Family Stories and Memoirs
Translated from Jewishperson.org
Alexander YAROSHEVSKY (city of Karmiel, Israel)
Dedicated to my mother, Golda RAZUMOVICH daughter of Yankel
(published in an abridged version)
It is a family of my grandfather, Yankel RAZUMOVICH son of Berl. He was the husband of my grandmother Mintsya daughter of Usher (1884 - 1957) and father of my mother and her brothers and sisters. Our great-grandfather's name was Berl RAZUMOVICH, who lived with his family in the village of Barashi near Emilchino of the Zhitomir Region. When he was born nobody knows. We only know the approximate date of his death - in 1930. My grandfather died young, maybe at 50 years old by memories of relatives. he was at that time, the memories of relatives.
Another argument would lead us to the age of the grandmother Mintsya. She was born in 1884. If we assume that our grandfather was older than my grandmother for two years, it is very close to the truth of his date of birth - 1882. In any case, on the photo dated 1932 my grandfather is missing. In the photo grandma is in mourning clothes, which indirectly confirms this version.
Known for certain is that our grandfather Yankel in his youth lived in the Zhytomyr region, Emilchino district area in the village of Barashi (according to information of Zhanna KOROL, sister of my grandfather - Sheyndl). From the known data there were three sons: Hersh-Lejb, Yankel, Kisil, and daughter - Sheyndl.
We also know that my grandfather had a shop and he was highly respected by residents of the village, because he, unlike others, has always given goods on credit and that the Ukrainians never let him down, always returning the money. The great respect for Yankel evidenced by the fact that during the Jewish pogroms, his family, Ukrainian villagers never let him being offended. Grandfather Yankel was respected by his father-in-law Usher KOPELBERG. To win the respect from a man like Usher was not easy.
My mother remembers that our grandfather Yankel loved his wife and their children, but the favorite was the son of Rabbi (I think that it was named after his grandfather), who worked for the German colonists and always came home at the end of the week. In those days my father was waiting for son Berl, standing at the window.
My mother remembers that my grandfather Yankel observed Jewish traditions. My grandfather was short. He never shaved his beard and mustache, only clipped it. The hair on his face was short and neatly trimmed. We can only regret that he did not like to be photographed, so we do not possess a photograph of him. He was called "a big heart," apparently for his kindness and decency.
Grandfather Yankel had a heart defect. It became the reason for his early death.
Children of Mintsya and Yankel:
Sarah RAZUMOVICH daughter of Yankel (1907 - 1992), VLADIMIRSKIJ (by her husband), was born in the village Stepanivka, Emilchino district. Aunt Sarah - the eldest sister of my mother. She graduated from 4th grade rural school, she knew how to write well and read on Yiddish and Ukrainian language, knew the basics of mathematics. My Aunt Sarah was short. She was young, judging by the photos, was a beautiful girl with a slender figure and, as she told me, had many admirers. However, in 1928, Aunt Sarah got married to Burko VLADIMIRSKIJ (1906 - 1938) who was a handsome young man. In the old pictures about 1932 he looks to be a man with strong character.
According to the recollections of my mother and he was such a man in life. Aunt Sarah told me that her husband loved her and children. The family lived in the shtetl Emilchino where Aunt Sarah's husband worked as a baker at a local bakery.
