Our neighbor told me that Germans issued an order for all Jews in Razdelnaya to come to the central square with their documents and clothes. Jewish families were certain that they were going to be accommodated at some place. All Jews were taken out of the village and told to leave their belongings in a heap. Jewish men were ordered to excavate a large pit. They probably understood then that they were making a grave for their families. Later all Jews were shot and thrown into the pit. Some of them were still alive when the pit was backfilled. Our neighbor told me that the soil was stirring for quite a while after the shooting he saw it. There were German guards with guns watching the area and nobody could approach this location. My parents, my mother’s parents and my father’s mother are buried in this grave. My friends and my dear ones were buried there. I also got to know that my father’s sister and her children were shot in Belgorod-Dnestrovsky. Germans exterminated all Jews in towns and villages of Odessa region.
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Efim Finkel
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In few years after the war I began to work on having monuments installed in the areas of mass shooting. I wrote letters to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine and to the Supreme Soviet. Most often I received indefinite answers – neither refusal, nor consent. I didn’t give up and there was a monument to the Jews exterminated in 1941 installed in Razdelnaya village of Odessa region in the middle of 1960th. There was an official unveiling of the monument, with official speech.
My family was gone and I didn’t hear from my brother. We met in 1946. He demobilized at the end of 1945. When my brother heard that our family had perished he took a warrant to Chernovtsy from a military registry office. His fellow comrade lived in this town and convinced my brother and his wife to go there with him. My brother got married before he demobilized from the army. His wife came from Russia. They met at the front. I have no information about her family. She worked as a shop assistant in Chernovtsy. My brother became a driver at a car pool office. Later he studied at the Road Vehicle Institute by correspondence and worked as production engineer at that same enterprise.
I celebrated Victory Day on 9 May 1945 in Baku. This was the biggest holiday in my life. People laughed and cried, hugged and greeted each other. It was a happy sunny day. It seemed everything bad was behind us and there was nothing worse ahead of us.
I met my future wife Olga Poliakova in Vinnitsa when visiting my acquaintances. We got married soon. She was Russian. Olga was born in Vinnitsa in 1916. Her parents were farmers. Olga finished Pedagogical Institute before the war. She worked as a primary school teacher. Teacher at primary school teaches all subjects but music and physical culture. During the war she was in evacuation in the Ural. Her parents died in evacuation. We had a civil ceremony and Olga took a double name of Poliakova-Finkel.
In 1948 my brother wrote me that there was a vacancy at a car pool enterprise in Chernovtsy. I asked a job assignment to work there and got it. We moved to Chernovtsy and I worked at the enterprise for 25 years before I retired. After we moved we lived with my brother and his wife in their small 2-room apartment. We stayed in one room and my brother and his wife lived in another. At leisure time we went to the cinema and theatre. My brother and I went to the Jewish theater. Sometimes our friends came to visit us. In a year I received an apartment from the enterprise where I worked. My wife got a job at primary school.
I liked Chernovtsy and its spiritual and cultural atmosphere. Jews had constituted half of population of Chernovtsy before the Great Patriotic War. I was told that there was a Jewish ghetto in the town during the war. Even after the war people that went through the horrors of the ghetto spoke Yiddish in the streets, went to synagogues and sent their children to the Jewish school. They were not afraid of showing their Jewish identity and found sympathy and understanding with people of other nationalities. Residents of Chernovtsy dressed in a nice fashionable manner. Men wore kippah at the synagogue only. After the war there was one synagogue in Chernovtsy. There was a Jewish theater in the town attended by Jewish and non-Jewish intellectuals.
There were no signs of anti-Semitism that was already felt in central parts of Ukraine.
There were no signs of anti-Semitism that was already felt in central parts of Ukraine.
Unfortunately, I didn’t keep any Jewish way of life after I married a Russian woman that was also a convinced atheist. At first I attended the synagogue in Chernovtsy to have Kaddish said after my family, but gradually I began to get adjusted to my wife’s way of life. Jewish traditions were out of the question in our family. I am not a fighter, unfortunately. It was easier for me to give in than insist on my own ideas. I became a nobody – neither Jew nor Russian. Olga didn’t celebrate any religious holidays. Christian holidays were as far from her as Jewish. She was a typical Soviet person that was raised an atheist and I became like her. My brother didn’t keep any Jewish traditions. I don’t know whether it had to do with his wife or it was just the spirit of the time.
In 1948 struggle against cosmopolites [11] began. The Jewish school and theater were closed. All synagogues but one were closed. There were articles against cosmopolitans – traitors of their Motherland, published in newspapers. Many renowned Jews had pseudonyms and newspapers published their real Jewish names. There were anti-Semitic demonstrations in the streets in Chernovtsy - no, but there were newspaper publications about other places. and accusations that Jews wanted the downfall of the USSR and betrayed their Motherland and its ideals. Such things were said by those that moved to Chernovtsy after the war since native population was sympathetic with us. This was a fearful situation – the country that had suffered from fascism so hard came to fascist slogans said by its citizens. I was a worker and a very skilled one and this situation had no impact on me, but I thought that this was a preliminary stage before something much worse began – like an artillery preparation.
