Memories of Chynadiyovo
as remembered by Helen and Sidney MERMELSTEIN

The Jews of Chynadiyovo did not live in a particular part of town or neighborhood and lived in homes interspersed among the Gentile population. There was one long road that ran through Chynadyovo. Jews lived anywhere, from one end to the other. People grew their own tobacco at their home gardens and dried the tobacco themselves. Pipe smoking and cigars were popular and people rolled their own cigarettes. Cigars used to cost one krone for two cigars. American cigarettes were very expensive. There was a Czech brand of cigarettes called "Vlasta." Tobacco was popular among everyone, including religious people. My father remembers teachers from heder buying tabac and rolling it in rolling paper.

Typical Homes:
Homes in Chynadiyovo typically consisted of three or four rooms along with a kitchen. There was no separate foyer or dining rooms. In the main room contained the kitchen with a long table. The floors in home were typically mud in the main room and then rest of the house had wooden floors. There were usually two or more bedrooms, depending on the size of the family. Mattresses consisted of cloth sacs filled with straw. The straw was replaced at least every six months. Some homes had an attic for storage. The roofs were made of special flat reddish bricks. Electricians were brought in around 1938 or 1939 to electrify street lamps. There was just one switch to turn on all of the town's lamps. Prior to that there were candles or kerosene lamps. For walking in the dark, one could carry a kerosene lamp or candle. Homes did not have indoor plumbing. Everyone had outhouses. Gypsies were hired to periodically clean the outhouses. Furthermore, there was no toilet paper. Alternatives included anything from leaves to old newspaper.

Communications:
There was just one telephone in all of Chynadiyovo, and it was located in a central office. People typically received news from local “criers” who went to the center of town and beat a drum and then announced any important news. This person was also served as the public notary.

Transportation:
There were two train stations in Chynadiyovo, one at each end of the village. There were also bus routes that went through the different villages. There were people who owned horses with wagons and carriages and made their livelihood delivering goods and transporting people around. Only wealthy people owned their own horse and carriages.

Cuisine:
There were a wide variety of fruit trees growing in the region, including pear, apple, and plum trees. Families each had their own gardens where they grew a wide variety of produce including potatoes, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, and more. Everything was served fresh and one simply went into the backyard to pick what one wanted. There was dark and white flour available for making bread. Most families always had at least one cow, ensuring a continuous supply of milk. Families made their own butter and cheese. Various meats were available for consumption including chicken, geese, lamb, and beef. People brought their chickens to the butcher every Friday so that it could be eaten on Shabbat. The geese were forced fed corn up often until they weighed 10 kg and their liver was fattened up to eat as foie gras. The geese were typically eaten in the winter. Lamb was often prepared by the butcher in a marinade of garlic and paprika and then smoked in a smokehouse. Beef was usually available once a week. Beef was often used for making goulash. Aside from the kosher butchers in town, there were also non-kosher butchers, and the hind quarter of the animal would be sold to them. The Transcarpathian region was a filled with grape vines, and there were a number of kosher wineries in the area, and people also made their own wine. People drank red wine, and often mixed the red wine with seltzer water. The Feldman family had vineyards around Chynadiyovo. They sold wine by the barrel in the fall. Wealthy people could afford to drink wine on a regular basis while more modest families only drank wine on the Sabbath.

Professional Livelihood:
The folks living in Chynadiyovo made their livelihood through a variety of professions. There were pub owners, shoemakers, tailor shops and butchers. There were eight grocery stores in town and three butchers. Relatives of the Kalus family ran many of the grocery stores. One butcher was named Mr. Goldberg. The Weinberger family produced slivovitz. Mr. Mermelstein was a cattle dealer. There was a bicycle shop in town. Many non-Jews were employed in the match factory. People started their careers by doing apprenticeships. Each year for three years one's wages increased (from very meager to less meager). Finally, at the end of three or so years one earned a certificate and could, say in the case of the grocery business, get a license to open one's own store. There were three factories in Chynadiyovo, all involved in the lumber industry. One was the Latoritsa Match factory, owned by a Mr. Freier. This was an English firm and they exported to England. There was a second factory involved in making wood flooring and fences. The third factory prepared wood for using in boat building.

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