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Recording Content:
This recording is a continuation of a formal interview with Semyon Semyonovich Krotsh (b. 1922 in Stefanesti). Another AHEYM interviewee, David Abramovich Vider (b. 1922 in Sighetu Marmatiei), is also present. (Part 3 of 4. See MDV 521, MDV 522, and MDV 524)
Cities and towns mentioned on this tape: Stefanesti, Kolomyya, Soroca, Rîbnita, Rostov-na-Donu, Chernivtsi, Haifa.
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00:00:00
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This tape is a continuation of a formal interview with Semyon Semyonovich Krotsh (b. 1922 in Stefanesti). Another AHEYM interviewee, David Abramovich Vider (b. 1922 in Sighetu Marmatiei), is also present. Krotsh discusses his contemporary health problems, as well as the state of Yiddish in the Kolomyya present-day Jewish community. Krotsh speaks about his marriage and three sons of whom only one is now alive. Krotsh moved to Kolomyya in 1949. |
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00:05:25
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Krotsh details his experiences during the war years: he went to the Soviet Union and was evacuated from the town of Rîbnita to the Caucasus region of Russia, where he worked on a kolkhoz (collective farm). From there, he was evacuated further into Azerbaijan, and then drafted into the Red Army from 1942 to 1947. Krotsh went to Kolomyya after the war at the suggestion of a friend from the army since it was near Romania, but by the time he got there the border was closed and so he stayed in the town. Krotsh then briefly comments on postwar Jewish life in Kolomyya and how the town’s synagogue was repaired in the 1990s. |
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00:11:17
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Krotsh describes the atmosphere in prewar Stefanesti on shabes (the Sabbath) and on holidays. Asked about Purim celebrations, Krotsh twice sings the ditty “40 teg, 40 nakht” (40 Days, 40 Nights) and then a fragment of “shoshanes mordekhay.” He then sings the traditional shabes song “lekhu doydi” (Come My Beloved). Returning to the topic of Purim observances, he sings a fragment of another ditty “vus zoln mir zingen bay deym balebus” (What Should We Sing for the Master) as well as another Purim song. |
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00:23:25
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Krotsh sings the song “Vi nemt men di vaybelekh fin amul” (Where Can You Get a Wife Like the Ones From Back Then) and mentions the importance of Yiddish theater in his shtetl (town). He then sings a variant of the famous song “Lomir ale in eynem” (Let Us All Together), and also discusses Zionist activity in the town. |
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00:30:21
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Krotsh sings a Modern Hebrew song about Chanukah, and notes the observances for this and other holidays. He then sings fragments from the “kol nidre” (All Vows) service and the High Holiday liturgy. |
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00:41:23
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He sings another full song from the High Holiday liturgy. |
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00:43:18
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The camera cuts to the team talking informally with the interviewees. Vider sings “Ven indzer futer yakoyv iz geleygn afn shteyn” (When Our Father Jacob Laid Down on the Stone). |
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00:51:30
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The camera cuts back to a formal interview with Krotsh, who sings more of liturgy, describes holiday customs, describes his shtetl’s public baths, and relates an experience he had speaking Yiddish while travelling in Israel. |
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