There were a few hundred residents in the small town of Brusilovo. Besides Jews, there lived Russians and Ukrainians there. There was a market place and a church in our small town.
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Piotr Levitas
Jewish pogroms were frequent in our area. To start a pogrom they needed an excuse. During the rule of Nikolai II there was the so-called ‘Beilis case’ [5]. Beilis was a manufacturer in Kiev. He owned sugar factories. One day somebody stealthily abandoned a small, stabbed Russian child in his yard and filed a suit against him claiming that Jews took the blood of Russian children to make matzah. It was a very scandalous affair, and it lasted several years. Prominent scientists, among whom was a St. Petersburg professor called Bekhterev, took the side of the Jews and tried to convince the public that it could not be true. But on the basis of these suspicions pogroms began. Pogroms raged in Brusilovo, Radomysl, Korostyn, Zhytomir and many other towns – all of Ukraine was engulfed in pogroms.
I remember one of these pogroms. Bandits came to our home, put my father and mother against the wall and were about to shoot them. But as Mom and Daddy were tailors, the bandits made them sew clothes for them. And they ordered to sew them immediately. Father shows them, ‘here, look – I have cut it, now I will sew,’ but they shouted that they had no time to wait; they demanded to have the clothes right now. The bandits put my father and mother to the wall, frightened them, and Mother fell on her knees begging them to have mercy and told them that when they arrive next time everything would surely be ready. And these scenes repeated themselves many times, the bandits came very often.
I remember one of these pogroms. Bandits came to our home, put my father and mother against the wall and were about to shoot them. But as Mom and Daddy were tailors, the bandits made them sew clothes for them. And they ordered to sew them immediately. Father shows them, ‘here, look – I have cut it, now I will sew,’ but they shouted that they had no time to wait; they demanded to have the clothes right now. The bandits put my father and mother to the wall, frightened them, and Mother fell on her knees begging them to have mercy and told them that when they arrive next time everything would surely be ready. And these scenes repeated themselves many times, the bandits came very often.
Then the revolution began [6] and bandits started to rage even more. In 1917 soldiers of the Red Army took the Jews who stayed alive to the village of Kocherevo to hide them from bandits. That village was in Zhytomir region, twenty kilometers from Brusilovo. There we stayed with one Ukrainian peasant family. They were very nice people; we lived with them, and my parents made clothes for them. But their son was a bandit.
When pogroms began [7], Mother gave the jewelry to one woman, not Jewish, who brought us milk all the time. She wanted that woman to keep the jewelry hidden from gangsters. When we were hurriedly taken away from Brusilovo, Mother had no time to take it back. So my parents went from Kocherevo to Brusilovo to get the jewelry, and gangsters were all around. The woman was not at home and Father didn’t want to wait and went back, and Mother stayed and waited. Besides, Daddy thought that one by one they would have more chances to slip away unnoticed. Mom waited until the woman returned, recovered the jewelry and rode back. But on the way she met the son of the peasants at whose family we lived. He ordered her to get off the cart. Mom answered that she wouldn’t do that. He shot and killed her. Then the carter came to us the following day and described what had happened. And Father with my older brother, who was ten years old then, went to the site and buried Mom right there in the woods.
We didn’t live for long with those peasants in Kocherevo. As soon as the raging calmed down a little, we escaped to another place. We would move from place to place. We could not go back home, because our houses were seized by bandits.
When pogroms began [7], Mother gave the jewelry to one woman, not Jewish, who brought us milk all the time. She wanted that woman to keep the jewelry hidden from gangsters. When we were hurriedly taken away from Brusilovo, Mother had no time to take it back. So my parents went from Kocherevo to Brusilovo to get the jewelry, and gangsters were all around. The woman was not at home and Father didn’t want to wait and went back, and Mother stayed and waited. Besides, Daddy thought that one by one they would have more chances to slip away unnoticed. Mom waited until the woman returned, recovered the jewelry and rode back. But on the way she met the son of the peasants at whose family we lived. He ordered her to get off the cart. Mom answered that she wouldn’t do that. He shot and killed her. Then the carter came to us the following day and described what had happened. And Father with my older brother, who was ten years old then, went to the site and buried Mom right there in the woods.