The ‘doctors’ plot ‘[12] at the beginning of 1953 proved my concerns to be true. It was directly said that Jews wanted to poison Stalin. Patients in clinics refused to accept medical services from Jewish doctors. I felt accumulating hatred to Jews with my skin.
. Stalin’s death on 5 March 1953 put an end to it. People were overwhelmed by a mass psychosis. They were crying and grieving after Stalin and called themselves orphaned. They couldn’t imagine life without Stalin. By that time my attitude towards Stalin changed. I understood that the war was so long and blood shedding because Stalin had exterminated so many military commanders in camps before the war and that we were duped by the Stalin’s propaganda convincing us that we were unconquerable. I had many other suspicions.
ХХ Party Congress [13] changed my doubts into certainty. I believed that if Party leaders began to tell the truth from their high stand life might change to better. It took me few years to realize that I was wrong again. However, it seemed to me that anti-Semitism reduced in those years.
We led a quiet life watching TV in the evenings. We bought our first TV in the 1960’s. We only communicated with my brother's family and our colleagues. It was not often. We invited them to our house or went to visit them. We celebrated birthdays in the family. My wife made a dinner and we had guests. We had a good time talking and singing Soviet songs. We didn’t celebrate Soviet or religious holidays at home and didn’t travel on vacations. We didn’t earn much and when we could buy our son a vacation in a pioneer camp we were quite happy.
I think anti-Semitism grew stronger during the period when Jews began to move to Israel in 1967. Jews could hear people saying ‘Go to your Israel’ without any reason. It was a problem to enter a higher educational institution or find a job.
I didn’t think about emigration then, though I felt jealous about other families that were going there. At the beginning my wife took no interest in moving to another country. She was afraid of any changes and hardships of different life in another country. We were not wealthy, but we had everything we needed.
I didn’t think about emigration then, though I felt jealous about other families that were going there. At the beginning my wife took no interest in moving to another country. She was afraid of any changes and hardships of different life in another country. We were not wealthy, but we had everything we needed.
After perestroika began in 1980s our life became a lot worse, almost unbearable. Perestroika brought many positive changes: we understood that we could talk freely about what we were afraid even to think about – repression during the Stalin’s time, extermination of Jews and a lot more. There were books published and performances staged in theaters. Jewish life and culture were restored, but there were negative things, too. It became easier for young people to improve their life, but older people became impoverished. We were thinking of emigration in 1980s, but my wife became ill and we had to give up this idea. I didn’t feel strong enough to start life from anew. Besides, we didn’t have enough money to pay all expenses. And we stayed here.
I do not get along with my son. My wife decided that he would have his nationality written as Russian. She convinced me that in this way he would avoid many problems that Jews usually have. I agreed, but when my son grew older he began to demonstrate with his aloof attitude towards me, pretending that we were different people and that he only had his mother to rely on. I am afraid of saying this, but it seems to me he was ashamed of his Jewish father. Oleg had his mother’s last name: Poliakov. He finished a power college in Chernovtsy and went to work at the municipal power supply agency.
I do not understand Jews that move to Germany when Germans wanted to exterminate all Jews a short time ago, but I am afraid my son doesn’t think about it. He doesn’t care about the morals. All he wants is to have things to his benefit and easy life.
After they got married Galina learned all rules of the Jewish way of life and followed them willingly. She speaks fluent Yiddish. Galina’s husband died in 1970s, but Galina continued to observe Jewish traditions. She celebrated Jewish holidays and Sabbath and studied Hebrew in Hesed. We got married in 1993. Thanks to Galina I returned to the Jewish way of life. We attend clubs and meetings and celebrations of Sabbath in Hesed. I am a member of the club of veterans of the Great Patriotic War in Hesed. We celebrate Jewish holidays at home. At Pesach Galina makes traditional Jewish food. She has special kitchen utensils for Pesach. Galina follows the kashrut. She and I fast at Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. When I was able to walk we used to celebrate Sabbath and Jewish holidays in Hesed and went to synagogue, but that’s not possible now. My wife and I often talk Yiddish, although I am more used to speaking Russian.
Hesed provides assistance to us. We receive food packages and medications and I have a doctor available at Hesed. My life is coming to an end and assistance from Hesed and my wife’s love and care make my life easier and nicer.
