especially my mother was against our union. She said she would understand me, if he was an aristocrat or a very rich man. But I married a villager. She also kept telling me that all relatives might think that she treated me so badly that I hurried into marriage with the first man who crossed my way, only to escape from her. There were many tears, disputes and arguments. When I told my parents that I loved Alexandr and wasn't going to turn him down my parents terminated their relationship with me. Alexandr and I had a civil ceremony at the registry office and I went to live with my husband. I left my parents' home with a small suitcase. My parents didn't give me any books or clothing and my father said to me that I would be back home anyway after the divorce.
I didn't observe any Jewish traditions after I got married, although my husband was very tolerant to other people's faith. When we visited my parents at Pesach he did everything in accordance with the rules. I belonged to a younger generation that was forced to believe that there was no God. I was sincerely convinced that religion was to vanish with my parents' generation. However, I always identified myself as a Jew and even emphasized my Jewish identity.
My husband and I got a job assignment in Gorlovka, Donetsk region, 500 kilometers from Kiev. We stayed in different hostels until we got a room in a two-bedroom apartment. Only after our son was born we received a two- bedroom apartment. I worked at the Mechanics of Donetsk cooperative and my husband worked at a mine. I went to work at a bank in 1932. I believe anti- Semitism in Donetsk wasn't as strong as in Central and Western Ukraine. We didn't suffer during the period of the famine in Ukraine 19 from 1932-33. There were food supplies to Donetsk and we had food product coupons for all the necessary products. We shared food with our parents, who lived in Kiev.
The arrests that began in 1936 [during the Great Terror] 20 and lasted until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War didn't affect our family. Our colleagues and acquaintances suffered, though. In the bank where I worked somebody was arrested every day. My husband and I never discussed this subject; I was living in a state of stupor during this period.
Hitler coming to power in Germany and the following events, the Soviet- Finnish War 21 and the occupation of Poland in 1939, didn't attract my attention whatsoever. I thought it had nothing to do with us. Even in 1939, it never occurred to me that Hitler might attack the USSR.
In 1940 Bessarabia 22 and Moldavia [today Moldova] joined the USSR. Before they joined the USSR my husband went to Chernovtsy as a member of governmental delegation. In July 1940 the Ukrainian Ministry of Trade sent my husband to work in Chernovtsy. In September I was transferred to work at a bank in Chernovtsy at my request. I took my son with me. We got a nice three-bedroom apartment in the center of the town. Our son went to school in Chernovtsy. We liked Chernovtsy. It was an old beautiful town. Many people spoke Yiddish in the streets. There was a big synagogue and several smaller ones, a Jewish school and a Jewish theater. Before the Great Patriotic War the majority of the population was Jewish. There were no conflicts and people treated each other nicely.
At the beginning of June 1941, my son and I went on vacation to Kiev. My husband stayed in Chernovtsy. On the morning of 22nd June 1941 my father went to the market. He returned in no time and said that there was the sound of bombing in the town. I thought it was another military training. Later the janitor of the building dropped by saying that German planes were bombing the airport in Zhuliany, on the outskirts of Kiev, and it was war. We turned on the radio and heard Molotov 25 speaking. They announced on the radio that vacations had to be terminated and everybody had to come back to work.
In about a week's time my husband arrived. My parents didn't even consider evacuation. They were telling us how nice Germans had been during World War I. My mother was of the same opinion. They refused to go. Many people went into evacuation with the companies they worked for. I went to the office of the State Bank and they issued a permit for me and my son to evacuate with a group of bank employees to Voronezh.
We got off in Chkalov and from there we moved by vehicles to Sverdlovsk, 500 kilometers from Chkalov. We stayed at the railway station in Sverdlovsk for two days. I went to Sverdlovsk regional bank office and they gave me a job assignment in Alopaevsk near Egorshino where my brother was working. In Alopaevsk we got accommodation: two rooms and a common kitchen in a local house. There were four of us: my father, my mother, my son and I. The carpenter of the bank where I was employed made three beds, a cupboard and a few chairs for us. I worked at the bank and my son went to school.
