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Recording Content:
This recording is a continuation of a formal interview with Semyon (Yisrul) Aronovich Vaisblai (b. 1930 in Chemerivtsi). (Part 2 of 2. See MDV 474) [00:00:00 to 00:37:52]
The camera then cuts to the Jewish community center where a formal interview is conducted with Ilia (Elye) Zelmanovich Kramer (b. 1927, Berezdov). (Part 1 of 2. See MDV 476) [00:37:52 to 01:02:06]
Cities and towns mentioned on this tape: Chemerivtsi, Lot, Kiev, Zhmerynka, Khmel'nyts'kyy (Proskurov), Uman', Starokostyantyniv, Lyubar, Zhytomyr, Chernivtsi, Berezdov, Slavuta, Novohrad-Volyns’kyy (Zvil).
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00:00:00
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This tape is a continuation of a formal interview with Semyon (Yisrul) Aronovich Vaisblai (b. 1930 in Chemerivtsi). He sings “Tsen kopeks” (Ten Kopeks) followed by a long nign (wordless melody) and then repeats the same song in Ukrainian. |
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00:01:51
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He sings “Nokhemke mayn zin” (Nokhemke My Son). Vaisblai then comments on the state of the contemporary Jewish community in Khmel'nyts'kyy and shares his views on emigration to Israel and Germany. |
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00:06:30
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Vaisblai briefly recalls the end of the war and the day he was liberated by the Red Army. |
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00:07:47
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Vaisblai discusses Khmel'nyts'kyy’s remaining Yiddish speakers and other Jews. He also talks about life in the postwar Soviet Union, specifically detailing the troubles he had with housing. Vaisblai also comments on his contemporary health and financial problems. |
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00:15:09
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Vaisblai briefly describes Jewish weddings from before the war, as well as Jewish social gatherings during the postwar period. |
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00:18:16
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He further recalls prewar wedding music and dances. |
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00:20:13
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The research team begins their survey of sociolinguistic and dialectological questions, asking about terms such as “dibek,” “goylem” and others. |
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00:22:06
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Vaisblai shares his views on the afterlife and G-d, and on morality and sin with statements such as “der malekh hamuves iz elter fun got” (“The angel of death is older than G-d”) and “A yid a parekh iz erger vi a goy a gozlen” (“A nasty Jew is worse than a thieving non-Jew”). |
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00:24:36
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The team returns to their linguistics questionnaire. |
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00:27:26
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Vaisblai sings a few more songs, including “Itsik hot shoyn khasene gehat” and another song about a bride. |
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00:31:20
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Vaisblai shares his views on Israel and talks about his previous visits to the country. |
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00:35:34
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He sings the shabes (Sabbath) song “sholem-aleykhem” and discusses his various forms of employment in the postwar period. |
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00:37:52
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The camera then cuts to the Jewish community center where a formal interview is conducted with Ilia (Elye) Zelmanovich Kramer (b. 1927, Berezdov). He shares his basic biographical information and speaks about his experiences during the war years as well as his family life. |
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00:47:53
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He expands on the latter topic, stating that his father worked on a Jewish kolkhoz; there were two kolkhozy in the town, according to Kramer, one Jewish and one Ukrainian. Kramer’s sisters also worked on the kolkhoz, and he himself worked there from the age of fourteen onwards. |
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00:51:32
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Kramer describes prewar Berezdov. He mentions that his father worked in a brick factory. Describing his prewar educations, Kramer states that he finished four years in a Yiddish school before attending a Ukrainian-language institution. He describes the town’s butchers, its rabbi, and the town synagogue that operated until 1939. |
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00:54:43
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In the postwar period, Kramer served in the army until 1951, moving to Khmel'nyts'kyy in 1955, while his family lived in Slavuta. Kramer worked as an engineer in a factory until 1992. |
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00:56:59
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Kramer returns to the subject of his youth, focusing of the hardships that he and his family faced. In 1933, for example, his family lost their house because the deed of sale was written by a rabbi and thus unrecognized by the Soviet government. Kramer recalls his family’s connections to relatives in America and to the Joint. |
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