Another girl I loved (one among many) was Elza Kelzon. And she loved me, too. She came to our school in the second class; she was a Jewess, born in Kerch. Her cousin Misha also studied with us; during the war he was lost at the front. Elza married our schoolmate Ilya Babich, a Jew. They named their son Ilya. Later they divorced and Ilya Babich lived in Moscow, and she lived in Kerch. But their son suffered from heart disease. At the age of 17 he was brought by Elza to Moscow to go through surgery, but died during operation. Later Elza married a person from Kharkov, who moved to Kerch specially, and their life was very good.
- Traditions 11756
- Language spoken 3019
- Identity 7808
- Description of town 2440
- Education, school 8506
- Economics 8772
- Work 11672
- Love & romance 4929
- Leisure/Social life 4159
- Antisemitism 4822
-
Major events (political and historical)
4256
- Armenian genocide 2
- Doctor's Plot (1953) 178
- Soviet invasion of Poland 31
- Siege of Leningrad 86
- The Six Day War 4
- Yom Kippur War 2
- Ataturk's death 5
- Balkan Wars (1912-1913) 35
- First Soviet-Finnish War 37
- Occupation of Czechoslovakia 1938 83
- Invasion of France 9
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 65
- Varlik Vergisi (Wealth Tax) 36
- First World War (1914-1918) 216
- Spanish flu (1918-1920) 14
- Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920) 4
- The Great Depression (1929-1933) 20
- Hitler comes to power (1933) 127
- 151 Hospital 1
- Fire of Thessaloniki (1917) 9
- Greek Civil War (1946-49) 12
- Thessaloniki International Trade Fair 5
- Annexation of Bukovina to Romania (1918) 7
- Annexation of Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union (1940) 19
- The German invasion of Poland (1939) 94
- Kishinev Pogrom (1903) 7
- Romanian Annexation of Bessarabia (1918) 25
- Returning of the Hungarian rule in Transylvania (1940-1944) 43
- Soviet Occupation of Bessarabia (1940) 59
- Second Vienna Dictate 27
- Estonian war of independence 3
- Warsaw Uprising 2
- Soviet occupation of the Balitc states (1940) 147
- Austrian Civil War (1934) 9
- Anschluss (1938) 71
- Collapse of Habsburg empire 3
- Dollfuß Regime 3
- Emigration to Vienna before WWII 36
- Kolkhoz 131
- KuK - Königlich und Kaiserlich 40
- Mineriade 1
- Post War Allied occupation 7
- Waldheim affair 5
- Trianon Peace Treaty 12
- NEP 56
- Russian Revolution 351
- Ukrainian Famine 199
- The Great Terror 283
- Perestroika 233
- 22nd June 1941 468
- Molotov's radio speech 115
- Victory Day 147
- Stalin's death 365
- Khrushchev's speech at 20th Congress 148
- KGB 62
- NKVD 153
- German occupation of Hungary (18-19 March 1944) 45
- Józef Pilsudski (until 1935) 33
- 1956 revolution 84
- Prague Spring (1968) 73
- 1989 change of regime 174
- Gomulka campaign (1968) 81
-
Holocaust
9685
- Holocaust (in general) 2789
- Concentration camp / Work camp 1235
- Mass shooting operations 337
- Ghetto 1183
- Death / extermination camp 647
- Deportation 1063
- Forced labor 791
- Flight 1410
- Hiding 594
- Resistance 121
- 1941 evacuations 866
- Novemberpogrom / Kristallnacht 34
- Eleftherias Square 10
- Kasztner group 1
- Pogrom in Iasi and the Death Train 21
- Sammelwohnungen 9
- Strohmann system 11
- Struma ship 17
- Life under occupation 803
- Yellow star house 72
- Protected house 15
- Arrow Cross ("nyilasok") 42
- Danube bank shots 6
- Kindertransport 26
- Schutzpass / false papers 95
- Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) 24
- Warsaw Uprising (1944) 23
- Helpers 521
- Righteous Gentiles 269
- Returning home 1090
- Holocaust compensation 112
- Restitution 109
- Property (loss of property) 595
- Loss of loved ones 1724
- Trauma 1029
- Talking about what happened 1807
- Liberation 558
- Military 3322
- Politics 2640
-
Communism
4468
- Life in the Soviet Union/under Communism (in general) 2592
- Anti-communist resistance in general 63
- Nationalization under Communism 221
- Illegal communist movements 98
- Systematic demolitions under communism 45
- Communist holidays 311
- Sentiments about the communist rule 930
- Collectivization 94
- Experiences with state police 349
- Prison/Forced labor under communist/socialist rule 449
- Lack or violation of human and citizen rights 483
- Life after the change of the regime (1989) 493
- Israel / Palestine 2190
- Zionism 847
- Jewish Organizations 1200
Displaying 48571 - 48600 of 50826 results
Boris Lesman
![](/themes/custom/centro/flags/ru.svg)
I am sure that in Kerch there were no synagogues! [The interviewee is mistaken: in Kerch there still remain buildings of several synagogues.