We didn’t live for long with those peasants in Kocherevo. As soon as the raging calmed down a little, we escaped to another place. We would move from place to place. We could not go back home, because our houses were seized by bandits.
That orphanage was a common one, there were both Jewish and Russian kids. We lived in the orphanage in the Soviet time, and at that time there were no Jewish orphanages. While living in the orphanage, we didn’t observe any Jewish holidays. But it was not out of fear or because of prohibition; we simply did not observe them. There were mainly Russians and Ukrainians and a few Jews in the orphanage. We never had any troubles on account of our Jewish nationality. Everybody there was treated equally. After my father took us away from the orphanage, we began to keep Jewish traditions again.
In 1925 our family left for Mariupol [today Ukraine], because Father had no work and we were in need. We lived in misery. At first, when we settled in Mariupol, my father also went from house to house, took orders and sewed, but later he got a job as a cutter at a garment factory.
My older brother, Boris, was sent by Father to a grammar school. The rule in those times was like this: for a Jewish child to be admitted to grammar school, his parents were to pay not only for their kid’s studies, but also for the study in this same grammar school of one or two non-Jews. So Father had to pay both for Boris, and some Russian boy.
Father was not able to pay for my studies too, and so I went to work. It was in 1925. I worked as a tin worker with a Jewish foreman. The first year I worked unpaid and lived on Father’s money, and in the second year I got fifty kopecks a week, and in the third year I already received nine rubles a week, and then 22 rubles.
After finishing grammar school my older brother went to tailor school. In 1931 he was drafted into the army. He served in an aircraft regiment first, and then was enrolled in the fleet, where he became a captain, first rank. But then he got dismissed, for he was a Jew. He was in advanced years then and after his dismissal he lived on his pension.
I worked as a tin worker, and in 1926 I was enrolled into the army. At first I was in Georgia, then in Armenia and in Turkmenistan. There I participated in battles against local bandits. I got wounded and returned as an invalid. Having done my service term, I came back to Mariupol. I worked again as a tin worker, then as a stove-maker and construction worker.
I got married in 1929. My wife’s name was Sonya, she was Jewish. We had two children. We continued living in Mariupol, I worked again as a tin worker. My wife was a worker in a fish factory. We were a family of moderate means. My father worked as a senior cutter at the garment factory. They built a four-storied house especially for the workers of this factory, so that a worker was able to buy an apartment at a low price. When I got married, my father bought an apartment for me in this house, and I lived there with my wife and children. There were three rooms in our apartment, a kitchen and a corridor, and also a bathroom and a lavatory.
A lot of Jews lived in Mariupol. For some reason, most of the personnel of the factory, where my father worked, were Jews. There were Ukrainians and Russians as well, but they were in minority. So in our house there lived mainly Jewish families.
As compared to other towns, where synagogues and churches were closed down by the Soviet regime [8], Mariupol synagogues continued to operate. There were three synagogues: one for ‘the intellectuals,’ that is, for merchants, doctors, teachers and so on, another synagogue ‘for craftspeople,’ that is, for simple workers and handicraftsmen, and the third one was the so-called Small Synagogue. The Small Synagogue was visited by people regardless of their social status, but it was meant for about 20 persons. It was generally visited by those who rarely went to the synagogue. The synagogue for ‘the intellectuals’ had space for about 50 persons. Seats there were numbered, as compared to the two other synagogues.
I and members of my family visited the synagogue ‘for craftspeople.’ It was the biggest synagogue: it had room for more than 100 persons. The synagogues were situated in different city districts.
