In 1948 the state of Israel was founded 26 and we should not forget that the USSR was the first state to acknowledge it. I was to make a speech to express my attitude toward this event on the radio. I said that I had a positive attitude toward it, but that I was against any war to say nothing about the war in the Middle East.
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Displaying 46951 - 46980 of 50826 results
Polina Levina
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Stalin’s death in March 1953 was a huge sorrow for me. He was an idol and leader for my contemporaries and me. Schoolchildren and teachers cried and were not ashamed of their tears. When Khrushchev 27 at the Twentieth Party Congress 28 denounced the cult of Stalin I didn’t believe him. I don’t believe anything bad about Stalin now. I still admire Lenin, any person can have his weak spots and a statesman is no exception.
I was going to join the Party after Stalin died in 1953. I had two letters of recommendation: one from a school inspector – this woman is still a party member, the Communist Party of Ukraine, and so am I. Another letter was from the director of the children’s home who was a member of our school party unit. The director of our school was supposed to issue a third letter of recommendation, but she refused. She didn’t explain the reason to me. So, I didn’t join the Party then. I decided that it was sufficient that I lived like a communist.
I was going to join the Party after Stalin died in 1953. I had two letters of recommendation: one from a school inspector – this woman is still a party member, the Communist Party of Ukraine, and so am I. Another letter was from the director of the children’s home who was a member of our school party unit. The director of our school was supposed to issue a third letter of recommendation, but she refused. She didn’t explain the reason to me. So, I didn’t join the Party then. I decided that it was sufficient that I lived like a communist.
In 1970 Lenin’s 100th birthday anniversary was celebrated. I went to the town party committee to obtain an application form to join the Party. They told me there that I was soon to retire and why was it that I wanted to become a communist. I didn’t get a form and even cried a little when I left there. Then I thought to myself, ‘Do if I really have to beg them?’ and decided that no, I didn’t.
In 1970 Lenin’s 100th birthday anniversary was celebrated. I went to the town party committee to obtain an application form to join the Party. They told me there that I was soon to retire and why was it that I wanted to become a communist. I didn’t get a form and even cried a little when I left there. Then I thought to myself, ‘Do if I really have to beg them?’ and decided that no, I didn’t.
I was going to join the Party after Stalin died in 1953. I had two letters of recommendation: one from a school inspector – this woman is still a party member, the Communist Party of Ukraine, and so am I. Another letter was from the director of the children’s home who was a member of our school party unit. The director of our school was supposed to issue a third letter of recommendation, but she refused. She didn’t explain the reason to me. So, I didn’t join the Party then. I decided that it was sufficient that I lived like a communist.
In 1970 Lenin’s 100th birthday anniversary was celebrated. I went to the town party committee to obtain an application form to join the Party. They told me there that I was soon to retire and why was it that I wanted to become a communist. I didn’t get a form and even cried a little when I left there. Then I thought to myself, ‘Do if I really have to beg them?’ and decided that no, I didn’t.
I retired in 1973. In 1990, at the age of 72, I submitted my application to the party committee. Many people at that time quit the Party. There was a meeting where they were expelling and admitting people. I was admitted. I still pay my monthly party fees, visit all party meetings. It’s difficult for me to do so any more now because I feel ill.
In 1970 Lenin’s 100th birthday anniversary was celebrated. I went to the town party committee to obtain an application form to join the Party. They told me there that I was soon to retire and why was it that I wanted to become a communist. I didn’t get a form and even cried a little when I left there. Then I thought to myself, ‘Do if I really have to beg them?’ and decided that no, I didn’t.
I retired in 1973. In 1990, at the age of 72, I submitted my application to the party committee. Many people at that time quit the Party. There was a meeting where they were expelling and admitting people. I was admitted. I still pay my monthly party fees, visit all party meetings. It’s difficult for me to do so any more now because I feel ill.
On weekends we went to theaters and museums. In summer we often went hitchhiking in picturesque Subcarpathia or went on tours to other towns. My daughter spent her summer vacation with her grandparents in Krivoy Rog and when she grew older I took her with me.
We always celebrated Soviet holidays at home: 1st May, 7th November 29, 9th May – Victory Day. We also celebrated the New Year and our birthdays. On Soviet holidays we went to parades with my colleagues and schoolchildren. Then there was a concert at school and then teachers and schoolchildren came to our home. We sang songs, danced and recited poems. It was a lot of fun. My daughter’s friends visited her. Adults and children had parties in different rooms.
After finishing the college Valeria got an assignment for work at the Moscow Scientific Research Institute of Communications. She works there now.
I sympathized with perestroika when it began, but not with what it led to. It led to the fall of the USSR. Everything is turned upside down now! What kind of independence is this? We are so dependable. We were not afraid of having no crops in the past since other republics came to help. What is so good about this independence? There were more possibilities to study in the past. All children could get education, while now anybody whose parents can pay can to go to university. Graduates had guaranteed jobs and received an apartment.
I was devoted to the Soviet power. I wish the Soviet regime would still exist here. You know why? For free education and medical care. Those were the biggest achievements of the Soviet power. It seems to be such anarchy now: I cannot understand what is going on.
