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Krasnostav
Ukraine

This web site is dedicated to the study of Jewish family history in the town of Krasnostav, now in Ukraine, but formerly part of the Volhynia Gubernia of the Russian Empire.

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Compiled by Michael Levin
(krasnostav@yahoo.com)
Last updated 01 December
Copyright ©2015 Michael Levin

Town Life (continue)


   
    Old-timers remembered the construction of a road from Slavuta to to Kiev via Shepetovka and Novograd-Volynsk. The road constructor demanded that the wealthy Jews of Krasnostav pay them a few hundred rubles to have the railroad pass along Krasnostav and build a station there. However, the Krasnostav moneybags were reluctant to pay this much, thus the railroad was not built near Krasnostav, to the satisfaction of the balagulas. The local merchants were to suffer from this the most: they bought their goods in Slavuta and Shepetovka and had to transport them through the forest, where they or their stewards were often robbed and sometimes even killed by bandits.   
    I remember a woman saying: if bandits take merchandise or money, then nothing is lost; if they kill – a life is lost; but if a woman is raped, then honor is lost, and honor is the most important asset for a human being. This is how much simple Jewish women valued their honor back in the day!

    Before serfdom was abolished in 1861,  Krasnostav belonged to a Polish tycoon, a Duke who owned a thousand villages, but he would rather say that he owns “only” 999. It sounded longer and more majestic.
On black earth, Krasnostav peasants grew such grain crops as rye, wheat, barley, oats, buckwheat, corn; such technical crops as linen, hemp, beets, as well as turnips, poppy, sunflower, potatoes. They also raised vegetables – carrots, cabbages, tomatoes, and fruit – apples, pears, plums, cherry, and sour cherry… They then brought this bounty to Krasnostav’s central square, where the market had been bustling since early in the morning. You could hear anything there: the loud cow mooing, horse neighing, sheep bleating, hen cackling, and geese gabbling. Firewood and hay carts stood to the side. The bargaining ritual was in full swing: Jewish men and women were learning the prices, leaving and coming back and feverishly bargaining for the last kopeck.

   The blind lyre players sang their songs here as well; the gypsies swore to God while selling and buying horses, the beggars asked for alms for Christ’s sake.
When the peasants sold off their produce and had some cash, the fair entered its second stage. They all went shopping in the numerous stores and workshops. They wanted fabric and footwear, finished clothing and pottery, beads and ribbons, toys and paintings, toffees and lollipops, halva and poppy cakes (mundlich), dumplings and bagels, bread rolls and ice cream, sparkling water and lemonade, leather and tar, scythes and sickles, wheels and sleds, rakes and shovels.
Here, between carts, pots, hens, and apples, scores of kids – half-naked in the summer and half-dressed in the summer – were running around, trying to swipe a piece of fruit or two off the carts. The peasants screamed at them, cursed them, and at times slapped an especially crafty boy. The orphan Gedalia and the fearless Benya Kuchik got punished more than others. Benya’s mother liked to say, “It is better to have stones than such kids.”
The barbers – Duvidl and Sheylek – had their hands full on the day of the fair. There were lots of people in the tearoom and the cafeteria; the “monopolka” (a vodka store) kept itself busy too. But there were few drunks. Everyone knew that the pockmarked shoemaker Yashka would get drunk and start arguing with his close friend Gnat – the tall and sturdy kind-hearted builder.

    Sometimes the tipsy Avrumele Simes liked to face off against some Ukrainian guys. He would say to one of them, “Go ahead. Punch me in the neck!” - trying to stay on his feet after being punched and then delivering his blow. But the real fights were extremely rare.  People got along well and lived in peace with one another. All in all, fair is remembered as a people’s festival, a place where Jewish craftsmen and merchants met peasants from Krasnostav and its vicinity.