Old section of the Borisov Jewish Cemetery

Below is a list of burials in Borisov’s Jewish Cemetery between 1944 and 1995.  It was compiled by Boris Gitlin and presented on Alexander Rosenbloom’s Russian language website, Kokteil’ Moei Dushi (“Cocktail of My Soul.”  There is more about this website here).

Gravestones earlier than 1944 could not be identified because there was no Hebrew or Yiddish translator available to Gitlin and also because of Nazi mutilation of gravestones and cemetery destruction during the occupation.

The Borisov Cemetery list was kindly transliterated for me from Rosenbloom’s Russian website by Leon Kull, using transliteration software.  I then made a few transliteration adjustments and altered the alphabetization from Cyrillic.  Please contact me about any errors you may find.

Rosenbloom’s Borisov Jewish Cemetery list

As you search this list, please be aware of all possible spelling variants.  There are a number of transliteration systems for the Cyrillic alphabet.  Cyrillic letters which don’t occur in English are transliterated differently in different systems.

The numbers at the far right of each name relate to the gravestone location in the cemetery.  If you need more information about this, please contact me using the “Leave a Reply” or “Contact Anne” forms at the very bottom of this page.

A

AJZENSHTADT Leja Movshevna (1870-1963) – 11/9

AJZENSHTAT Aron Tanhelevich (1892-1961) – 13/40

AJZENSHTAT Liza SHevelevna (1899-1984) – 13/39

AKSEL’ROD Berta Isaakovna (1909-1970) – 7/18

AKSEL’ROD Kadysh Isaakovich (1922-1985) – 13/78

AKSEL’ROD Lev Romanovich (1907-1977) – 7/17

AKSEL’ROD Sof’ja Izrailevna (1915-1984) – 13/19

ALEKSANDROVICH Efim YAkovlevich (1946-1977) – 7/24

ALEKSANDROVICH YAkov Haimovich (1912-1971) – 7/23

ALKON Il’ja Efimovich (1895-1971) – 8/25

AL’PERINA Sarra-Fejga Fajvovna(1958-32) – 16/14(perez.)

