Iyah Dziekovskaya’s father Vladimir Dziekovskiy.

This is my father Vladimir Dziekovskiy. This photo was taken in Kiev in 1929. This photograph was taken for the college diploma.

My father Vladimir Dziekovskiy, Ukrainian, was born in Sevastianovka village of Kamenets-Podolskiy district Podolsk province (present Khmelnitskiy region) in 1891. My father finished a grammar school and entered the Law Faculty of Kiev University. Upon graduation from the university my father lived in Belaya Tserkov where he worked as a lawyer in an office.  At the time when my mother, grandmother and my mother's sister were hiding from Denikin troops there was a Jewish pogrom in Belaya Tserkov.  My father was a strong and brave man, but he turned pale when telling me about this pogrom. He said there was nothing more terrifying in his life.  My father gave shelter to Jews in an outhouse in his yard. I don't know how they heard about it, but Jews from all over the town were running to hide there. There were so many people in this house that they could only stand close to one another. Little children were pressing their hands to their mouths to keep silent. This was so horrifying that my father couldn't speak. He came into the yard showing them where to go. My father recalled that all of a sudden it became very quiet and my father saw children running to him dragging a paralyzed old man with a white beard and his hand was hitting against the pavement. The sound of this hitting imprinted on his memory for the rest of his life. However, it worked all right: it never occurred to anybody to look for Jews at my father's home.  He rescued many of them. After these memorable events my parents never parted. My grandmother had nothing against their marriage. She as a broad-minded person and respected and loved my father ultimately. 

When the Civil War was over my father like my mother also entered the Medical Faculty in Kiev having legal education already. Later my father worked as a forensic medical expert combining his two diplomas.