My mother's, Basia Tevievna Shub, Birth Certificate, issued in 1928, in Kiev, on the basis of the certificate confirming her birth in Zhytkovichi in 1912. The language of this Birth Certificate is Ukrainian and Yiddish.
They struggled to survive. We settled down in a building on the embankment. We had a state-owned apartment and I don't know how my grandmother managed to receive it. The family lived in two small rooms. This was a two-storied building. Our family lived on the first floor. Grandmother realized she needed to do something to survive. And she took to baking rolls. Older sisters (Asia and mamma) were selling them. They Lived in Podol and it was difficult to sell things there. They had to go downtown - Kreschatik (central street) or Bessarabka (central market) to sell their bakeries. There was a streetcar, connecting Krasnaya square (in Podol) with the Philarmonic. But it cost money, and mamma couldn't afford it. Mamma, to save some money, walked up the hill holding a basket with little pies. They were doing this for some time before NEP (New Economic Policy) was introduced. During NEP it was possible to sell things, but taxes were more than the family could bear. They were poor again. Then they bought a special machine for making stockings. They were selling them at Bessarabka and thus could afford to buy some food. But the children needed to study. Mamma only studied in the primary Jewish school in Zhytkovichi. Later on she didn't have an opportunity to study. She was reading textbooks while making stockings, and then she passed her entrance exams to the construction school
