Tag #155864 - Interview #103947 (Faina Volper Biography)

After my grandmother Tsyrl died my father took his mother Brukhe to our home. My grandmother didn’t do any housework. She sat on a bench in the yard talking with neighbors. Her sons – my father’s brothers - often visited her. My grandmother Brukhe had strict looks, but she was very kind to us. She gave me my favorite toy of my childhood – a wooden box with a chain inside. My mother made me a doll and I used to put it to bed in the box. My mother and father spoke Yiddish to one another and Russian – to my sister and me. However, we understood Yiddish and spoke Yiddish to our mother sometimes. My grandmother Brukhe only spoke Yiddish. At 80 my grandmother fell ill with pneumonia, but she recovered all right. One afternoon in 1933 she said to my mother that she would take a nap. My father was at work. My grandmother went to take a nap on the sofa, turned with her face to the wall and died quietly. She was 87 and I was 6 years old.

My mother was a very hardworking and handy housewife. She kept her house clean and fixed our clothing. We didn’t keep any livestock before the war, because we could afford to buy meat. My father provided well for our family and we could buy everything we needed. My mother made our dresses herself from cheap fabrics: marquisette and cotton. She also made my father’s shirts and underpants. We had a general cleanup on Friday. My mother gave me a goose feather to dust the rooms. I also washed floors and dishes. My older sister didn’t do any housework. My mother never forced us to do anything in the house. I joined her voluntarily, but my sister was very fond of reading and never offered any help, but my mother didn’t tell her anything about it.