My mother told me how young people entertained themselves during the winter before the Revolution of 1917. In the winter the stores closed early, and young people used them for their parties. They didn’t have warm clothes so they took iron pots with embers with them to warm themselves up.
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Displaying 19861 - 19890 of 50826 results
Maria Reidman
I was born in Olevsk, a Jewish town, on 15th October 1922. It’s a picturesque town. It stands on both banks of the Ubat River, on the Pripyat tributary. The water in this river was red and soft and people came to rinse their laundry in it, even in winter. The banks of the river are steep and very beautiful. There was also a little ‘island of love’ in the river, where young people used to travel to on boats keeping it a secret from their parents. There were woods on the outskirts of town. The railroad crossing the town was a good opportunity for the development of the timber industry. Timber was mostly shipped to Germany by railroad. Trees were cut in strict accordance with the rules at that time. There was a big forestry in Olevsk. There were many wells in the town named after the people that had done the digging. If someone said, ‘Go fetch some water from the Leizer well!’, that meant to get water for cooking. Water from Mirrah’s well, on the other hand, was for washing. Tea again was cooked with water fetched from Ivan’s well. Ivan was a rich farmer. He had a big farm, garden and pastures. The water in his well was crystal clear and very tasty.
All Jewish towns were overpopulated at the time. People lived in wooden houses, and there was a fire every year. The center of the town was a little bit more spacious. Wealthier people lived there. In our neighborhood the houses were almost adjusted to each other. Farmers lived on the outskirts because they were afraid of fires. The market was a place of interest in Olevsk. Sunday was a very important day: People came to sell their products. The majority of the people was far from wealthy, but the Jewish community was there to support the needy families.
All Jewish towns were overpopulated at the time. People lived in wooden houses, and there was a fire every year. The center of the town was a little bit more spacious. Wealthier people lived there. In our neighborhood the houses were almost adjusted to each other. Farmers lived on the outskirts because they were afraid of fires. The market was a place of interest in Olevsk. Sunday was a very important day: People came to sell their products. The majority of the people was far from wealthy, but the Jewish community was there to support the needy families.
There were four synagogues in Olevsk: two Hasidic [1] ones – do you mean Hassidiand two others. and the other two?My father and grandfather went to the Stolynskaya synagogue. There was one common synagogue for poor people. Another synagogue – a three-storied brick building – was built at the beginning of the 19th century for wealthier people living in the center of town.
There were many Polish people in Olevsk, and they went to a nice cathedral. It was destroyed in 1932-33. A story was told in Olevsk that when they pulled down the cross and the bells the sound of it could be heard as far as Kapischi, almost 40 kilometers from Olevsk at the border with Belarus. The church survived the war. It was built in the 15th or 16th century on a hill and it compliments the town well. The priest of this church was on friendly terms with the Jews. It was a tradition in Olevsk to walk along the central street on Saturday. People came back from the synagogue, had lunch, left the dishes unwashed – it wasn’t allowed to wash dishes on Saturday – had a nap and then went out. Those who lived in the center were sitting on the porches looking at the passers-by. People were friendly in Olevsk. All disputes were resolved either by the rabbi or another respectable Jew.
My maternal great-grandfather’s name was Iosif Gelenrod. He came from Poland. He was born in the first half of the 19th century. He owned two mills, farmland and stores in Olevsk. But his manager whose name was Lerner, a Jew, robbed him very skillfully, and my great-grandfather had nothing to leave to his children.
Boruh Gelenrod studied in cheder and was an educated man. He worked as a quality assurance specialist in the forestry in Olevsk. He became so good at his profession that he published a timber manual along with two German Jews. This was before the Revolution of 1917 [2]. Quality assurance specialists and other forestry employees were in the higher hierarchy in Olevsk – they had better earnings and supervised all work processes at the forestry.
I also know a little about another brother of my grandmother. His name was Haim Gelenrod. My grandmother told me that he was an intelligent and famous man in Olevsk. People respected him so much that they turned to him to resolve their disputes.
His father was a wealthy man whereas my grandmother’s family was poor at that time.
Medvedovo was a Polish village. The population was mostly Polish; there were only a few Ukrainians and even fewer Jews.
His children didn’t get any education because there was no cheder in the village.
