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On my father's side I'm an Odessite of the third generation. My great- grandfather's name is on the 1832 list of the blacksmith's guild of Odessa that I found in the state archives of Odessa region. My great-grandfather, Shymon Feldman, a citizen of Olev, was a blacksmith. The Feldmans came from the town of Olev, Volyn province. [Editor's note: Olev is a town in Ovruch district, Volyn province, according to the polls of 1897 there were 2,070 residents and 1,187 of them were Jews.]
I knew my grandfather Pavel Shymonovich Feldman. His Jewish name was Peisach. He was born in Odessa in the 1860s and was a blacksmith. He probably owned a forge. My grandfather was an atheist and hated the employees involved in a cult and attending the synagogue. He called them gots ganovim [God's thieves in Yiddish]. He wore common clothes: boots and a jacket, and in winter he wore a sheepskin jacket. He had a beard and moustache. I also remember my grandmother arguing with Grandfather Pavel in 1926 yelling at him, 'Are you a Jew, do you think? You are a katsap [derogatory term for 'a Russian' in Ukrainian], you eat salo!' and he replied, 'I'm a worker. I need to eat well. My eating a small piece of salo won't hurt God and if it does...' - further he went on to scold in dirty Russian. [Editor's note: salo is a type of salted or smoked bacon without meat', eaten with bread and very popular in Ukraine.]
My paternal grandmother was born in Odessa in the 1870s. I don't remember the exact date of her birth or her name - it's just some gap in my memory. My grandmother was very religious. She went to the synagogue in Treugolny Lane in the center of the town. I remember her doing her laundry in the yard, which was common for housewives in Odessa. She took a very close look at the foam - what if soap was made with pork fat? She often made gefilte fish. She wore common clothes suitable for her age. She didn't wear a kerchief. My grandparents died in the late 1920s and were buried in the Jewish cemetery. They had three sons: my father Semyon, Miron, Michael and a daughter, Polina.
I knew my grandfather Pavel Shymonovich Feldman. His Jewish name was Peisach. He was born in Odessa in the 1860s and was a blacksmith. He probably owned a forge. My grandfather was an atheist and hated the employees involved in a cult and attending the synagogue. He called them gots ganovim [God's thieves in Yiddish]. He wore common clothes: boots and a jacket, and in winter he wore a sheepskin jacket. He had a beard and moustache. I also remember my grandmother arguing with Grandfather Pavel in 1926 yelling at him, 'Are you a Jew, do you think? You are a katsap [derogatory term for 'a Russian' in Ukrainian], you eat salo!' and he replied, 'I'm a worker. I need to eat well. My eating a small piece of salo won't hurt God and if it does...' - further he went on to scold in dirty Russian. [Editor's note: salo is a type of salted or smoked bacon without meat', eaten with bread and very popular in Ukraine.]
My paternal grandmother was born in Odessa in the 1870s. I don't remember the exact date of her birth or her name - it's just some gap in my memory. My grandmother was very religious. She went to the synagogue in Treugolny Lane in the center of the town. I remember her doing her laundry in the yard, which was common for housewives in Odessa. She took a very close look at the foam - what if soap was made with pork fat? She often made gefilte fish. She wore common clothes suitable for her age. She didn't wear a kerchief. My grandparents died in the late 1920s and were buried in the Jewish cemetery. They had three sons: my father Semyon, Miron, Michael and a daughter, Polina.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Victor Feldman