When they got married they moved to the town of Nikolayev (Mykolayiv) ** , near the Black Sea.
Introduction by Leslie H. Spaiser
| Bubba (Grandma) and Zaida (Grandpa) grew up in Czarist Russia* near Kiev
(Kijev) in the Ukraine , either
in the shtettle of Rezhenik
or Lisinka.
When they got married they moved to the town of Nikolayev (Mykolayiv) ** , near the Black Sea. |
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| In those days Jews were, as has so often been the case, the particular target of murderous persecution. Regular Pogroms generally carried out by the Czar's Cossack soldiers resulted in untold horrors, misery and death. There was every reason for a poor Jew to try to leave Russia, but this was not easy. Aside from the fact that the trip was hard and dangerous where was a poor peasant to get the money such for a long journey and besides, one had to have a good reason to be admitted to another country, more so perhaps a Jew. |
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The Clara and Simcha Chayt Family in Russia |  |
Son Maurice, who was an activist in Russia and was involved in defending his Jewish brethren from being slaughtered by the Cossacks, found out that he himself was in imminent danger. To save himself -- and ultimately his entire family, he managed to get out of Russia (to Paris France) - in the nick of time. As soon as he was able to establish in Paris he arranged for his father (Zaida) and brother Jacques, to come and then, ultimately his mother (Bubba) along with rest of the children.
We are fortunate that Dave Chayt left us this, the only detailed account, of how it was living in Nikolayev Russia at the time.
- LS
Life in Russia as Recounted by Dave Chayt;
In Russia, my father was a cantor and a shoemaker. The only money he made as a cantor was at the High Holidays. After the services, they would put out plates for the various people participating. The rabbi used to take most of it. I remember my mother saying that the rabbi would sit next to the plate, and those sitting next to the plate get the cream. The rest get kasha and water. He made very little from it, but that was the life in Russia.
Of my grandparents, I remember my grandfather, especially. He came from the village of Rezhenik. It was not too far, but you couldn't walk there. The only traveling was by horse and wagon, that's all they had in those days. I remember when he visited us, he was a tall, husky man. My mother told me that in her family they lived to the hundreds. The men were very tall and husky. Grandma I remember faintly, because she came rarely. She was busy cooking and preparing things. Those were my mother's parents. My father lost his father when he was five years of age. His father was one of twin brothers. His brother was Herschel. That was Abe Chait's father. My father and Herschel had an older brother, Benny, who was the oldest. Benny worked in millinery. He was always a well-dressed man. He was a dancer. At weddings he would dance the kazachka, but when he finished, he couldn't stand up. He had a son, Abe, who was a very good dancer also. My mother's father used to do peddling, selling some stuff in the city. I don't know what. He was a well-dressed man.
In the house in Nikolayev, there was no electric. The only electric was in the streets. The lights had like two candles, and the electricity would light them very bright. Nikolayev was a big industrial city. There was a tremendous factory, that they called the French factory. Then there was a fire, about 1906, and the factory burned down. Transportation was by horse-drawn vehicles. The trolleys were drawn by horses. Sometimes they let the cars go empty to the depot, and we kids would take a free ride. I remember the cars running without horses. It must have been downhill.
Jacques was about two years younger than Maurice. We were about two years apart. Marie was born 1901, two years before me. Berthe was born in 1899, so that's four years; Sarah was born in 1897. Anna was born in '95, and Jacques was born in '92. Maurice was born in 1891. From '91 to '03, that's fourteen years. Besides my father, Jacques and Maurice worked in the shoe trade as operators. And then Anna and Sarah used to work. They had good schooling. There was in gymnasia (sic). It was a high school. I don't know if Jacques was so educated, but Maurice, Anna and Sarah were. Anna and Marie also went to school. I went to Hebrew school, for two or three years.
*Czarist Russia: Russia prior to the October 1917 Revolution which established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - the USSR - now (2004) Russia, and more specifically, Ukraine. The time period we are talking about is from around 1870 to about 1910.
* * Nikolayev - the current spelling (according to the CIA World Fact Book - 2004) - is Mykolayiv. -- I have left the spelling as Nikolayev since that is closer to correct for the time. i.e. the city was named for Czar Nicholas - probably something the previous Soviet regime preferred not to remember.
In the next section read the story from those people who had the time and thoughtfulness to write their own accounts of this trek, and of the new life they found in Paris.
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