AL’PEROVICH Miron Aleksandrovich (1900-1961) – 14/32

AL’TSHULER Anna Efimovna (1907-1982) – 4/15

AL’TSHULER Sarra Abramovna (1903-1991) – 12/13

AL’TSHULER Solomon Moiseevich (1905-1989) – 4/14

ANDRACHNIK Berta Aronovna (1918-1987) – 21/1

ANDRACHNIK Izrail’ Efimovich (1916-1986) – 19/1

ARANOVICH Grigorij L’vovich (1909-1987) – 1/31

ARONIN A. (1886-1966) – 8/2

ARONIN Abel’ Aronovich (1903-1953) – 12/58

ARONIN Zalman Aronovich (1902-1983) – 18/2

ARONIN Zjama Lejbovich (1917-1982) – 14/12

ARONIN Ruvim Haimovich (1918-1989) – 6/45

ARONINA Manja Motovna (1918-1986) – 6/44

ARONINA Nelli Ruvimovna (1947-1979) – 6/43

ARONINA Rasja YAkovlevna (1910-1981) – 24/4

ARONOVA Nina Efimovna (1916-1995) – 1/22

ARONCHIK Abram Lejbovich (1875-1954) – 12/62

ARONCHIK Malja Lejbovna (1888-1955) – 15/4

ARONCHIK Riva Iosifovna (1880-1958) – 12/44

ASTRAHAN Emma Isaakovna(1901-1979) – 5/18

AZIMOVA Sonja Grigor’evna (1898-1960) – 15/33

B

BARKAN Abram Davidovich (1922-1981) – 27/2

BARKAN Vera Davydovna (1900-1968) – 9/23

BARKAN Vladimir  Moiseevich (1892-1981)- 27/3

BARKAN Isaak Markovich (1898 -1974) – 5/22

BARKAN Sarra Egudovna (1877-1951) – 12/34

BARKAN Haja Davidovna (1906-1989) – 1/2

BARSHAJ Aleksandra Borisovna (1928-1994) – 5/50

BARSHAJ Andrej Grigor’evich (1916-1988)- 4/25

BARSHAJ Boris Grigor’evich (1924-1990) – 32/4

BARSHAJ Isaak Grigor’evich (1916-1983) – 7/22

BARSHAJ YUdasja Kuselevna (1895-1971) – 7/21

BASKIND Boris Davidovich (1910-1973) – 10/30

BASKIND D.YU.(um. v 1938) – 18/22 (simv.)

BASKIND Efim Moiseevich (1929-1993) – 2/43

BASKIND Zinaida Genrihovna (1930-1991) – 2/35

BASKIND Raisa(?) Aleksandrovna (1909-1983) – 10/32

BASKIND Sof’ja Samuilovna (1908-1983) – 11/26

BAHRAH Brajna Berkovna (1897-1986) – 2/16

BEJNENSON Aron Zelikovich (1909-1964) – 10/14

BEJNENSON Dora Evseevna (1920-1987) – 2/18

BEJNENSON Rahil’ Isaakovna (1906-1980) – 23/4

BEJNENSON Hana TSemehovna (1902-1971) – 17/23

BEKKER Hatzkel’ Mihajlovich (1906-1982) – 29/4

BELAYA Tat’jana L’vovna (1936-1993) – 4/46

BELEN’KAYA Elizaveta Aleksandrovna (1899-1964) – 9/4

BELEN’KAYA Revekka Alterovna (1906-1978) – 9/5

BELOUSOVA Marija Zalmanovna (1907-1994) – 13/4

BEL’KIND Vul’f Solomonovich (1902-1974) – 5/17

BEL’KIND Tat’jana Natanovna (1898-1965) – 9/11

BELYAVIN Arkadij Mihajlovich (1915-1959) – 16/30

BELYAVIN Izrail’ Arkad’evich (1948-1982) – 16/29

BELYAVIN Isaak Iosifovich (1927-1965) – 10/45

BELYAVIN Moisej Iosifovich (1904-1983) – 20/8

BELYAVIN Samuil Ruvenovich (1896-1977) – 15/12

BELYAVIN Semen Fedorovich (1931-1958) – 8/51

BELYAVIN Fajtel’ SHlemovich (1901-1973) – 8/32

BELYAVIN YAkov Vul’fovich (1878 – 1957) – 11/44

BELYAVIN YAkov Samuilovich (1905-1983) – 16/9

BELYAVINA   ?   Fajtelevna (1929-1992) – 7/31

BELYAVINA Guta L’vovna (1905-1981) – 8/31

BELYAVINA Dvejra Iosifovna (1882-1972) – 9/31

BELYAVINA Nehama Berkovna (1897-1957) – 15/11

BELYAVINA Haja Solomonovna (1891-1972) – 9/32

BENENSON Aron YAkovlevich (um. v 1953) – 12/6

BENENSON Bljuma Berkovna (1891-1979) – 7/30

BENENSON Genja Semenovna (1913-1978) – 14/24

BENENSON Elizaveta Ruvimovna (1907-1986) – 2/15

BENENSON Liba Solomonovna (1881-1959) – 15/27

BENENSON Lija Semenovna – 14/26

BENENSON Moisej YAkovlevich (1887-1977) – 7/29

BENENSON Sarra YAkovlevna (1884-1953) – 12/4

BENENSON Sofija Semenovna -14/25

BENENSON Toma Aronovna (um. v 1982) – 12/7

BENENSON SHaja SHevelevich (1912-1987) – 19/5

BERKOVICH P.M. (um. v 1939) – 17/26 (simv.?)

