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Slavuta
 (09-010.47-F) -  Shelf Number: MDV 671
 IUCAT




No streaming derivative is available.

Date: May 5, 2003

Participants: Vainsheinboim, Isaak Grigorievich; Liberzon, Maria Isaakovna. Interviewed by Dov-Ber Kerler, Jeffrey Veidlinger.

Location recorded: Slavuta, Khmel'nyts'ka Oblast', Ukraine

Language: Yiddish, Russian

Culture Group: Jews, Yiddish-speakers, Ukrainians

 Recording Content:   

The tape is a continuation of a formal interview with Maria Isaakovna Liberzon. (Part 4 of 4. See MDV 668, MDV 669, and MDV 670) They briefly discuss taking a trip together to the Jewish cemetery of Slavuta, before continuing to discuss food customs like recipes for gefilte fish. The team then asks questions about Yiddish cultural terminology. Liberzon remembers stories about the Dybbuk (malicious possessing spirit) and other folk tales. She then shows Hebrew/Yiddish journals to the team. The conversation turns to her family, in particular her grandfather, who used to host family Passover celebrations.

The team concludes the interview and the camera collects outside footage of her neighborhood in Slavuta. They briefly converse with Liberzon in front of the van about the Yiddish theater and cultural life in general in prewar Slavuta. Before they drive to the Jewish cemetery, the team briefly converses with Liberzon’s friend. On the way to the Jewish cemetery, in predominantly Russian, he talks about Liberzon’s father and his relationship to him. When the team arrives at the cemetery, Liberzon gives a brief tour. She points out the different graves of local rebbes. The team then leaves the cemetery in order to drive to the former ghetto site in Slavuta. When the team arrives at the site, Liberzon's friend provides a brief history of the ghetto. The team then attempts to decipher a memorial, also written in Yiddish.

The second part of the tape includes a formal interview with Isaak Grigorievich Vainshelboim, born in Ostroh (then Poland) in 1918. (Part 1 of 2. See Accession # 09-010.42-F MDV 639) The team greets Vainshelboim outside his home and then sits down with him outside in order to conduct the interview. They begin to talk about his family, in particular about his parents both born in Ostroh. They then discuss his school education at a Polish school, in which he completed eight grades. He attended religious school (kheyder) when he was eight years old. The conversation turns to early childhood memories of Jewish Ostroh. The town’s population consisted of roughly eight thousand Jews, which constituted the majority. The synagogue was used as a market place during Soviet rule. The conversation turns to Vainshelboim’s family, before he returns to discussing his kheyder education. Vainshelboim remembers the teacher‘s (melamed) violence and several religious texts he studied. He then talks about his friend Leyb Roznblit, before they discuss more childhood memories, which include religious school education, party organization, and Yiddish culture. He then remembers weddings during his childhood and describes the synagogue in Ostroh. The conversation moves to local Hasidim, before he briefly talks about his service in the Red Army. The tape concludes with Vainshelboim talking about his father, a sheet metal manufacturer, and discussing cultural terminology.

00:00:00 food customs.
00:00:57 cultural terminology and literature.
00:06:30 grandfather.
00:09:06 concluding the interview and outside footage.
00:13:49 brief conversation with unidentified man and entering van.
00:14:45 journey to cemetery/town footage.
00:18:05 arrival at the cemetery and footage.
00:25:58 town footage.
00:26:32 arrival at former ghetto site.
00:29:37 formal introduction to Vainshelboim and setting up formal interview.
00:30:58 formal introduction.
00:33:51 family.
00:36:18 education.
00:38:54 childhood memories of Jewish Ostroh.
00:42:31 family.
00:46:11 religious school education.
00:48:17 acquaintances and early childhood memories/party organization.
00:54:01 weddings and synagogue.
00:56:58 Hasidism.
00:58:59 Red Army service.
00:60:01 parents.
01:01:06 End of recording.