Semyon (Yisrul) Aronovich Vaisblai

Opening stretch with Kerler speaking, partly in Russian and partly in Yiddish; the talk is fragmentary and the subject unclear in the transcript. The informant answers with a single word.

Vaisblai talks about prewar Chemerivtsi. He says Chemerivtsi was in Bessarabia, then Ukraine, and gives its distance from Kam"yanets'-Podil's'kyy. His family was very poor, so a prayer room was kept in his father's house instead of sending him to cheder; poor rabbis came to pray there. He describes the Jewish kolkhoz, including women's field work led by a woman he calls a 'lankovoy' (?), and mentions an uncle who worked with the horses.

Adds the question of when Chemerivtsi was Bessarabian versus Ukrainian and the explanation of the term for the woman field-leader.

Vaisblai names his family at Kerler's request: his grandmother Pesye-Rokhl (a grandfather named Biumen (?)), his mother Nunye (?), his father Avrum, his sister Gitl and his brother Berish. He explains that his sister registered him with the patronymic Aronovich under Soviet rule. He then describes the Jewish kolkhoz in Chemerivtsi, where non-Jews were also taken on, and how he and his uncle took the horses out to pasture at night.

Adds the explanation of how he got the patronymic Aronovich and the kolkhoz's hiring of non-Jews.

Vaisblai explains that his father did not work on the kolkhoz because of a leg injury and instead made and remade caps. His mother died in 1937 and was buried in Kam"yanets'-Podil's'kyy; the father cooked for the children and later remarried a woman who bore no children. He tells how his father was beaten by a Soviet militiaman and the man was later sentenced. The passage ends as the war begins and his father says they must evacuate.

Adds the story of the father's beating by a militiaman and the sister's death in Israel.

Vaisblai describes his wartime experiences as a boy of eleven. His family was taken to Kam"yanets'-Podil's'kyy, where his father, mother and grandparents are buried; he escaped on his father's urging and was held for a time by a German. He describes the old and new ghettos, bringing food to his father, the killing of children, and an uncle Zelik, a wealthy man. He then wandered among Dunaivtsi, Kupyn and other villages, hiding that he was a Jew and being helped by various non-Jews. Much of the passage is Russian or garbled.

Adds the attempted conversation about the old and new ghettos and the killings of Jews at Dunaivtsi, which the catalogue does not detail.

Vaisblai arrives in the village of Demkovtsy, where a non-Jewish woman who knew his grandmother, a dealer in cloth before the war, takes him in. He was dirty and lice-ridden, and stayed in her house for two weeks. He then goes to religious villagers of a sect and answers Kerler's questions about which villages he passed through, in what order.

Adds Kerler's clarification of the route through the villages.

Vaisblai describes the pious villagers who took him in, and Kerler asks about the sect. Kerler asks for clarification of what the term for them means. A village official sends him on to Chertkiv, and he arrives at a settlement near Demkovtsy where there are Jews in hiding. He mentions a non-Jew punished for hiding Jews, and says that when other Jews were caught he decided it was safer to leave them and go on alone, speaking Yiddish only with difficulty.

Adds the story of a non-Jew beaten and sent to Chemerivtsi for hiding Jews.

Vaisblai continues from village to village. He is taken in under the name Vasil' Ivanovich by a childless couple, and later by a woman named Maniya, who presents him as her nephew from Poltava. He herds cattle and horses at a kolkhoz, hiding that he is a Jew, and stays until the Germans are driven out in 1945 because the villagers frighten him. Kerler asks about places such as Zavadyntsy and Futori and about local words.

Adds the details of the false Poltava origin and the herding work.

After the war Vaisblai returns to Chemerivtsi and gets back two pillows left with a neighbour; he lives in his grandmother's old house. He says the family had no gold and was poor. He discusses his later life, including his sister (or aunt, as Kerler's questions clarify), who studied and a brother who taught at a university, and another brother who studied engineering. Kerler asks about the word for a woman who leads a field party.

Adds the later careers of the relatives and the discussion of the term for the field-party leader.

