Return to ATM Online Collections  > AHEYM: The Archive of Historical and Ethnographic Yiddish Memories  > Berdychiv

Berdychiv
 (09-010.04-F) -  Shelf Number: MDV 360
 IUCAT




No streaming derivative is available.

Date: June 9, 2009

Participants: Vainshelboim, Mikhail Aronovich; Vainshelboim, Sara; Burmenko, Zhenia Borisovna. Interviewed by Dov-Ber Kerler, Jeffrey Veidlinger, Margot Valles.

Location recorded: Berdychiv, Zhytomyrs'ka Oblast', Ukraine

Language: Yiddish

Culture Group: Jews, Yiddish-speakers, Ukrainians

 Recording Content:   

This recording is a continuation of a formal interview with Mikhail and Sara Vainshelboim. (Part 2 of 2. See MDV 359) Mikhail talks about his service in the Red Army, which lasted for four and a half years in the 1950s. The conversation turns to the Great Famine in 1932. Sara’s aunt died during that period. Mikhail talks about the situation of the collective farms during the Great Famine. He talks about how he received a piece of land to farm after the war. Then he discusses the Cook's synagogue.

The camera then moves to the van where Mikhail takes the team to the next interview. The team enters the apartment of Zhenia Burmenko and introduces itself. Then the formal interview of Burmenko, who was born in 1917 in Berdychiv, begins. (Part 1 of 2. See MDV 361) Burmenko is her maiden name. She discusses her Jewish education before the war. She went to the Jewish School Number 4 and completed seven grades. Then the conversation turns to life during and after the war. She then shows letters and photographs. As soon as Burmenko's son enters the apartment, she leaves the interview and the team informally interviews Vainshelboim. He remembers Yiddish songs. The tape concludes with Burmenko showing more photographs.

00:00:00 Mikhail’s escapes during the war and on the way to find his family
00:10:30 Service in the Red Army
00:11:26 War experiences and how newspapers in Berdychiv reflected them
00:14:20 About his aunt Arne (needs verification)
00:16:47 Food customs and Soviet times after the war
00:18:42 Sara is on the phone with a potential interviewee
00:20:20 Food customs during Jewish holidays
00:20:46 Sara is on the phone with a potential interviewee
00:23:24 Life before the war and the Great Famine in 1933
00:28:11 Life after the war and food customs
00:31:39 Jewish cultural life before the war
00:33:30 Life today and discussion of potential interviewees
00:39:43 Mikhail prepares food for the research team
00:41:34 Town footage
00:41:55 The research team enters the apartment
00:44:01 Biographical information and family
00:48:49 Prewar life
00:52:18 Jewish education
00:53:17 Mikhail joins the conversation
00:55:00 Burmenko shows letters and pictures
00:59:07 Prewar life
01:00:33 (Not described)
01:01:19 Life after the war
01:04:43 During the war
01:05:36 Prewar life and today
01:07:15 Burmenko’s  son from Zhitomir enters the apartment
01:08:00 Mikhail Vainshelboim joins the conversation and Burmenko leaves and Yiddish songs
01:11:30 Life before the war and faith
01:15:35 Burmenko returns to the research team
01:17:53 Family and photographs