As compared to other towns, where synagogues and churches were closed down by the Soviet regime [8], Mariupol synagogues continued to operate. There were three synagogues: one for ‘the intellectuals,’ that is, for merchants, doctors, teachers and so on, another synagogue ‘for craftspeople,’ that is, for simple workers and handicraftsmen, and the third one was the so-called Small Synagogue. The Small Synagogue was visited by people regardless of their social status, but it was meant for about 20 persons. It was generally visited by those who rarely went to the synagogue. The synagogue for ‘the intellectuals’ had space for about 50 persons. Seats there were numbered, as compared to the two other synagogues.
I and members of my family visited the synagogue ‘for craftspeople.’ It was the biggest synagogue: it had room for more than 100 persons. The synagogues were situated in different city districts.
We, as before, observed all Jewish holidays. My children attended cheder.
My wife and children were killed by the Germans during the war. On 14th August 1941 the Germans entered Mariupol. Almost all my relatives, including my father, stepmother, my wife and children were shot. As soon as the Germans came into the city, they immediately gathered all the Jews and convoyed them with their dogs along the street. In the first day they shot about one thousand men. They took their things and clothes.
Some local residents were pleased that the Jews were being killed. Few people helped Jews. It was mainly Ukrainians who helped Germans to kill Jews. From all the Jews who I knew in Mariupol only a few survived. I managed to escape shortly after the Germans came to Mariupol. I could not take either my wife, or children with me, because it was difficult to escape even for one person, and had I run together with them, we would have surely been caught.
,
1941
See text in interview
At long last I reached Leningrad and was enlisted into the national voluntary army. I was liberating Leningrad from the blockade [9], fought in the hottest places. I participated in the battles at ‘Neva spot’ [‘Neva spot’ was a place where it was practically impossible to survive, only the wounded survived there, because they were taken away and sent to the hospital.] I was wounded and taken to hospital, where I got acquainted with my second wife. Her name was Maria Nikolayevna Avilova, she was Russian. She worked as a therapist in that hospital. Having recovered, I was dismissed from the army as a war invalid in 1944, and in that same year we got married.
Jews were treated well in the army, there was no anti-Semitism. I didn’t have to conceal my religiosity and my knowledge of Yiddish.
Living in Leningrad, I tried as much as possible to observe the Jewish traditions. I attended the synagogue, each year I bought matzah. At one time, for about two years, I didn’t go to the synagogue, because I had too much work to do and just didn’t have the time for that, and then again I became a regular congregant. A lot of people always visited the Leningrad synagogue.
I celebrated all Jewish holidays and my wife celebrated them with me. I cooked stuffed fish and other Jewish meals. I learned to cook in my childhood – looking how mother did it, and remembering. Now I have a culinary book with Jewish recipes.
When my neighbors would come to congratulate me on Pesach, I would treat them to matzah and other things, and they liked it all. They, in turn, treated me to a kulich [Easter bread], eaten during Orthodox Easter.
I celebrated all Jewish holidays and my wife celebrated them with me. I cooked stuffed fish and other Jewish meals. I learned to cook in my childhood – looking how mother did it, and remembering. Now I have a culinary book with Jewish recipes.
When my neighbors would come to congratulate me on Pesach, I would treat them to matzah and other things, and they liked it all. They, in turn, treated me to a kulich [Easter bread], eaten during Orthodox Easter.
Certainly, sometimes it was necessary to work on Saturdays. I didn’t always manage to observe kosher principles, because it was very expensive to do so. Sometimes I ordered kosher food in the synagogue, but one meal used to cost 120 rubles [in the Soviet times], and I couldn’t afford to spend this much money each day.
I went to work as a painter to paint cars in the Second Taxi Park. There I worked all my life, until retirement.
I had more friends among Russians in Leningrad because the majority of people I met were Russians. Besides, in Leningrad, Jews were too shy to speak Yiddish and did not observe traditions. I know and remember many Jewish songs that I learned in childhood.
My son was registered as a Jew in his passport [11]. I had him circumcised. I took him to the synagogue, tried to teach him Yiddish. But he had closer relations with his mother and her folks, and all of them are Russian. He did not learn to speak Yiddish. He was a poor pupil in school. He did not like to study. After finishing school, he worked somewhere. All his friends were Russian. He was not interested in Jewish traditions. My grandchildren do not know of any Jewish traditions either.