I was devoted to the Soviet power. I wish the Soviet regime would still exist here. You know why? For free education and medical care. Those were the biggest achievements of the Soviet power. It seems to be such anarchy now: I cannot understand what is going on.
The only thing that has improved lately is Jewish life. I know what the attitude towards Jews was like in the past and how it has changed. There is a Jewish community in Uzhgorod. They restore Jewish traditions, but not only that. In 1994 my TV caused a big fire at my home. The Jewish community helped me a lot.
In 1999 Hesed was established in Uzhgorod. They improved our life significantly. I rarely take part in the numerous cultural events in Hesed. I don’t know traditions or the language, but I read a lot. I recently read about Purim, I read the Torah from time to time. Going out is a problem for me and Hesed sends a car to take me to a cultural event.
My life has become easier since Hesed supports me. Old people receive food packages and single old people have meals delivered to their homes. I’ve never had any housemaids, but now I have a woman who comes to help me about the house. It is very important, especially after I broke my leg.
Hesed provides big assistance: they provide medications to Jewish people in hospitals and also give us money to buy medications that we need. I’ve met many kind people in my life, but Hesed is the first organization doing good that I know.
My life has become easier since Hesed supports me. Old people receive food packages and single old people have meals delivered to their homes. I’ve never had any housemaids, but now I have a woman who comes to help me about the house. It is very important, especially after I broke my leg.
Hesed provides big assistance: they provide medications to Jewish people in hospitals and also give us money to buy medications that we need. I’ve met many kind people in my life, but Hesed is the first organization doing good that I know.
Tsylia Liatun
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When in 1940 Soviet troops came to Latvia my father said 'That's it, friends, life is over'. This was true. Soviet authorities allowed only to have a small apartment with standard 4 square meters per person. We were looking for a small apartment, but it was not an easy mission. We found a 3-room apartment that was still way too big. We let the family of director of school move in with us. Soviet authorities demanded that father paid taxes for the store and when father showed them confirmation that he had paid all taxes they said ‘You’ve paid to Latvians and now you will pay the Soviet authorities’. My father didn’t have any cash since his money was in circulation. We sold our chandelier, carpets and many other things from home to pay this tax, but we didn’t get sufficient amount. The store was confiscated and my parents lost their job.
One night in 1941 two NKVD 6 officers came to our home to declare that we were to be deported. My father was just an exploiter for Soviet officials that made his living exploiting hard work of shop assistants and other employees.
On 14 June 1941 my mother and I were deported to Siberia and my father was sent to a concentration camp. This was the hardest day in my life. This was the last time I saw my sister and my father. My father went to a camp by train on that day. I was searching for him for a long while later. I wrote requests to NKVD and to all camps, but they responded that they didn’t have any information about him. I heard about my father from the father of my school friend Esia Kaplan. Her father was in the same camp where my father was. He survived. After he was released he found me and said that my father was sent to Perm region near Solikamsk town [2 300 kms to the northeast from Odessa]. The camp was at the wood cutting facility. My father lived there in the camp for over a year. He worked at the wood cutting facility for a year and then fell ill. He had kidney problems. He died either of starvation or disease in December 1942.
On 14 June 1941 my mother and I were deported to Siberia and my father was sent to a concentration camp. This was the hardest day in my life. This was the last time I saw my sister and my father. My father went to a camp by train on that day. I was searching for him for a long while later. I wrote requests to NKVD and to all camps, but they responded that they didn’t have any information about him. I heard about my father from the father of my school friend Esia Kaplan. Her father was in the same camp where my father was. He survived. After he was released he found me and said that my father was sent to Perm region near Solikamsk town [2 300 kms to the northeast from Odessa]. The camp was at the wood cutting facility. My father lived there in the camp for over a year. He worked at the wood cutting facility for a year and then fell ill. He had kidney problems. He died either of starvation or disease in December 1942.
My sister Rebecca and her daughter Atara perished in the ghetto in Riga. Germans exterminated children and then shot women in the Forest Part.
On 22 June the Great Patriotic War began when we were on the train.
We were taken to Taseevo village in Krasnoyarsk region, Siberia, [4 400 kms to the northeast from Odessa]. We stayed there for 9months. I didn’t work at the beginning, but then I went to the local NKVD office asking them to provide employment to me. They sent me to work on the bank of the river where I had to cut planks from logs. To do this work one didn’t need any education.
In 1948 somebody told me about establishment of the state of Israel. I was happy, but only in my thoughts. At that time I couldn’t share my joy with anyone, but mother.
He was kept in jail for a year and in 1949 he was sent to reside in Igarka town where he got a job as a laborer at the timber facility. We met there. We couldn’t obtain a permit to get married for a long time: the authorities kept telling us that we needed a permit from Moscow. We got married in 1950 and in 1951 our daughter Tatiana was born.
In 1953 Stalin died. The only thing we were sorry about was that he hadn’t died 10 years before. There would have been less suffering. In 1954 after Stalin’s death we received temporary identity cards and later we received passports with a note that we were convicts. My friends advised me to submit a request to have my passport reissued explaining that I had lost mine. I, my mother and my husband received another passport without the note about my being a convict.
