Esther Feldman Icikson - October 23 & 29, November 5 & 12, 2001
Reunited with Father
Just tell me how you hooked up with your father and then maybe we'll stop.
Yes, yes. Uh, well, after we traveled all the time on that raft, we got to Asino and we hooked up to the shore and we carried down our belongings. And we parked ourselves by the shore. It was this humongous roof and you parked yourself under that roof.
Like a garage.
Like a garage. It was very, very cold. This I remember. It was so cold, it was freezing.
So what did you do then?
Uh, my mom and my aunt left us children together and they went into town to look for my dad and my uncle. And when they came into town they started asking around. They said, "Oh, the tall tailor and the builder yes." They--yeah. You know, people in, in small places and in, in Russia you know one other. Ah, Feldman Chaimovitch, that's what they call in Russian.
What was your father's name?
Feldman Chaimovitch. My father's name was Pinhaus. But in Russia you're called your fathers...
Patrimony.
Yes. Feldman--my, my grandfather's name was Chaim. So he was called Feldman Chaimovitch, you see, that's how they called him. "Oh yes, he was here but he went to the next village to work." So my mom le...left a message with these people. How--you know what, when I think of it, how she could find my dad and my uncle, I will never understand. But she went from house to house, asking around, looking for Jews you know, look, until she found him. They said, yes, he lives here, but he went to the next village to work.
Door to door she did this?
Door to door, whatever. And she left a message saying when he comes back, tell him we're at the shore under the roof waiting for him. She came back. And when my dad came back and was told, I think he was running, not walking all the way to the shore.
Now there were six children on the raft, right?
Yeah.
Did you talk to each other?
Of course we talked to each other!
And what did you talk about? The war?
I don't remember.
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