Maria Lipovskaya
In Bykhov, Jews lived in the main streets. Well, there was also Bannaya Street: there was a banya [3] where the Jewish community was situated. I cannot remember how many Jewish families lived in the town at that time. The poorest Jews lived in this street. Our home was near the market, in the main street, where prosperous Jews lived.
In Belarus, Jews were generally engaged in buying-and-selling. You could also come across Jewish beggars. They would go beg around the houses. They were swearing like hell. If someone did not give them alms, they swore terribly. At seeing a beggar, mother would immediately take some bread and ask us to carry it to that person. Mother could not stand swearing. We [children] were never scolded.
We did not face anti-Semitism then. Mother said that anti-Semitism existed in Ukraine, but in the village and in Bykhov we didn’t feel it.
In Belarus, Jews were generally engaged in buying-and-selling. You could also come across Jewish beggars. They would go beg around the houses. They were swearing like hell. If someone did not give them alms, they swore terribly. At seeing a beggar, mother would immediately take some bread and ask us to carry it to that person. Mother could not stand swearing. We [children] were never scolded.
We did not face anti-Semitism then. Mother said that anti-Semitism existed in Ukraine, but in the village and in Bykhov we didn’t feel it.
The air in Bykhov was fresh. There were few cars. The houses were one-storied, some were two-storied. There were gardens around some houses.
There was a synagogue in Bykhov. My parents went to the synagogue on high Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Chanukkah and Pesach. I would also go there with my mother to pray. There was a men’s section and a women’s section in the synagogue.
There was a synagogue in Bykhov. My parents went to the synagogue on high Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Chanukkah and Pesach. I would also go there with my mother to pray. There was a men’s section and a women’s section in the synagogue.
Our parents strived to give us education. They had almost no education themselves. Father could write, and Mother could only sign: she was an orphan, nobody taught her.
When I turned seven or eight years old, I went to school in Bykhov, the first preparatory grade. This happened at the same time as the October Revolution.
When I turned seven or eight years old, I went to school in Bykhov, the first preparatory grade. This happened at the same time as the October Revolution.
Father often went to Mogilev, sent wagons of turpentine for sale and brought Jewish sausage, challah and different presents from there. He gave mother shawls, material for dresses. I will never forget how tasty that Jewish sausage and challah was! We even did not sleep at night, waiting for Father to come from Mogilev.
Mother always worked a lot. My sister Rosa loved her very much. Rosa always told her how she would be building bridges when she would grow up. My sister Rosa was named after Mom’s sister. Mother was a kind person, but we, children, thought that our father was a little more kind. My parents had friends, of course, but I remember them very poorly.
Father often went to Mogilev, sent wagons of turpentine for sale and brought Jewish sausage, challah and different presents from there. He gave mother shawls, material for dresses. I will never forget how tasty that Jewish sausage and challah was! We even did not sleep at night, waiting for Father to come from Mogilev. It was a holiday for us. Father bought almost everything himself. Mother hardly ever left the village, only on major Jewish holidays. She took care of the children and household.
Father often went to Mogilev, sent wagons of turpentine for sale and brought Jewish sausage, challah and different presents from there. He gave mother shawls, material for dresses. I will never forget how tasty that Jewish sausage and challah was! We even did not sleep at night, waiting for Father to come from Mogilev. It was a holiday for us. Father bought almost everything himself. Mother hardly ever left the village, only on major Jewish holidays. She took care of the children and household.
Our village was 12 kilometers away from Bykhov. We had a big house in the village – there were five rooms in it. The water was taken from a well, and the house was lit with kerosene lamps. We had an icehouse in our village house. When I and my sisters and brother grew up a little, we made ice cream ourselves. The house was heated with stoves, some of which had stove-benches, and some resembled German fireplaces.
