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Bershad'
 (09-010.06-F) -  Shelf Number: MDV 380
 IUCAT



No streaming derivative is available.

Date: May 14, 2008

Participants: Gvinter, Nukhim Moiseevich; Vygodner, Efim; Feldman, Brukhe Moisevna. Interviewed by Dov-Ber Kerler, Moyshe Lemster and Jeffrey Veidlinger

Location recorded: Bershad', Vinnyts'ka Oblast', Ukraine

Language: Yiddish, Russian

Culture Group: Jews, Yiddish-speakers, Ukrainians

 Recording Content:   

[MDV 380 was recorded before MDV 379 in the temporal sequence of the interview recordings].

The tape begins with a continuation of a formal interview with Nukhim Moiseevich Gvinter. (Part 4 of 4. See MDV 377, MDV 378, and Accession # 09-010.54-F MDV 741) The interview team then moves with Gvinter to the street outside his house in Bershad’. Gvinter gives his recipe for gefilte fish.

The team says good-bye to Gvinter and travels through Bershad’ with Efim Vygodner, the Director of the Jewish Community of Bershad, to the apartment of Brukhe Feldman.

The team conducts a formal interview with Brukhe Moisevna Feldman. (Part 1 of 2. See MDV 379) She was born in 1938 in Bershad. She tells about her earliest memories in the Bershad’ ghetto during World War II. She talks about Jewish life in Bershad’ after the war, about religious customs, about social gatherings, and about different types of occupations pursued by Jews. She discusses the difficulties she had putting up a gravestone for her mother. She discusses Jewish klezmer musicians and wedding customs. She tells of holiday customs (Passover, Hannukah) and of folk remedies for illness and the evil eye.

00:00:00 The team concludes the formal interview with Gvinter.
00:01:20 The camera cuts outside where the team continues to speak with Gvinter. He shares his recipe for gefilte fish.
00:04:36 Gvinter briefly addresses Yiddish writers and then team leaves with the van to drive to the next formal interview. The camera collects town footage.
00:07:29 The team meets Feldman at her apartment and sets up the formal interview with her.
00:08:34 They discuss local geography. Then the formal interview begins. Feldman provides personal information and talks about her family. Feldman's father died during World War II. She also addresses her mother's work after the war. Feldman's father worked with ropes.
00:13:30 Feldman talks about her contemporary relations to her neighbors. She then talks about her life after the war and today. Feldman worked as kitchen help and then at a furniture factory for thirty-five years. Feldman also talks about her family, as well as communal support. She raised two daughters by herself.
00:17:45 Feldman briefly remembers her life in the Bershad ghetto during the war, when she was three years old. In particular, Feldman recalls hiding. She also talks about her family and communal support. Her half-sister lives in Israel.
00:21:12 Feldman talks about her life and family today. She then tells a story about her grandfather, Feldman recalls from her mother. Feldman then describes traditional burial customs before the war.
00:26:08 Feldman speaks about her life today, communicating in different languages.
00:27:12 Feldman recalls Yiddish songs, before she addresses postwar religious life. Feldman shares an episode about fasting on Yom Kippur. She also describes religious customs, including yizkor services.
00:30:34 Feldman addresses contemporary religious life, before talking about prewar Jewish life, including occupational structure, in Bershad.
00:34:04 Feldman speaks about her life after the war, particularly her leisure activities. She then talks about her family and recalls poverty. Feldman states that she received to help to bury her mother.
00:37:07 Feldman talks about postwar cultural life, particularly klezmer musicians and traditional weddings. She also describes wedding dishes.
00:39:50 Feldman talks about holiday celebration, particularly Passover. She then returns to traditional weddings, before addressing prewar Jewish life. Feldman recalls the local kosher butcher. She also speaks about her family.
00:44:31 Feldman speaks about postwar holiday celebration at home, including food customs. She also talks about the contemporary local community.
00:50:24 Feldman talks about her family's life during the hunger of 1946/47.
00:53:08 Feldman speaks about folk and healing customs before. She recalls the customs of rolling an egg and to avert the evil eye. Feldman then describes the custom of burning old shoes after someone passes away.
00:58:41 Feldman shares a contemporary story about a Christian woman entering a synagogue to find help for her sick child. She then addresses the circumcision custom.
01:01:05 Feldman talks about prewar Jewish life in Bershad. She recalls the local water carrier.
01:02:28 End of recording.