Tag #150807 - Interview #97113 (Semyon Goldwar)

1932–1933 were years of famine [5]. My father worked at a construction site in the daytime and studied at the Institute in the evening. My father took empty containers to the Institute where he received a free meal that he took home. There was some mixture for the first course called ‘green borsch’. My mother added some water and carrots to it to make it eatable. And there was some cereal for the second course. My mother worked at the Torgsin [6] at the New Market. My mother received her salary in rubles and a portion of it was calculated in hard currency, only they couldn’t have it, but could receive butter or sugar for it. My parents also received tram tickets at work – 30-60 tickets that I used to sell 15 kopecks each at a tram stop to make some money. My parents walked to work. Tram 15 that commuted from Slobodka to the center of the town stopped near the Duke’s Garden where all passengers got off the tram to walk uphill and the tram climbed the hill empty. The tram was not powerful enough to go up the hill with the passengers on. On top of the hill all passengers got in to continue on their way. I also remember when my father bought a box of cigarette paper he and my mother stuffed them with tobacco and I went to sell them at the market. I was selling them humming the tune: ‘Kupite, koyft di papirosn’. [This is the first line of a well-known Yiddish song.] My mother and I were trying to do our best to help my father provide for the family.