Recollections of Ostropol from "A Russian Jew of Bloomsbury"

Extracted from Galya Dimant: A Russian Jew of Bloomsbury : the life and times of Samuel Koteliansky, Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2011

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Ostropol from the youth of Isak Vaynshelboym.

 Martin Packman,  remembers his parents telling him that Ostropol "was the classic shtetl, with all of the grubbiness and none of the romanticism." Another former citizen of Ostropol, Harry Wexler, who lived there until he was twelve, told his grand niece that his most vivid memory of Ostropol were Its dirt roads: "The mud was about a foot deep, more than that. Sometimes the horses and the wagons couldn't get out. .in winter it used to freeze. That was a blessing. You could use sleds. ..

In the 1880s Russian historian who visited Starokonstantinov, a larger town 20 kilometres away, complained that the area was "full of yids ['polon zhidami'], wherever you go you see their houses, near which there are lakes of garbage."

These descriptions, however, do not do Ostropol full justice. 

Jackie Freedman told Dimant, that her mother, Pauline Smith who was Koteliansky's niece, remembered a different Ostropol..."Celebration where they threw money on the street." Celebrations were common In Ostropol. The town was, In fact, considered by residents and visitors alike to be a very joyful and vibrant place, and even, according to some, "the merriest of all shtetls.

Abe Koosis, who was born In Ostropol 1904, remembered it, especially during summer time, with much fondness: "The air was perfumed with the fragrance of lilac. The woods and orchards around us were beautiful. We kids used to go In the woods and pick wild strawberries that grew In the tall grass beneath the trees ... We'd go frolicking In the river which was behind the house, to the disgust of the people trying to fish."

River Sluch as it turns the bend in Ostropol

As one of his friends tells us, Koteliansky, too, cherished the memories of the fragrance In the Ostropol air when winter would finally give way to spring: "It was marvelous to hear him tell of spring In Russia, how after the dark and terrible cold, suddenly the air was full of the scent of violets and people went Literally mad with joy."

Ben Richman recalls: "Weddings In Ostropol lasted a minimum of six days. The families each vied to have a day of celebrating In their houses-with food, drinks, and music and dancing. The last day of the wedding a parade went through town, music blaring and leading to the supposed grave of Hershel. The dancing there was particularly wild and all passersby joined In the festivities."  

Recollections of Ostropol by Matthew Mosenkis

Ostropol had a busy marketplace near the main road (which led to Starokonstantinov), a sizable wooden synagogue with several structures under separate roofs connected together (It now exists only In old photographs and drawings), and at least three water-powered flour mills, one right below the market square. Richman also left a description of "market Mondays" when "wagons with merchandise... gathered next to all centre highways and displayed their wares. Customers paraded back and forth among wagons looking, inspecting, bargaining..."  

Richman further describes the Russian school In Ostropol "a big white one-story building in a beautiful garden, fruit trees And grass." “Harry Wexler remembered... a controversy surrounding the Ostropol gymnasium: "The religious Jews In our town refused to let the Jewish students attend the government gymnasium because they had classes on Saturday. And they had picketing lines, picketing the Jewish students that did got to the school on Saturday. and most of them did go to school on Saturday.

Ostropol, carved out by the curly shores of a plentiful river, the Sluch, one of Ukraine's liveliest which travels 200 km north,  and surrounded by luscious forests, can still conjure images of a very attractive place in its heyday.