Visiting New York, I went to synagogue for the first time in my life. Its building was rather roomy, there were two floors, but I had not visited any other synagogues and had no chance to compare.
We lived in Kerch, in a communal flat [12]. We had two rooms, and there were two families of our neighbors (i.e. two rooms more in the flat). Anteroom was very large – about 40 square meters. It also served as a common kitchen: a kerosene stove was situated there. Of course, there was no bathroom, no water supply. There was a water-pump in our court yard – some sort of an old-fashioned waterpipe: we had to carry pailfuls of water to the second floor. We had to go to a bath-house to wash ourselves. Toilet was situated in the corner of our court yard, of course, it was common. There was electricity supply, strange as it may seem.
In the first room to the right from the entrance there lived a lonely girl, who was sometimes visited by men at night. Some guy lived at her for a short period of time, later he disappeared somewhere, and after that another young guy came to her place. I remember it well, because I was a child and I saw them coming and leaving. The second room was occupied by a couple with a daughter. Their daughter was my coeval, but she studied not at my school, therefore I was not in touch with her.
And the rest two rooms were occupied by our family. The second wife of my father had a child, whose surname was Ghin (the surname of her first husband Ghin). He was nine years younger than me (born in 1932, probably in Kerch); and we lived together with him in the same room: his bed, my bed. My father together with Dorah Isaacovna lived in the other room. We had neither servants, nor baby-sitters.
In the first room to the right from the entrance there lived a lonely girl, who was sometimes visited by men at night. Some guy lived at her for a short period of time, later he disappeared somewhere, and after that another young guy came to her place. I remember it well, because I was a child and I saw them coming and leaving. The second room was occupied by a couple with a daughter. Their daughter was my coeval, but she studied not at my school, therefore I was not in touch with her.
And the rest two rooms were occupied by our family. The second wife of my father had a child, whose surname was Ghin (the surname of her first husband Ghin). He was nine years younger than me (born in 1932, probably in Kerch); and we lived together with him in the same room: his bed, my bed. My father together with Dorah Isaacovna lived in the other room. We had neither servants, nor baby-sitters.
, Russia
One sister of my mother (aunt Sofia) was hung in Pervomaysk together with my grandmother and my brother Naum, who was 16 or 17 years old at that time (he did not manage to evacuate).
,
During WW2
See text in interview
As far as I know, Anna together with her mother (my aunt and a wife of Lev) left for Israel after collapse of the USSR [10]. It seems to me that later they left Israel for Paris.
,
After WW2
See text in interview
The fourth was Vitalia Lesman, a great architect: there are a lot of buildings constructed according to her project in Sverdlovsk and one or two buildings in Leningrad. [Sverdlovsk is a large industrial center in Urals, nowadays Ekaterinburg.]
The fifth was Deborah Lesman. She was a pianist.
The fifth was Deborah Lesman. She was a pianist.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
He died here, in Leningrad, from starvation, during the siege [7]. I was the last one from our family to see him, because all the family members had been evacuated, but him: he was going to leave Leningrad together with Electrossila employees a bit later. I used to visit him in his apartment in Michurinskaya Street. Last time I brought him crackers and 2 packs of tobacco (I received it as I was a cadet). I said ‘Uncle, I am leaving tomorrow.’ I remember him together with his neighbour sitting on the stove, trying to get warm. They had all their clothes on, because it was terribly cold in the apartment. It was in December, I was evacuated in December 1941, and he had to leave a couple of days later together with the factory staff. And as I got to know from documents, he died literally several days after our last meeting.
Uncle Manila worked at the Electrossila factory. [Electrossila factory was one of the largest electrotechnical enterprises in the USSR.
He was a splendid chess player: he managed to trim Botvinnik at chess several times, when Botvinnik was young. [Botvinnik was a well known USSR world champion in chess.] A journal named Chess Bulletin remained intact somewhere at ours, where there was a series of photos named ‘Emanuil Lesman’s Display of Multi-Board Chess in Berlin’. He was acquainted with Kapablanka. [Khose Raul Kapablanka, a Cuban, was one of the world champions in chess.] He also knew Lasker and Reshevsky (American grand masters and champions).
The senior brother Samuil was born in 1897 (but I am not sure). He lived in Leningrad (at that time Petrograd); he was called up for military service in tsatist army, where he was an ensign (a junior lieutenant). To tell the truth, he became an officer in haste – just like me when I became a lieutenant two months after the war burst out. After the end of the war he was not subjected to repression [at that time Soviet authorities annihilated officers of the tsarist army], because he did not fight against Red Army [6]. But as he was a tsarist army officer, he was deprived of some rights: in 1920s he could not find work and managed to get fixed up in a job of photographer in a photostudio.