Efim Geifman
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My father’s comrades fell victims of repression. One of them, Anatoliy Illich Zamoschin ( his real name was Tulo Goldfarb) was like a father to me, he often visited us and helped my mother about the house and helped me with my classes. He was member of the Communist Party and held high official positions. His latest position was Executive director of the Communal Bank. Once he came late at night and told us that they were going to arrest him the next day. I pretended to be asleep but I heard the conversation. He was summoned to come to NKVD (People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs) and offered him to write a report on his deputy. Zamoschin refused and was arrested at the following night. His wife Klara (the wife of the enemy of the people) was sent to Siberia for ten years. She never returned and we never heard from her.
Many people around were arrested and executed, but it had nothing to do with nationality. There was no anti-Semitism then, and one could hear the word “zhyd” only from a drunken man at the market.
On 22 June 1941 there was to be the opening ceremony for a new stadium in Kiev for 50 000 seats. I had tickets to the opening ceremony. They had crossed out the name of Kossior [4] (he was one of organizers of this ceremony and his name had been printed at the invitation tickets before his arrest) on the tickets.
On 20 June (Saturday) we went to the Circus. Eddy Rozner jazz band gave a concert there. They came from western parts of the country. After the concert we walked a while, and early in the morning I was woken up by the sound of antiaircraft guns. At first we decided that this was some kind of training, but then we saw German airplanes. At 12 o’clock in the afternoon there was an announcement on the radio. Boris was mobilized immediately. Fania and her children evacuated in June.
On 20 June (Saturday) we went to the Circus. Eddy Rozner jazz band gave a concert there. They came from western parts of the country. After the concert we walked a while, and early in the morning I was woken up by the sound of antiaircraft guns. At first we decided that this was some kind of training, but then we saw German airplanes. At 12 o’clock in the afternoon there was an announcement on the radio. Boris was mobilized immediately. Fania and her children evacuated in June.
,
1941
See text in interview
On 22 June 1941 there was to be the opening ceremony for a new stadium in Kiev for 50 000 seats. I had tickets to the opening ceremony. They had crossed out the name of Kossior [4] (he was one of organizers of this ceremony and his name had been printed at the invitation tickets before his arrest) on the tickets.
On 20 June (Saturday) we went to the Circus. Eddy Rozner jazz band gave a concert there. They came from western parts of the country. After the concert we walked a while, and early in the morning I was woken up by the sound of antiaircraft guns. At first we decided that this was some kind of training, but then we saw German airplanes. At 12 o’clock in the afternoon there was an announcement on the radio. Boris was mobilized immediately. Fania and her children evacuated in June.
On 20 June (Saturday) we went to the Circus. Eddy Rozner jazz band gave a concert there. They came from western parts of the country. After the concert we walked a while, and early in the morning I was woken up by the sound of antiaircraft guns. At first we decided that this was some kind of training, but then we saw German airplanes. At 12 o’clock in the afternoon there was an announcement on the radio. Boris was mobilized immediately. Fania and her children evacuated in June.
On 6 July (I hadn’t reached 18 then) I was summoned to the recruiting office. Soldiers were marching from Kiev. I had a small backpack and my mother put few cookies and a jar of jam into it. Neither of us cried – we were sure that this was going to end in a month or two and I would be back. We went to the left bank of the city where we were supposed to board a train. But there were bombing and no trains. We walked another 150 km to the town of Yagotin. We didn’t receive any uniform and my shoes were all torn. I walked almost barefooted. We got meals on our way, but we also begged food from the local farmers, they felt sorry for us and gave us whatever they could. We got few spades on our way and tried to entrench ourselves during bombings. From Yagotin we went to Donbass by train. We were divided into small groups and sent to various areas. I came to the town of Khartsizsk. Being a big patriot I agreed to go to work in the mine at first, but then after my first try I refused to work there. It was too hard work for a town guy. We all went to work at a local collective farm. It was a former German colony. The Germans, being probable fascist accomplices, were removed to the Urals. We lived in their houses and harvested what they sowed.
I received a letter from my mother. I assured her to stay in Kiev, as our army would never leave the city (although I didn’t even hold any weapons in my hands). My mother was evacuated as a widow of a red partisan in one of the last trains in September 1941 [5]. My mother was evacuated to the Northern Caucasus, to a collective farm. She was physically strong and worked at the poultry yard.
I stayed at this collective farm until February 1942, when the recruiting office sent me to the Makhackala Military Infantry College. It was located in 60 km from Tbilisi. Upon graduation from it 588 of 600 cadets finished it in the rank of junior lieutenant, and only 12, including me, finished it in the rank of lieutenant. I was sent to Tbilisi, to the Vinnitsa Military College that was in the evacuation there. I was to be a platoon leader. I was supposed to teach cadets all subjects except for political information. I went to the General to introduce myself and when he saw me I could read in his eyes “Well, this must be the end of Russia”. I presented a poor sight: I was short and thin and looked pale… and the one to be a lecturer at their school. But in due time I managed to gain authority at their institution.