There was only one Jewish family in Alopaevsk before the war, but during evacuation many Jewish families came to town. Local people were jealous about their wealth. They were also angry that many local men were recruited to the front while so many Jewish men were staying in the rear. They didn't understand that only highly qualified employees were left to work in the rear and the rest had to go to the front. Those people believed that almost all the Jewish population of the country came to their town. They had a negative attitude towards us. I think this might have been the origin of postwar anti-Semitism when people believed that Jews were hiding from the war in the rear. I don't know whether my son faced any anti-Semitism at school. He never told me anything the like.
My husband and I corresponded during the war. He joined the Communist Party during the war, which was a standard procedure.
At that time Kiev was liberated and they had a celebration at the hospital. In January 1944 my father, my son, my brother and his family and I returned to Kiev. In March 1944 the Soviet troops liberated Chernovtsy and in October 1944 I went there. My father and son were staying with my brother for some time until I came to take them to Chernovtsy.
My husband demobilized in March 1946. The hospital administration offered him to continue his service in the army, but he insisted on demobilization. He became the director of a store in Chernovtsy.
There was a Jewish theater in Chernovtsy after the war. Actually, it was the Kiev theater that moved to Cherkassy. I used to go to their performances in Kiev. I attended performances staged after Jewish classics: Sholem Aleichem 27 and others. During the war the building of the theater was ruined and the theater moved to Chernovtsy from evacuation. All performances were sold out. The theater was very popular. It was closed in 1948.
There was anti-Semitism after the war. During the campaign against cosmopolitans 28 in 1948 anti-Semitism gained an 'official' [state] level. My brother defended his doctors' thesis shortly after the war, but it wasn't approved for several years. Jews had problems with entering higher educational institutions or finding a job. There was the expression 'invalids of Item 5' 29. I didn't have any problems, but my relatives and acquaintances did. Then the Doctors' Plot 30 came to life. We knew some doctors that were very concerned since they were losing their patients. There were many Jewish employees in the bank, but nobody got fired.
During the time of the Doctors' Plot and the death of Stalin in 1953 there was a rumor in Chernovtsy that Jews were to be deported to Siberia 31. My Jewish friends who had a Russian husband and I decided to go to exile together. I even packed my belongings to be ready to move. My friend and I were hoping that our families wouldn't have to go with us. My husband knew about my preparations and was very angry with me telling me off because I believed in this kind of nonsense. Later, in the 1980s, I got to know that there was such a decision made and only Stalin's death put an end to it.
During the time of the Doctors' Plot and the death of Stalin in 1953 there was a rumor in Chernovtsy that Jews were to be deported to Siberia 31. My Jewish friends who had a Russian husband and I decided to go to exile together. I even packed my belongings to be ready to move. My friend and I were hoping that our families wouldn't have to go with us. My husband knew about my preparations and was very angry with me telling me off because I believed in this kind of nonsense. Later, in the 1980s, I got to know that there was such a decision made and only Stalin's death put an end to it.
On 5th March 1953 it was announced that Stalin had died. Before that day, they issued bulletins about his condition every day. 5th March was a day of grief for everyone. I cried my eyes out! I couldn't imagine that life might continue when Stalin was no longer with us. When Khrushchev 32 denounced the cult of Stalin at the Twentieth Party Congress 33, I didn't believe it at first. It was horrifying. Our idol was overthrown and there was no one to replace him. I think this was the time when people lost their belief in politicians.
My son Rostislav finished secondary school with a medal in 1950. We wanted him to study at the Medical Institute, but he was thinking about the Institute of Physical Culture. It was a nightmare for me to think that our only son would be a sportsman. He went to a sports school. He had a 23-year- old trainer that he idolized. My son got to know that he studied at the university by correspondence. Then Rostislav changed his mind and decided to enter Kiev Polytechnic Institute to study at the Metallurgical Faculty. Probably this decision was influenced by our life in Alopaevsk where my son had a friend whose father was a metallurgist.