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My father and mother switched to the Jewish language when they didn’t want me to understand the subject of their discussion. We lived in thee very center of the city near the Ukrainian Drama Theater. My parents went to this and to the Opera Theaters. My mother and father often went to the Jewish Theater located quite near from us. They never missed one performance. My parents also took me with them, probably trying to fill up the gap in my Jewish education. There was also a Jewish Theater for children in Kiev, where my parents also took me, but I can’t remember it as well as I remember the one for adults. The actors spoke Yiddish, but somehow I could understand what it was about. My father bought performance booklets in Yiddish and Ukrainian: I read a brief summary of the performance and could guess what was happening on the stage. This theater staged Jewish classics and modern plays. I remember the titles: ‘The Witch’, ‘An Enchanted Tailor’, ‘A girl from Moscow’ that was my favorite. It was a story about a girl from Moscow who came to a Jewish town and learned about everyday life and ways of Jews. I particularly liked Jewish songs and dances in this play: they taught the girl dancing. Then I decided to become an actress. Since the 1st format school I took part in school performances, the so-called ‘staging’, when children recited slogans taking turns, like ‘five in four, five in four, rather than five..’ about completion of five-year plans [12] in four years. I recited the ‘rather than five’ line. I liked reciting poems and dancing in the school ensemble. I remember, when I had a dark pink tutu made for me for a celebration, but I fell ill and this tutu was never used. In the evacuation I missed it. In 1939 we had a New Year Tree at home for the first time: this was when Soviet authorities allowed the New Year celebration that was forbidden before as vestige of religion. My father brought home a huge tree, as high as the ceiling. I remember Ira Mezhibovskaya with whom we spent a lot of time together. My parents and I went to the cinema. We watched the ‘Circus’ and ‘Merry Guys’ that I liked a lot.
I remember my father’s concerned looks, when he came home from work. He seemed to not notice me at once. Only when I grew up, I realized that my parents were protecting me from everything evil and fearful that was happening in those years. I didn’t know that uncle Zinoviy was arrested until after the war. My father also feared arrest, but fortunately, this did not happen.
In May 1940 my brother Roman was born. At first I cried since I was expecting a sister and my parents teased me, but then I loved my brother.
I remember my father’s concerned looks, when he came home from work. He seemed to not notice me at once. Only when I grew up, I realized that my parents were protecting me from everything evil and fearful that was happening in those years. I didn’t know that uncle Zinoviy was arrested until after the war. My father also feared arrest, but fortunately, this did not happen.
In May 1940 my brother Roman was born. At first I cried since I was expecting a sister and my parents teased me, but then I loved my brother.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Isabella Karanchuk