About what happened next, as told by told Aunt Sarah's son - Yankel VLADIMIRSKIJ, in an interview with the author of a U.S. newspaper October 31, 2003: "I was born and up to 5 years living in the shtetl Emilchino, in Zhytomyr Region, Ukraine. I distinctly remember our house and the way of life. It was a Jewish family and the laws of Judaism were observed. I remember the delicious smell of bread and rolls, which my father brought home. I am proud of my dad, I felt protected - and that his power when he lifted me in the air and I sat on his broad shoulders. My mother Sarah, daughter of Yankel, was a housewife. Besides myself there were two more sons in the family. I was a middle son. Across the street was the house of my mother’s parents. From the stories of my grandmother (my mother (Itsko-Burko), I learned that my grandfather Nakhman VLADIMIRSKIJ was killed during a pogrom in Emilchino on April 22, 1919 by a group of Petliura, retreating from the city to Olevsk Novograd - Volyn. We all lived in a friendly, healthy family, me and my brothers felt our parents warmth and affection. And them, everything collapsed. In the New Year's Eve January 1, 1938 we children were awakened by the noise and trampling of boots. I saw three soldiers in uniforms, who came to arrest our daddy. The two had rifles with bayonets. Father put a face to the wall, forced to raise their hands up, beat and mocked him, and demanded of him “admissions.” They searched the house for something that would prove his involvement in Zionist activities. Dad was never a Zionist. It was a dirty denunciation. Despite protests of his wife and crying children wife and young children they forced dad to put on clothes. Dad collected a bag. He warmly said goodbye to our tearful mother and kissed his children, and they dead him away. This terrible situation has remained in memory for a lifetime. All attempts of my mother to learn something about her husband was in vain. Then she got dad's note from prison in which he asked mother to write to Moscow Prosecutor General Vyshinsky to write of his guilt. I asked my mother to leave Emilchino apparently feared for his family. My mother knew the day when our father and other prisoners will be sent out Emilchino. We went to the police station and saw that my father’s beard was straggly and overgrown. He was thin and looked exhausted. They were in a truck. The guards put their faces in the opposite direction of movement. In the back were two armed guards. The car drove off. that was the last time we saw my father. My mother told me that at the end of 1937 Emilchino arrests began. They arrested my father's brother and many acquaintances. All of them were workers or employees.The family felt they would come for my father. For three days he hid in my grandmother's house.
My mother asked him to leave for Kiev, but father said that if he leaves, they will consider him guilt and arrest mother and children. Dad could not stand it and came home to celebrate New Year with their families. He did not know that the house was under surveillance. Grief did not leave our family. Suddenly becaming ill and dying before my eyes, brother Samuel VLADIMIRSKIJ son of Itsko-Berko (1935 - 1937). After the funeral we moved to Kiev. We lived very poorly. Our family for many years did not know where our father and what happened to him. For a long time our family was branded as "enemy of the people." We felt the pain and the constant fear for his life. The years passed. My mother was able to raise their sons to help them get a higher education.
In 1956, during the Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev leadership, there appeared an opportunity to learn the fate of millions of innocently slaughtered lives. We applied to the Ministry of Interior asking about the fate of the father. After a while mother received a written call to a meeting. We went there with my mother. The elderly captain reported that father was in no way guilty and was posthumously rehabilitated. My mother broke down and lost consciousness. We were given a certificate of rehabilitation of father. In this document it was told that my father died in 1946, but does not specify anything about where he died and where buried. Much later, my older brother discovered Emilchino district KGB committee documents that blamed father for bourgeois-Zionist propaganda by the "troika" (a speedy court trial by 3 members) and sentenced to death. The sentence was given June 2, 1938, and issued by the authorities before a certificate of death, v1946. The hypocrisy of the Soviet authorities had no boundaries. Mom said that she, as the widow of a repressed, was entitled to compensation in the amount of three months of her husband’s salary in 1938, when he worked in a bakery. Since that time, changed the level of wages and living standards, that is, the so-called compensation sum was so miserable that looked like a mockery to the victims families.
When the war broke out in 1941, the family members who remained in Kiev, gathered at aunt Fejga’s who lived in a house on the street of Ordzhonikidze (Bankova) 5 / 7 on the 5th floor. These were: Grandma Mintsya, her daughters Sarah and Feiga with children (Eley, Yankel, Yefim and Lena). At night we all went down to the 1st floor where there lived an old, a devout Jew, for fear of bombing. We evacuated Kiev on September 9, 1941, and 10 days later on September 19, the Germans occupied Kiev. We rode in a freight train, under bombardment, 3 days and during that time came in Stavropol. From there we were taken in the Cossack village Temnolesskya. We lived in a private home, all in one room. Our mom got a job working in the sewing studio, and Aunt Feiga on the farm (agricultural company) ...
That is the story of the descendants of Berl RAZUMOVICH, our great-grandfather. Blessed be his memory!
To my cousin - Yankel VLADIMIRSKIJ, son of Berko, I am grateful for the vast memories of our loved ones, long gone out of life!
Family Chronicle of the RAZUMOVICH family prepared by Alexander YAROSHEVSKI, son of Lazar, the son of Golda RAZUMOVICH, the grandson of Yankel RAZUMOVICH son of Berl, and Mintsya KOPELBERG daughter of Usher.
Israel. City of Carmiel 2005
