Tag #135190 - Interview #77957 (Rachel Gitelis)

My mother told me about the pogroms [2] in Ladyzhin in 1920, which were organized by the gangs of Petliura [3]. People were hiding in their cellars then. We had no cellar. My mother was looking for shelter, but nobody let her in. People were afraid that a small child - I was two years old - would make a noise and that bandits would find out where they were hiding. My mother was embarrassed. Accidentally I slipped out of her trembling arms and fell into another cellar. The kind people hiding inside not only caught me but also let my mother come in with the other children. Later these people were saying that I brought them luck because they all stayed alive. While hiding in cellars during pogroms my mother got kidney problems from the cold and dampness. In 1923-1924 she had a surgery and one kidney was removed. She had a surgery at a private clinic in Odessa. I suffered from headaches after I fell into the cellar.