BERKOVICH Faina Lazarevna (1910-1986) – 16/1

BERLIN Grigorij YUdovich (1877-1949) – 13/57

BERMAN S.Z. (1923-1948) – 12/16

BERMAN Sima Manuilovna (1927-1989) – 1/7

BERNSHTEJN Moisej Isaakovich (1903-1991) – 1/9

BILYK Marija Markovna (1914-1981) – 4/31

BLINKOV Grigorij L’vovich (1912-1992) – 17/6

BLINKOV Simon Itskovich (?-?) – 18/26

BLINKOVA Dvejra Lejbovna (1888-1971) – 9/34

BLINKOVA TSiva SHaevna (?-?) – 18/27

BLOH Honja Genrihovich (1921-1995) – 1/43

BLYUMKIN Lev Borisovich (1903-1956) – 16/35

BLYUMKINA Elizaveta Moiseevna (1903-1968) – 16/36

BOBROV Isaak Kuselevich (1917-1980) – 13/27

BOBROVA Klara Isaakovna (1947-1994) – 13/24

BOBROVA TSilja Pejsovna (1891-1975) – 6/37

BOGDANOV Meer Moiseevich (1908-1973) – 8/34

BOGDANOVSKAYA Basja Isaakovna (1882-1962) – 15/37

BOGDANOVSKAYA Rozalija Borisovna (1907-1989) – 1/20

BOGDANOVSKIJ Berka Meerovich (1875-1971) – 13/46

BOGOLYUBOV Isaak Mendelevich (1918-1985) – 3/37

BOLOTIN Boris (um. V 1980) – 5/38 – 5/38

BOMSHTEJN Abram Evseevich (1905-1987) – 2/25

BOMSHTEJN Moisej Vul’f-Evseevich (1908-1970) – 6/6

BOMSHTEJN Fanja Meerovna (1906-1965) – 9/8

BORD Rahil’ Borisovna (1905-1978) – 22/2

BORODA Abram Davydovich (1910-1981) – 28/3

BRODKIN SHmujel’-Meer YUda-Lejbovich (1888-1979) – 5/36

BRODKINA Matlja Srolevna (1890-1979) – 5/37

BRUK Marija L’vovna (1932-1978) – 9/28

BUGOV Lev Moiseevich (1891-1979) – 14/6

BURGINA Ginda Rahmilovna (1902-1977) – 14/20

BURGINA M.A. (1873-1948) – 12/20

BURDO Izrail’ Il’ich (1925-1988) – 1/24

BURKOV Dmitrij Nikolaevich (1872-1971) – 8/45

BUSLOV Miron Il’ich (1898-1983) – 14/44

BUSLOVICH Berta Mendelevna (1909-1992) – 16/5

BUSLOVICH Boris Pejsahovich (1904-1984) – 16/4

BUSLOVICH Mar’jasja Pejsahovna (1898-1973) – 6/26

BYAL’ Mihail Efimovich (1923-1984) – 3/15

C

CHARNAYA Esfir’ L’vovna (1886-1971) – 11/34

CHARNO Kuna-Malka Morduhovna (1914-1985) – 24/1

CHARNYJ David Grigor’evich (1886-1968) – 11/33

CHARNYJ Isaak YUdelevich (1936-1989) – 16/40

CHERNIN Boris Markovich (1898-1993) – 34/2

CHERNINA El’ka Samuilovna (1887-1974) – 6/40

CHERNYAHOVSKAYA Basja Zusevna (1909-1989) – 1/35

CHERNYAHOVSKIJ Izja Georgievich (1906-1990) – 1/36

D

DAVIDOVICH Evgenija Solomonovna (1891-1978) – 11/43

DAVIDOVICH Lev Grigor’evich (1889-1957) – 11/42

DANILOV Iosif Davidovich (1937-1993) – 10/55

DOBKIN Aron Girshevich (1890-1962) – 17/21

DOBKINA Riva Vul’fovna (1899-1980) – 16/28