We had a vegetable garden near the house. We also kept cattle: two cows and a few calves. We kept the whole household ourselves; we had no servants.
It was very nice in the village of Sledyuki. Father and I would often go to Bykhov in a cart or riding a horse. The road to town was a good one – a surfaced road. We would pass very beautiful places. There were so many berries there! Sometimes when we were riding to his plant, Father would take me to a glade rich with berries and leave me there for a couple of hours. I would eat berries to my fill and gather them in something. When Father came back, we would eat them together. The air was very fresh and pleasant. We had a very nice horse. I remember horseflies twining around her and her brushing them off with her tail.
As a child, I often played with my cousin who was the same age as me. Near our house in the town we had a ‘zavalinka’ [mound of earth round a Russian peasant house used for sitting out, and in former times – also as protection from weather] and a hillock of sand. We would play in this sand, making different ‘food’ from it.
We had a vegetable garden near the house. We also kept cattle: two cows and a few calves. We kept the whole household ourselves; we had no servants.
It was very nice in the village of Sledyuki. Father and I would often go to Bykhov in a cart or riding a horse. The road to town was a good one – a surfaced road. We would pass very beautiful places. There were so many berries there! Sometimes when we were riding to his plant, Father would take me to a glade rich with berries and leave me there for a couple of hours. I would eat berries to my fill and gather them in something. When Father came back, we would eat them together. The air was very fresh and pleasant. We had a very nice horse. I remember horseflies twining around her and her brushing them off with her tail.
As a child, I often played with my cousin who was the same age as me. Near our house in the town we had a ‘zavalinka’ [mound of earth round a Russian peasant house used for sitting out, and in former times – also as protection from weather] and a hillock of sand. We would play in this sand, making different ‘food’ from it.
My father’s name was Mordukh Girshevich Lipovski. I don’t know the exact date of his birth. Father was very good-looking, even handsome; he wore a small beard. He wore secular clothes. I don’t remember if my father wore a kippah. But I remember that he had a tallit.
My cousin Ekhiel, Uncle Isaac’s son, wanted to leave for America. Uncle Shender sent him an invitation; he did not have children himself. Then all of a sudden, my cousin got acquainted with a girl. Her name was Gita. She was an orphan and lived together with her sister. Ekhiel fell in love with her. Sometimes he called me to go for a walk with him and Gita. I was fourteen then; he must have felt more confident in my company. Ekhiel wanted to marry her and didn’t go to America; he stayed in Russia.
After the October Revolution of 1917 father was deprived of his plants. Father remained a chief engineer at one plant. There were several turpentine plants in Belarus, but Father had the best ones. They supplied these goods to Mogilev and Mogilev region, and from there it was supplied further – to Moscow, Leningrad. After the [October] Revolution, a former shoemaker became the director of the plant. We had ordered shoes from him before the Revolution, had given him the opportunity to earn money. When the shoemaker became the director, he sometimes mocked at my father being so mild, delicate and polite. Father got very upset because of his boorishness.
After the [October] Revolution, in the lean years, when I was already a kid, we saw people starving. Father would come home, cut half a loaf of bread and carry it to the starving. He would tell Mother, ‘You have half the loaf left, and tomorrow you bake skovorodniki. I will bring you flour.’ Mother baked skovorodniki, mixing dough and water like the one for pancakes, only thicker, as a skovorodnik was very thick. People respected Father so much that they always gave him flour, even on credit. Mother did not scold him very much for giving away bread to the starving, but still she got upset.
After the [October] Revolution, in the lean years, when I was already a kid, we saw people starving. Father would come home, cut half a loaf of bread and carry it to the starving. He would tell Mother, ‘You have half the loaf left, and tomorrow you bake skovorodniki. I will bring you flour.’ Mother baked skovorodniki, mixing dough and water like the one for pancakes, only thicker, as a skovorodnik was very thick. People respected Father so much that they always gave him flour, even on credit. Mother did not scold him very much for giving away bread to the starving, but still she got upset.