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My older brother Dodik, chairman of the kolkhoz in Mayaki, married Marusia, a Russian girl, in 1933. Their daughter’s name was Luda. Our father was far from chauvinistic, but he didn’t like Marusia. My older sister Shyfra married a Russian man, but my father respected her husband a lot. Shyfra’s husband, Tima Sivak, was a nice man. He was born in Mayaki in 1903. He was a driver. They had three children: Vitia, Roma and Lusia.
My younger sister Milia also got married. Her husband’s name was Grisha Dyogot. They had three children: Lyonia, Boria and Raya. Milia’s husband was a Jew. He observed all Jewish traditions.
My younger brothers Lyova, Grisha and Froim moved to Odessa in 1935. They lived with me. Lyova and Grisha worked as carpenters at the theatrical company. Froim studied at the Euromol School on the corner of Bazarnaya and Kanatnaya Street in the center of the town and worked as a turner there. Lyova and Froim were single. Grisha was also a bachelor before the Great Patriotic War.
Our father continued working as a cabinetmaker in a frontier unit. He lived in our old apartment in Mayaki. In 1929 I helped him to buy a house in Mayaki. My father lived in this house with Shyfra’s family. There were three rooms in the house: two bigger and one smaller room. There were old pieces of furniture. There was no place to buy furniture in the village. They stoked the stoves with coal and wood. They had a kitchen garden and kept poultry. We helped them with their kitchen garden.
We liked to visit our father. We went to the bank of the Dnestr, swam and lay in the sun. My father liked his grandchildren. He spoke Russian with them. Shyfra’s children spoke Yiddish – my father taught them.
There was no anti-Semitism in Odessa before the Great Patriotic War. People were not ashamed of their names. There was no national segregation between Jews and Russians. My wife and I often went to the Jewish theater in Odessa. My father and sisters also went to the Jewish theater on Grecheskaya Street when they came to visit me. We liked performances with Liya Bugova acting. She worked in the Russian theater after the war. We watched ‘A grois gevin’ by Sholem Aleichem 17 and ‘The Servant of Two Masters’ by Carlo Goldoni [(1707-1793): Italian playwright].
My younger sister Milia also got married. Her husband’s name was Grisha Dyogot. They had three children: Lyonia, Boria and Raya. Milia’s husband was a Jew. He observed all Jewish traditions.
My younger brothers Lyova, Grisha and Froim moved to Odessa in 1935. They lived with me. Lyova and Grisha worked as carpenters at the theatrical company. Froim studied at the Euromol School on the corner of Bazarnaya and Kanatnaya Street in the center of the town and worked as a turner there. Lyova and Froim were single. Grisha was also a bachelor before the Great Patriotic War.
Our father continued working as a cabinetmaker in a frontier unit. He lived in our old apartment in Mayaki. In 1929 I helped him to buy a house in Mayaki. My father lived in this house with Shyfra’s family. There were three rooms in the house: two bigger and one smaller room. There were old pieces of furniture. There was no place to buy furniture in the village. They stoked the stoves with coal and wood. They had a kitchen garden and kept poultry. We helped them with their kitchen garden.
We liked to visit our father. We went to the bank of the Dnestr, swam and lay in the sun. My father liked his grandchildren. He spoke Russian with them. Shyfra’s children spoke Yiddish – my father taught them.
There was no anti-Semitism in Odessa before the Great Patriotic War. People were not ashamed of their names. There was no national segregation between Jews and Russians. My wife and I often went to the Jewish theater in Odessa. My father and sisters also went to the Jewish theater on Grecheskaya Street when they came to visit me. We liked performances with Liya Bugova acting. She worked in the Russian theater after the war. We watched ‘A grois gevin’ by Sholem Aleichem 17 and ‘The Servant of Two Masters’ by Carlo Goldoni [(1707-1793): Italian playwright].
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Isaac Klinger