Vaisblai talks about helping an aunt, his father's sister, and her daughter. The daughter now lives in Germany with her husband and family and is content there. He explains why he himself did not want to emigrate to Germany: he does not know German, and he has a German pension and a good life where he is. His first wife died some years ago and his present wife comes from Uman'; she understands Yiddish.

Also covers the relatives who emigrated to Germany, his reasons for staying, and his present wife from Uman'.

Vaisblai sings a Yiddish song about ten kopeks, and Kerler has him repeat it line by line so the words can be understood. He then explains in Russian and Yiddish that he learned such songs from Jewish officers who came back from the front. He says he did not understand them at the time but learned them anyway. He adds that no one in Khmel'nyts'kyy is left who could tell these things.

Vaisblai says he is a unique informant because he was old enough to see and remember everything during the war. He mentions Hungarians and Romanians in the Vinnytsia region. Kerler asks whether anyone else has interviewed him; he says yes, in Russian, and that this is the first video recording.

Also covers earlier interviews done in Russian and this being his first video interview.

Vaisblai sings a song about a rabbi and a ritual-purity episode, and says he learned such songs from Jewish soldiers. He also learned them from his older sister, who was a secretary. He then describes her two marriages, the second to a blind man, and her children, two sons in Israel and daughters in America. One of the daughters is ill and another works as a hairdresser. Kerler then asks when he came to Proskurov (Khmel'nyts'kyy).

The sister's life is described in detail, including her two marriages and children abroad.

Vaisblai says he came to Khmel'nyts'kyy in 1977 after living in Horodok from 1945. He says there were more Jews in Horodok than in Chemerivtsi after the war, and recalls praying at his father's house in Chemerivtsi. He tells long stories about a miserly man named Khaim Bronshtein and a thief named Yozye Stoharski. Kerler then asks about his sister Gitl's songs, and Vaisblai sings a short rhyme.

Includes the stories of Khaim the miser and the thief, and his sister Gitl's songs, which the catalogue does not mention.

Vaisblai recites and sings several Yiddish songs: a song about Nokhemke and his son, a hasidic rebbe song, and the comic song about seven weeks in one shirt. He says the last was often sung by his friend Avrom, a tailor who drank eau de cologne rather than liquor. Kerler asks him to continue between songs.

At Kerler's request, Vaisblai sings a Sabbath-eve song slowly so the words can be heard, and Kerler asks him to repeat another song. He says he copied songs into a notebook and that rabbis used to enjoy his singing. He says Yiddish is dying because no one knows it, and talks about Israel, its president and Shimon Peres as an artist, and what he sees of Israel on television.

Adds his remarks on Israel, its president and television coverage.

Vaisblai sings the song about leaving home at six o'clock with a headache again, this time more slowly. He then sings a song in which a man takes leave of his in-laws and entrusts his daughter to them. Afterwards he speaks about his health and a recent illness of two weeks earlier, when he was taken to hospital.

Kerler asks what work he did in Horodok after the war, and Vaisblai tells a long story of poverty and many jobs: porter, trading in spirits from Chernivtsi, shop and warehouse work, work in a village (Zakupne), and in a store. He describes the risk of shortages and prosecution, and a clerk whose boss helped him. He also tells how he met Fania, an orphan from Zin'kov, and how Jews collected money for a wedding with klezmer musicians from Donetsk (?).

Gives the work history in much detail, with stories of shortages and fraud charges, and tells how he met his first wife.

Vaisblai describes his postwar working life as a storekeeper and restaurant worker, and a job buying plums. He also tells of running into trouble with the militia and of building a house in Horodok. He then explains that he moved to Khmel'nyts'kyy and worked as a restaurant director. He says he spoke Yiddish with his wife throughout. The wife came from Zin'kov (the transcript is unclear). His children live in Israel and Germany. Much of this part is in Russian.

Adds the story of building a house in Horodok and the move to Khmel'nyts'kyy; the transcript does not clearly show how the children's countries are divided.

Vaisblai says he believes God has saved him from many deaths. He refers to being taken to hospital when close to death and to recovering.

Asked about the best years of his life, Vaisblai says they are the present. He recalls always having been afraid, and reflects on wealth and inheritance. Kerler thanks him for the interview and praises his Yiddish.