Esther Feldman Icikson - October 23 & 29, November 5 & 12, 2001
Father Arrested
Again they arrested your father.
Now they arrested him.
In Siberia. Had you ever heard of Siberia before?
No. What happened was--you see, my dad and my uncle. Shall I talk?
Yeah, yeah.
My dad and my uncle went to the head manager of this area, the officer and asked him that they want to go to work so they can earn money because they have families to support and the children are hungry. And he said, "We are giving you bread." He says, "It's not enough, our kids need something more, a little milk or something." And so, this was a few weeks after we came in actually.
After you arrived in Siberia.
After we arrived in Siberia. A few weeks like.
What happened--as soon as you got off when you were settled in the barracks were you immediately taken, was your--were your father and uncle taken off to work?
No, they didn't have any work.
They just stayed in the barracks.
Yeah, they stayed in the barracks. So they went to ask for work. My, my dad is a tailor,
Oh, so that's why he went.
...my uncle was a builder actually. So they figured, you know, there has to be something to be done so they can earn a few rubles to buy a piece of...
Yeah, okay.
...bread or a cup of milk or something. So they went to the head of the uh, office, which was called Kommandanteura in Russian.
It's Ger...okay.
And uh, to ask uh, the overseeing officer could he find some work for them.
These were all--you were all Jews.
All Jews.
Yeah. Was there any praying?
I don't remember.
Your father didn't pray, do you know?
My father prayed by himself.
By himself.
Whether he prayed with everyone, I do not remember. And so they give him. They, they said to him um, that we are giving you bread and we don't have any work right now. And, you know, go home.
[interruption in interview]
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