Before we finished the full course we were given automatic guns and sent to the 4th Guards Kuban Cavalry Corps. That’s how I, Efim Geifman, turned into a Kazak cavalryman (Kazak – people in the Southern part of Russia, bordering on Ukraine. They live in villages. Their men breed horses and master the art of cavalry. They make brave, courageous and masterful cavalrymen). They recruited people from the surrounding Kazak villages in this area to form the Corps. There could be a father and a son or an uncle and his nephew in one and the same unit. Their attitude towards me was good. Perhaps, my knowledge of the Ukrainian language helped me. I had problems with riding a horse. Once, at the very beginning of my service the commanding officer ordered me to deliver a package to the Division Headquarters, located in 30 kilometers from our place. A mature master Kazak was to accompany me. We started in a trot, the most difficult pace for the horse and the rider. Trot is a specific running pace, where the rider has to rise in his saddle to ease the horse. On our way the Master Kazak was giving me instructions regarding the riding techniques. When I got off the horse my legs were a pair of compasses and I was all sore. Only then I realized that this ride was my horse riding lesson. After that trip I stayed in bed for a couple of days but I never had any riding problems any more. In total I rode four thousand kilometers from 1943 before 1945, from Mozdok to Hungary, we freed Europe from fascists. At the time of tanks and aircraft the cavalry existed for a break-through in the army. We broke into the rear of the enemy, participated in the raids in the vicinity of Odessa and Taganrog. We advanced for a 100 km into to the rear of the enemy.
Before we finished the full course we were given automatic guns and sent to the 4th Guards Kuban Cavalry Corps. That’s how I, Efim Geifman, turned into a Kazak cavalryman (Kazak – people in the Southern part of Russia, bordering on Ukraine. They live in villages. Their men breed horses and master the art of cavalry. They make brave, courageous and masterful cavalrymen). They recruited people from the surrounding Kazak villages in this area to form the Corps. There could be a father and a son or an uncle and his nephew in one and the same unit. Their attitude towards me was good. Perhaps, my knowledge of the Ukrainian language helped me. I had problems with riding a horse. Once, at the very beginning of my service the commanding officer ordered me to deliver a package to the Division Headquarters, located in 30 kilometers from our place. A mature master Kazak was to accompany me. We started in a trot, the most difficult pace for the horse and the rider. Trot is a specific running pace, where the rider has to rise in his saddle to ease the horse. On our way the Master Kazak was giving me instructions regarding the riding techniques. When I got off the horse my legs were a pair of compasses and I was all sore. Only then I realized that this ride was my horse riding lesson. After that trip I stayed in bed for a couple of days but I never had any riding problems any more. In total I rode four thousand kilometers from 1943 before 1945, from Mozdok to Hungary, we freed Europe from fascists. At the time of tanks and aircraft the cavalry existed for a break-through in the army. We broke into the rear of the enemy, participated in the raids in the vicinity of Odessa and Taganrog. We advanced for a 100 km into to the rear of the enemy.
I became a member of the Communist Party when I was 19, and I feel no regrets about it. I was not just a member of the Communist Party; I was a convinced and educated Communist. Only now I realize how powerful the propaganda was.
I was sent to a hospital in the rear with my wounded leg and discharged in April 1944. I was sent to Germany to finish my service term. I had restriction of grade I for military service. Restriction of grade I is the last stage before invalidity. I could only walk with a stick and stuttered for some time. My hearing hasn’t restored up to date. In Germany I served in Dresden commandant office for two years and a half. I learned conversational German soon. I was Head of Department in the Commandant’s office. My position was industrial engineer-controller. Each department was responsible for some industry. My responsibility was optics and fine mechanics.
In Dresden I married Galina Karabanova, a Ukrainian girl from Kiev.
She stayed in Kiev during occupation and was taken to Germany in 1942. She fell ill and was put in a civil hospital near Dresden. After she recovered she became a cleaning woman in this hospital. She met a German anti-fascist girl. They listened to the news from Moscow, and then Galina sent this information to Ukrainians in a work camp. On the eve of 1943 she was arrested and sent to the prison in Dresden. They beat her demanding to tell the names of the people she was in touch with. They sentenced her to death, but instead they sent her to the penal block in Ravensbruck. Penal prisoners had a target painted on the chest and on the back. One step aside was punished by shooting. Galina read a lot before the war. And in the camp at the end of a hard work day she retold these novels to prisoners. She enjoyed doing it. Her Czech friends had access to the card-files. They replaced her card with a dead person’s card and sent her to work at the Wolfen factory under a different name. This was a large chemical enterprise, a department of the Buchenwald camp. On 17 April 1945 the camp was eliminated and the people sent for extermination. She ran away on the way there and happened to get into the disposition of the Soviet army. She went trough an appropriate check up procedure and got a job in this same commandant’s office where I was. She was an accountant.