In 1960 we moved to my husband’s sister in the very little town of Boyarka near Kiev. There were almost no Jews there then. She had two small summerhouses near Kiev and offered us to stay in one of these houses. Alexandr agreed and we moved there. There was no electricity or heating in the house, but this could hardly discourage us after all hardships we went through. We refurbished the house, installed the heating system and the lighting. My husband got a job at the varnish-and-paint in Kiev that an acquaintance of his helped him to get. He commuted to Kiev by train every day. He got a salary of 100 rubles. After he retired he did the housework: cleaned, washed and cooked and kept rabbits and chickens. He was very good at keeping the house since I was too busy working at a shop.
Time changes, but people remain the same. Through my whole life I’ve heard something abusive about my nationality said by the people I knew. I had a colleague. We worked together for many years and were on good terms, but she said once that if her son married a Jewish girl she would hang herself. I said ‘Shall I bring you a rope – go on, hang yourself!
My granddaughter Dana studied at a secondary school, but she kept complaining that teachers yelled at children, hit them on their hands and didn’t treat Jewish children well. Dana suffered from anti-Semitism a lot. My son-in-law Alexandr was so upset about it. When the Jewish center ‘Migdal’ opened in Odessa children decided to send Dana there. Children studied Hebrew and Jewish traditions in Migdal.
Anyway, when we came to Jerusalem he looked at me and said that he had no more doubts! Finally the dream of my early youth came true: I saw Promised Land with my own eyes. I met my cousin Eta and the friends of my childhood in Riga I did not see for ages.
My grandson Mitia studies at the Jewish school ‘Or Sameah’ and attends the Jewish center ‘Migdal’. He wears a kippah and says that if somebody doesn’t like it let them not look at him.
We try to observe kashrut at home. Of course, we don’t have kosher dishes nor can we afford to buy kosher food in Odessa, but at least we don’t mix meat and dairy products. At Sabbath Tatiana lights two candles and we have dinner.
Volunteers from Gemilut Hesed visit me ringing food and Jewish newspapers.
My grandfather on my mother’s side Shymon Videtskiy was born in Riga [Latvia, then the part of Russia]. Regretfully, I cannot tell you even approximate date of his birth. All I know about him is that he was a high skilled tailor. He was particularly good at darning that was a very rare skill at the time. He could darn a tailcoat or tuxedo in such fashion that couldn’t even find the spot that he had darned. Grandfather cut fabrics and grandmother and an employee assisted him to put together a shirt or another piece of clothing. My grandfather was a tall man with gray hair. He had a terrific sense of humor and he was called ‘governor of laughter’: he knew a number of anecdotes and knew when to tell a joke. My grandparents lived in a 3-room apartment in Marinyinskaya Street near the center of the city. It wasn’t richly furnished, but it was ideally clean and tidy. My grandfather wore ordinary clothes. When going to synagogue he put on a kippah or a hat. There were quite a few synagogues in Riga, but grandfather went to the main synagogue in Gogol Street. It was a beautiful synagogue. Germans burnt it with people inside during the Great Patriotic War 1. In the morning grandfather prayed, having his tallit on. We often visited grandparents at Sabbath. Grandmother put on a kerchief and lit two candles and grandfather said kiddush. They spoke Yiddish in the family. At the end of his life grandfather had diabetes and went blind. Grandfather died in 1930 when I was 7 years old. He was buried in accordance with the Jewish traditions. There was a Chevra Kaddisha at the synagogue: undertaker’s group. They put special clothing on my grandfather [takrikhim – simple linen shroud.] My mother was wearing a torn dress and the family observed shivah for a week. We were overwhelmed with grief: we loved grandfather a lot.
Grandmother Rosa was shot by Germans in 1941 when Riga was occupied.
Max’ wife perished in a German concentration camp. They had three children: older son Walter, daughter Ilza and a younger son, whose name I don’t remember. Walter was married to a German woman. They had three children.. After Hitler came to power Walter’s wife got a divorce and left with her daughter. Walter and his sons (they were circumcised) perished in a concentration camp in Germany in 1940. Uncle Max’ second son emigrated to South America at the beginning of 1933. I have no more information about him. Max’ daughter Ilza moved to her grandmother Dora in Riga hoping to move to South America from there, but she failed. Ilza perished in 1941 when Germans occupied Latvia. She and my grandmother Rosa were shot.
I remember my father’s mother Shprintse Kats well. She was born in 1863. I guess, she was born in Lithuania [then the part of Russia]; I don’t know her maiden name. My grandmother spoke German, Russian and Lithuanian. She read a lot. She used to read a pile of newspapers. I guess, she must have got education, but I don’t know where she studied. Grandmother spoke Yiddish at home. She was very religious. She didn’t wear a wig, but she always had her head covered with a lace kerchief. Grandmother strictly observed kashrut and watched that all members of the family observed the rules using the right utensils and tableware. She celebrated Sabbath and taught my sister and me that a woman was to light two candles and a girl – one candle and we liked listening to her.