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My parents got married in 1922. Although their families were religious, especially my mother's family, my father and mother were atheists. They just had a civil ceremony in a registry office. They lived in the house of my father's parents with Grandmother Pesia after their wedding.
In 1924 my parents moved to Kiev. I think they moved looking for a better life and more job opportunities. Grandmother Pesia bought an apartment for them: two small rooms and a little kitchen in a basement in Podol 21. I don't know where my grandmother got the money to buy an apartment - she probably had some savings. My mother's parents, Grandmother Riva and Grandfather Isroel. lived in Brusilov where they moved to in the early 1920s. All relatives that were moving to Kiev from small towns - Nochim, Bronia and many others - stayed in our small apartment. My mother told me that they stayed with us several days until they found some accommodation. They slept on the floor. We had two rooms in a communal apartment 22 and there was another family besides us. We had kerosene lamps to light the rooms, fetched water from a pump in the yard, and washed ourselves in a bowl in the kitchen. There was a toilet in the yard and there was a line to get there in the morning.
Before I was born my mother had an abdominal pregnancy and when I was born my parents understood that I was their first and last child. I was born on 16th May 1926. My father called me Maya.
In 1924 my parents moved to Kiev. I think they moved looking for a better life and more job opportunities. Grandmother Pesia bought an apartment for them: two small rooms and a little kitchen in a basement in Podol 21. I don't know where my grandmother got the money to buy an apartment - she probably had some savings. My mother's parents, Grandmother Riva and Grandfather Isroel. lived in Brusilov where they moved to in the early 1920s. All relatives that were moving to Kiev from small towns - Nochim, Bronia and many others - stayed in our small apartment. My mother told me that they stayed with us several days until they found some accommodation. They slept on the floor. We had two rooms in a communal apartment 22 and there was another family besides us. We had kerosene lamps to light the rooms, fetched water from a pump in the yard, and washed ourselves in a bowl in the kitchen. There was a toilet in the yard and there was a line to get there in the morning.
Before I was born my mother had an abdominal pregnancy and when I was born my parents understood that I was their first and last child. I was born on 16th May 1926. My father called me Maya.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
maya kaganskaya