Rosa Levina

This is my mother Rosa Levina, nee Shatovskaya. She sent this photo to us in Krivoy Rog. The photo is signed on the back: 'To my dear daughter and granddaughter from mother and grandmother.' This photo was taken in Kherson in March 1941.

My father died in fall 1935. My older sister Nadezhda fell ill with tuberculosis in Kherson. Shortly after our father died our mother and grandmother decided to move to Kherson. About a month we lived with Nadezhda, then my mother received part of a house at her work. Tamara and her family stayed in Belaya Krinitsa. In 1939, when World War II began, Tamara’s husband was recruited to the army. He perished in the war. Tamara and her son stayed in Belaya Krinitsa until the Great Patriotic War began.

My mother went to work at school in the suburb of Kherson. We received half of a house near the school. My mother was very concerned about Nadezhda’s condition. She needed good food, but we lived from hand to mouth and couldn’t help her. Then a miracle happened. Before the war all workers received a portion of their wages in state loan bonds.

In a year the amount reached the value of monthly wages. Of course, nobody hoped to win anything from it when all of a sudden our mother won 2500 rubles! This was a lot of money at the time. Of course, Mother was forced to contribute half for the development of DOSAAF [abbreviation for the public organization ‘Voluntary association of assistance to the army, Air Force and Navy’], to the orphan children fund, etc., but she still had 1250 rubles left.

Mother borrowed some money and bought a cow. She gave Nadezhda fresh milk. She believed it was the best treatment. It may be a coincidence but Nadezhda really got better. This cow was partly responsible for my mother’s death: when the Great Patriotic War began our mother refused to go into evacuation since she didn’t want to leave her cow.

On 22nd June 1941 I heard on the radio that the Great Patriotic War began. Our mother didn't want to leave her cow and stayed in Kherson. In 1942 the Germans organized a ghetto in Kherson. My mother perished in the ghetto in Kherson in 1942.