After the end of the war my father worked in Simferopol (Crimea) in regional consumers union. [Simferopol is a large city in the south of Crimea.] He was an extremely good lawyer – even Moscow lawyers invited his suggestions.
Several years later he married a Jewess; her name was Dorah Isaacovna Shuster (probably later she changed her surname for Lesman).
Among those relatives of my fathers, whom I was acquainted with, only uncle Abram was extremely religious, in contrast to my father’s brothers and sisters.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
My mother knew Yiddish. Both my father and I did not. I understand Yiddish a little, because I knew German well. We did not speak Hebrew at all. My grandmother left, and members of our family started speaking only Russian.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
My father and my mother were not religious, because they were brought up and lived among Russians.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
My father had no juridical education. He studied at the Aircraft Engineering College in tsarist Russia, but did not graduate from it. We have his photo in pilot’s uniform: civil, not military. After the revolution of 1917 he studied at some juridical courses and later worked as a legal adviser at different institutions. My mother only finished school, because in 1917 she was 16 years old - and reorganization of the country already started. She worked as a typist, and after her marriage she did not work, she was a housewife.
After the revolution of 1917, in 1920s my father worked in GPU (State Political Department) [3] as an investigator (he was a lawyer); and my Mum worked as a typist and a secretary in our soviet revolutionary bodies. And when White Army soldiers [4] came to Kherson (where she lived and worked at that time), she was arrested. She was kept in prison and was sentenced to death. Later the White Guard [5] members were dislodged, she was released from the prison, and my father got acquainted with her holding an investigation. They got married in 1921 or 1922.
The wife of Semen Moisseevich left for France together with an officer, she deserted her husband Semen and their son. It happened during the revolutionary days of 1917. And they never spoke about her. I never saw her.
,
1917
See text in interview
Uncle Abram celebrated all Jewish holidays; he could read Hebrew well; he was religious. And uncle Semen was not so religious, but he took part in celebration of all holidays.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
He wore ordinary (secular) clothes (a suit of clothes and a tie); he had no payes; He was very handsome, he had long gray hair, moustache and a beard. At that time all men had beards, and uncle Semen had it, too.
Abram Moisseevich was one of the most devout Jews in the town. Russian tsar Nicolas II [2] held him in high respect and offered him a post of minister (sure, in case he denied his faith and accepted Christianity), but my uncle refused.
They had a housemaid. Oh, no: they had a servant! At that time there were no housemaids, only servants, and I do not remember her name. She was Russian, she had lived at them for hundred years (from her childhood to her death). By that time she was already very old: a good bit older than both my uncles (and they were about seventy or even older …). But she was full of mischief! I remember her, when she was younger. I knew her for about ten years: possibly from 1930s. And I do not remember when she died. She was very slim, short, but full of mischief! She practically became a family member. She cooked, washed, and cleaned, and also helped me to take a bath. She used to heat the bathroom and say ‘Let’s go! Let’s take a bath!’ She was there to order about; she was the mistress of the house. She was paid for her job, moreover: when we came back or left the house, uncle Abram always told my father ‘Moissey, have you given money?’ It was always an extra sum of money. And my father used to leave money somewhere on the table (he never delivered anything into anybody’s hands). Uncle Abram kept vigilant watch over it.
Uncle Semen, uncle Abram and Vitalia and Deborah (two sisters of my father) occupied four rooms: Vitalia in the first room, Deborah in the second one, both grandfathers slept in the third room, and the fourth one was their sitting room. They also had a bathroom: they burned wood to heat it, because there was no central heating. But they had electricity supply (they lived in Leningrad, thank goodness!). There also was a large kitchen and two corridors.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
Later Boris left for Tashkent, where he worked in Tashkent conservatoire as a professor (a composer: he was an author of several musical compositions). [Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan.] Before the war they showed film Submarine Т9, where he was a composer.
They had there an eight-room apartment. Later, after the Revolution of 1917 [1], when the authorities started reducing space per person in living accommodation [they used to move poor homeless people to rich apartments of bourgeoisie], they gave four rooms to his relative Boris Zeydeman unbesought.
And my grandmother Rebecca, as far as I know, was an owner of a bookstore and a stationer's shop.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
My paternal grandfather Boris Moisseevich was a poet. I have a book of his poems issued in 1890.
My paternal grandfather Boris Moisseevich was a poet. I have a book of his poems issued in 1890.
,
Before WW2
See text in interview
Pervomaysk is a city of Nikolaev region; it is situated on Yuzhniy Bug River]. Germans appeared there soon. They hang her, as I know, together with my aunt and Naum, my cousin. Their dead bodies were hanging several days: Germans had forbidden taking them down. They put a tablet ‘Judas’ on them.
, Ukraine