My great-grandfather was a cattle dealer and owned a small pub. My grandfather Peisah was in the business with his father.
The Roizberg family wasn’t very religious. They didn’t follow the kashrut and didn’t pray at home every day. They only celebrated the most important holidays. They celebrated Sabbath, New Year, Pesach and Yom Kippur. They went to the synagogue in Omelcheno, the district town because there was no synagogue in Medvedovo. They followed the tradition to have separate dishes for dairy and meat products.
[My grandparents] had their wedding in Olevsk. My grandfather gave my grandmother a beautiful golden chain as a wedding present. During the famine [famine in Ukraine] [3] of 1933 she took it to the Torgsin [4] to buy some food. It was customary among the Jews to give golden and silver jewelry as well as silverware as wedding presents. It was inexpensive at that time, and everybody had silver spoons, forks and wineglasses. The wedding went as follows: there was the chuppah, and all relatives got together and went to the synagogue marching across town. The bride and the bridegroom headed the procession, followed by the other guests. The bride and bridegroom walked under the white canopy carried on four posts.
My grandfather gave my grandmother a beautiful golden chain as a wedding present. During the famine [famine in Ukraine]
[3]
of 1933 she took it to the Torgsin
[4]
to buy some food.
[3]
of 1933 she took it to the Torgsin
[4]
to buy some food.
She had to provide for her family and became a vendor. I don’t know what she sold. She and the children lived in the house of her parents. Her father-in-law visited her once a year and brought lots of food products to support her.
When the Great Patriotic War [8] began in 1941 I was finishing my 4th year. We knew that Hitler had come to power in Germany but nobody thought it would lead to a war. When the war started I called my family in Olevsk telling them to leave everything behind and come to Kiev immediately. I was sure that Kiev would never be occupied. Later the students were sent to dig trenches in the vicinity of Kiev. We didn’t know the situation on the front but there were rumors that Kiev would soon be occupied.
Papa was not drafted to go to the front. Firstly, he was 47 and secondly, he only had two toes on one foot. The three others had been amputated before his marriage due to some infection.
In the middle of July somebody brought me a note from Mama telling me to come home immediately to leave Kiev with them. My parents and sister, Eta, Manya and my grandmother were waiting for me. Anya and her baby girl joined us. It was impossible to leave Kiev. My mother found out that trains were leaving from Darnitsa on the outskirts of Kiev. Papa was not drafted to go to the front. Firstly, he was 47 and secondly, he only had two toes on one foot. The three others had been amputated before his marriage due to some infection.
We packed and went to Darnitsa. We were sitting there waiting for three days. This was at the end of July. Trains were leaving each day, but there were too many people. We got on a freight train, on the open platform. Somebody advised us to board on the open platform to have more fresh air. The train had only moved for about 200 meters when the bombing began. The train stopped, we got off and ran to some building to hide behind it. We waited until night and boarded the train again. This time we got into a carriage. People were kind to us at the stations. We got food at the canteens for free.
We got as far as Vladikavkaz.
We packed and went to Darnitsa. We were sitting there waiting for three days. This was at the end of July. Trains were leaving each day, but there were too many people. We got on a freight train, on the open platform. Somebody advised us to board on the open platform to have more fresh air. The train had only moved for about 200 meters when the bombing began. The train stopped, we got off and ran to some building to hide behind it. We waited until night and boarded the train again. This time we got into a carriage. People were kind to us at the stations. We got food at the canteens for free.
We got as far as Vladikavkaz.
We got as far as Vladikavkaz. We stayed because it was quiet there. We sat down in the square in front of the railway station with our luggage like in a gypsy camp and had no idea where to go or where to start. Then Mama saw somebody she knew. It was our distant relative. He had stayed at my grandmother’s with his family in the 1920s. I don’t remember his name. We had not heard from him since he left. He happened to be living in Vladikavkaz with his family, and they had a nice apartment. He saw us and took us to his home. We stayed there for some time until Papa found a job as a laborer at the leather factory. Then we rented a room near the railway station. I continued studying at the Pedagogical Institute, and Anya found a job. Her husband was an officer, and he sent her food cards. Families of the military could receive food in exchange for them. Papa was involved in the cleanup of pigskins from fat at the factory. He brought some fat home, my mother boiled it with onions, and after it cooled down it could be used as bread spread. We got enough of it, and Mama also sold some of it at the market. We received bread per cards.
