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Starokostyantyniv
 (09-010.48-F) -  Shelf Number: MDV 674
 IUCAT




No streaming derivative is available.

Date: May 26, 2008 to May 27, 2008

Participants: Kaviner, Aba Davidovich; Klein, Roza Shmulevna. Interviewed by Dov-Ber Kerler, Moisei Lemster.

Location recorded: Khmel'nyts'kyy; Starokostyantyniv, Khmel’nyts’ka Oblast', Ukraine

Language: Yiddish

Culture Group: Jews, Yiddish-speakers, Ukrainians

 Recording Content:   

The tape is a continuation of a formal interview with Aba Davidovich Kaviner in Khmel'nyts'kyy. (Part 4 of 4. See Accession # 09-010.21-F MDV 471, MDV 472, and MDV 473) He continues discussing Jewish education and conversion during the Tsarist period and today. He remembers a few acquaintances who converted to Christianity. One of them became a priest. Kaviner then shows a bilingual book, Polish and Hebrew, called "Mame loshn" (mother-tongue) published in 1929. They then discuss education of the Jews in the 1960s and 70s, as well as potential Yiddish-speakers in Starokostyantyniv. Kaviner then shows the team his jacket with war medals of honor. He then talks about his wife Khantshe from Kopayhorod. Kaviner then shows an old machzor (holiday prayer book) and sings a prayer. He then shows several artifacts from his apartment and the team concludes the interview with Kaviner.

The second formal interview takes place in the local Senior Home in Starokostyantyniv (Yiddish: Olt-Konstantin) with Roza Shmulevna Klein, born in 1923. (Part 1 of 2. See MDV 675) She evacuated to Central Asia during the war. The conversation turns to Klein's childhood memories and school education at a Yiddish school for three grades. In 1938 it was turned into a Russian school with the same teachers now teaching in Russian. She remembers Yiddish writers as well as plays. They then discuss her family and prewar Jewish life in Olt-Konstantin. Klein had four siblings. Her mother was born in the village Sakhnovtsy and her father Shmi'el was born in the village Hrybenynka and worked as a carpenter. Being a specialist, he was sent to Omsk during the war. She then discusses religious life. In particular, she remembers her grandmother Mirl who went to the Beys-Medresh. The conversation turns to Yiddish literature.

Klein continued to read Yiddish books after the war. They return to Yiddish schools in prewar Olt-Konstantin. The conversation moves to Jewish life after the war and celebrating holidays at home before and after the war. They briefly discuss the Hebrew language, before Klein continues to talk about holiday celebrations like Passover. The conversation returns to prewar religious life, in particular about Jewish weddings, when she was taken to weddings during her childhood. After the war, they continued to go to the kosher butcher (shoykhet) for twenty more years. Klein then discusses her education before the war and her family. She tells the team how her testimony was collected for Yad Vashem. The tape concludes with a discussion of Yiddish plays that were performed by the Moscow State Jewish Theater.

00:00:00 entering apartment.
00:00:17 education of the Jews.
00:02:17 conversion today.
00:06:18 showing book.
00:08:15 education of the Jews.
00:12:55 war medals.
00:14:02 photographs and wife.
00:15:06 showing machzor and prayer.
00:18:44 artifacts and concluding the interview.
00:20:13 general introduction.
00:22:48 childhood memories and education.
00:27:01 family.
00:32:34 Yiddish literature.
00:34:16 family.
00:37:17 family.
00:45:54 Hebrew.
00:46:52 Passover celebration.
00:48:58 prewar and postwar Jewish life and family.
00:54:29 prewar education and family.
00:56:39 life today.
01:00:09 Yiddish plays.
01:01:48 End of Recording.