Grandma’s Story

I was born in a very small Russian village called Zinkov. There was no school for Jewish children. The Jewish boys were taught in the shuls by the scholars in Hebrew. They were taught the Torah and were prepared for their Bar Mitzvah by learning the laws and Torah of the Jewish people. By the time the boys were that age they had to earn a living and be able to support themselves and also help their families. The girls, on the other hand, were at home. If they were lucky and had parents at home who learned to read and write they helped the little girls to learn. But, unfortunately, we were not that lucky.

Our father was a traveling salesman and was very unhappy about it. Our mother’s sister was leaving for South America, with her three daughters, to be with her husband who had been there for a few years. She took our father with her and of course he promised to send for us as soon as he settled there and made some money.

In the meantime, my mother had four children to take care of. So my brother, David, went to live with my aunt and uncle (my father's sister). She had no children.

The three children: my brother, Sam, who was four and a half years old; I was two and a half and my sister, Esther, was six months old at the time my father left us.

The times were very hard for my mother especially caring for us. There was no place to work so we had very little. As we grew, my mother managed to work for people who were sick. She would take care of them and we stayed close by her always. Then when we were a little bigger, we used to go to the fields and pick up the hay and wheat. The farmers allowed us to do this because they knew our uncle who dealt with them. We would dry this wheat and hay in the sun and then the miller would grind that into flour. My mother then made the bread. One of our grandfathers was a butcher, so we got some bones and we had a little more to eat than the other families. We would also go to the farmers and get some vegetables. They had known my father; they used to buy things from him. They tried to help us a little too.

We had to go to the water well to get water for ourselves. The well was at the farms, down a very deep hole. We were so afraid because the dogs were always sent out to get us and keep us from getting the water.

By the time I was six years old the war broke out in Russia. Our small village started their own army. These Cossacks were young boys, 14 to 16 years old that were not taken into the regular army. Of course they had to fight with someone and they turned on our Jewish people. We all had to hide especially the girls since they were often raped. The men going to shul were stoned and their beards pulled. Our men never fought them back, they were so afraid. As young as I was, my mother, sister and brother had to hide for days and nights in the basement of our house. We were covered with straw and blankets so that we would not be found and raped or beaten.

It sure was a very rough time for all the Jewish people. When we finally received notice that an agent from America was to try and get us out of Russia, we had to meet him in Romania. My father and many other men whose families were in Russia paid this man and gave him our passports to bring us to America. Of course, my brother, David was included too. But, he refused to go with us because our aunt and uncle, that he lived with, refused to let him go. He promised to follow us later on, of course he never did. We cried and begged but it did no good. He felt that they were old people and he just couldn't leave them alone.

We left one night and we had to steal our way out. We were put into a wagon full of straw. Sugar was put into our mouths and then covered with handkerchiefs to keep us from coughing or crying. We were then covered up with straw.

The parting from my brother David, our grandparents, aunts, and uncles was very, very sad for us. Our mother took her sister, Pauline, with us in place of my brother. She was 17 years old and of course leaving her mother, father, sisters and brothers was very sad for her too.

Every town we came to we had to steal our way in and always at night. During the days we were put into barns with the cows and chickens to hide and always covered up.

When crossing oceans or lakes the soldiers that patrolled the sea were paid off by our agent. They turned their backs and made believe they did not see us. We went from Russia to Romania and there we had to stay for two months. When we arrived in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, we stayed for four months because our agent got into some trouble and we had to wait. In Bucharest we were put into a hotel called "The American Hotel" because most of the people there came from all over and were going to fathers, uncles, aunts, sisters or brothers in America. There we first learned to eat ice cream and go to the movies, not that we understood them.

Finally, we were going to Holland. That was a very beautiful, clean place and the people were very pleasant even though we didn't understand them nor they us. Here too we had to stay for a while. From there we went to Antwerp to take the boat to America. We went on the White Star Line. We were examined from head to toe to be sure that we were clean and not sick. Five of us were put into a cabin. We were so seasick.

We arrived at Ellis Island on June 21, 1921. There were a few hundred people there with their bags. Some had pillows, blankets, pots and pans; we did too, even candlesticks. When my mother pointed out our father, it was a wonderful feeling to see the father we never saw or remembered. He was there with his boss, because they had to put up a bond for us. That was necessary so that we would not be a burden to the American people and would be cared for by our father. He quickly put us into a cab and took us to our new American home at 112 Ludlow Street in the East Side of New York. To us it looked beautiful. Our apartment was on the fourth floor, a walk-up. There were three rooms: a kitchen, a front room and a bedroom (very small). At night the rooms all became bedrooms for all of us; my brother slept in the kitchen, Pauline, Esther and I shared the little bedroom, and our parents slept in the living room. All the living we did was in the kitchen. The toilet was in the hall.

During our first summer in America we had many hard times. We didn't understand the language and were afraid to go out into the street. Everything was so very different from what we grew up with. The people were strange in looks, actions and manners.

At night when my father came home from a day of hard work, he was a presser of dresses, he would then sit down and teach us. Each one was taught separately how to read, write and speak English. We had to know our name of course, address and always to say it correctly. By the time September came around we knew a little of the language.

We were taken to Public School in our neighborhood and we were put into one class regardless of age. Some of the children were 10, 12, 14 and 16 years old. Esther was put into another school because she was 8 years old. We stayed in that class for one year. When we were separated, Sam was put into Junior High School and I was put into the sixth grade. When we came home from school every night it was the same thing, we first had to study, study, and more study. My father was a very strict teacher. He was a very bright man, he spoke four languages and learning was very important to him and he sure put that across to us.

When promotion came around, I was put into the seventh grade. My father went to school and told the teacher that he felt that I really wasn't ready to leave the sixth grade. He felt that I didn't know enough American history or English to be sent on, so I had to stay in that class for another six months. At that time, I was very upset with my father but he was right, of course, and I learned much more from then on.

When I graduated from Junior High I was close to 16 years old. I went to High School for one year and then to a business school for three months. I graduated as a comptomator operator. A compotomater was a machine something like the computer only this was a mathematics machine.

After a year in America my father became a citizen and because we were under age, we all became citizens of America too. Of course, even my brother in Russia was put on the citizenship papers, but he had to come to America before he was 18 years old. My father kept sending for him and each time he said "next year". Until he finally found himself a young lady and was married by the time he was 19 years old. They remained in Russia and he had three daughters. Then along came the WAR and our little village was wiped off the map. We never heard from my brother or his family. They too were victims of the Holocaust, with all our families that we left back in Zinkov.