I studied at the institute for over a month, and then we were sent to the trenches in Kabardino-Balkaria [Caucasus]. We stayed there for a long time until winter. I finished my studies by correspondence. My mother went to pick up my diploma for me. The situation in the Caucasus was alarming. Papa visited me once and brought me warm clothes. Our landlady was a very kind and nice woman. She cooked for us and made us feel welcome. There was no military base there. Later we returned to Vladikavkaz.
Later we returned to Vladikavkaz. I went to work as a night-watchman at the laundry of a hospital. But the Germans were approaching, and we were preparing to leave. We got on a train and headed for Dagestan, then crossed the Caspian Sea by ship, got on the train again and ended up in Tashkent. This was at the end of 1942. It was quiet in Middle Asia. I still have the image of the square in front of the railway station in Tashkent with crowds of people in my mind. So many years have gone by but I still remember that image. We decided to go to Kokchetav [Northern Kazakstan]. Aunt Haya, my mother’s older sister, was already there. We must have been waiting for about two weeks at the station in Tashkent until we could get on a train.
In Kokchetav we rented a big room. We had no money. It was wartime, and people gave accommodation to tenants for free. Our landlord, a Kazak, had two houses, one of which he rented out. The tenants in the other half of the house were Poles that were forced to leave their homes in 1938 [during the forced deportation to Siberia [10]]. Another Polish family lived in the room next door to us. We got along well with them. We realized there what a blessing virgin land was. The crops were unbelievable.
Later the Singer garment factory from Podolsk moved there. It was converted into a mine factory. My father got a job at this factory.
I had a teacher’s diploma, so I went to the education department to ask them whether they had any job for me. They said there was a vacancy in Voskresenskoye village. It was located about 200 kilometers from Kokchetav, but I went there nonetheless. Our deputy director was a very intelligent professor from Leningrad. He was a Jew, and his wife was Russian. I shared a room with a girl who was a history teacher. There was no food, it was cold and very uncomfortable. I fell ill. My father arrived to take me away from that place. I had terrible furuncles covering my right side. This resulted in exudative pleurisy. Liquid was generated in my lungs, and there was no medication to cure me. There was a Romanian Jew there. He was single, and I don’t know how he got there. He said I needed medication that would dry up the liquid, but it was impossible to get it. He offered to mix a medication from bleaching powder for me. He told me he would purify it, and that I had to take at least two bottles of it. I can’t forget the horrible taste of it. But it helped, my condition improved and the temperature dropped. There was still some liquid left though. In 1946 I had an inflammation and was operated.
In the 1960s we got the opportunity to move into one apartment with my parents.
My father’s family can be taken as an example of how eager Jews were to study. Meyer Reidman, my grandfather on my father’s side, was born humpbacked. He died in 1927, but I remember him well. He had a beard and wore long black robes and a hat. He was a kind man and loved his children and grandchildren very much. He came from a very poor family, but he studied well. He knew the Torah well, and everybody admired his knowledge of the Torah and prayers.
There was a very pretty girl in Luginy. Her brothers didn’t want to study and didn’t know their prayers. She asked her relatives to find her an intelligent young man that knew the Torah and his prayers and wasn’t an am ha-aretz, that is, an ignoramus. She was told that there was such a man in Olevsk but that he was humpbacked. She said she didn’t care. And she did marry a humpbacked man although she was a beauty herself. People in Olevsk were shocked. She had five children with my grandfather: two sons and three daughters. They lived a good life.
My father studied in cheder and also taught himself to write in Russian. He wasn’t too literate, but his handwriting was beautiful. He learned bookkeeping on his own, too. He stayed with his father after his mother died. Unfortunately cheder was the only school my father went to.
He had to work from a very young age to provide for himself. He didn’t like to talk about his childhood, so that’s all I know. My grandfather couldn’t go to work any more, and he just earned a little by teaching the Torah. My father had to work a lot as a cattle dealer. His older sisters were trying to support him. They had a hard life.
Their family was religious. My grandfather went to the synagogue every day. He prayed and observed all Jewish holidays and traditions. His sons were circumcised.