DOKSHITSKAYA Gisja Moiseevna (1893-1955) – 12/19

DONOV Zalman YAkovlevich (1923-1965) – 10/23

DONOVA Berta Efimovna (1921-1983) – 5/43

DONSKAYA Fanja Grigor’evna (1908-1980) – 22/6

DUBERSHTEJN Lev Ruvenovich (1898-1950) – 12/48

DUDKOVSKAYA Marija Mihajlovna (1919-1991) – 1/12

DVORKINA Rahil’ Iosifovna (1904-1972) – 9/35

DVORKINA Sonja Davydovna (1899-1990) – 9/44

DVORKIND Berka Movshevich (1886-1968) – 8/21

DVORKIND Berta YUdelevna (1898-1968) – 9/24

DVORKIND Zundel’ Matveevich (1894-1969) – 9/26

DVORKIND Klara Zalmanovna (1922-1990) – 5/20

DVORKIND Moisej Zundelevich (1921-1981) – 9/25

DVORKIND TSiva Zundelevna (1870-1948) – 18/12

DVORKIND Elja Movshevich (1893-1954) – 12/60

DVORKIND Elja-Girsh Lejbovich (1896-1983) – 18/6

DYHMAN Lejba Itskovich (1901-1970) – 8/24

E

EBER Haja Abramovna (1914-1989)  – 1/8

EJG Hana Lejbovna (1884-1964) – 11/19

EJDEL’MAN Moisej El’evich (1911-1984) – 3/22

EJDEL’MAN Sima YAnkelevna (1905-1975) – 15/1

EJDIN Beniamin Izrailevich (1891-1971) – 6/21

ELAK Boris Grigor’evich (1928-1992) – 5/49

EL’KIND ?? (1925-1948) – 13/60

EL’KIND Abram Isserovich (1919-1993) – 1/42

EL’KIND Grigorij Evseevich (1918-1973) – 6/28

EL’KIND Klara Mihajlovna (1924-1994) – 34/9

EL’KIND Maks Gendelevich (1903-1984) – 9/9

EL’KIND Moisej Aronovich (1904-1982) – 4/21

EL’KIND Moisej Lazarevich (1888-1958) – 14/51

EL’KIND Petr Grigor’evich (1950-1981) – 6/15

EL’KIND Polina Borisovna (1909-1975) – 6/36

EL’KIND Raisa YAkovlevna (1910-1982) – 8/29

EL’KIND Rahil’ Moiseevna (1895-1966) – 13/83

EL’KIND S.E. (1910-1984) – 33/3

EL’KIND Saul Mendelevich (1915-1991) – 6/53

EL’KIND Hava Mendelevna (1908-1988) – 8/15

EL’KIND YUda Abramovich (1893-1947) – 13/84

EPEL’BAUM Etja-Riva Markovna (1893-1973) – 9/37

EPSHTEJN Alta Vul’fovna (1895-1960) – 15/32

EPSHTEJN SHejna Girshevna (1910-1985) – 18/1

ERUSALIMCHIK Manuil Iosifovich (1901-1942) – 6/49(simv.)

ERUSALIMCHIK Revekka Solomonovna (1901-1994) – 6/50

ERUSALIMCHIK Sarra Berkovna (1904-1988) – 1/17

ESTEROVA Elena Efimovna (1898-1892) – 4/45

ETLINA Dynja Moiseevna (1878-1963) – 11/16

F

FAJGENBAUM Aron Meerovich (1918-1984) – 17/3

FAJGENBAUM Mina Izrailevna (1920-1993) – 17/2

FAJMAN Ida Semenovna (1929-1990) -3/45

FAJN Manja YAkovlevna (1901-1963) – 11/18

FAJN Mera YAnkelevna (1890-1981) – 10/20

FAJN Moisej (1897-1964) – 10/19

FAJNBERG Moisej Abrpmovich (1892-1873) – 10/35

FAJNBERG Rafail Borisovich (1905-1986) – 30/1

FEJGIN Efim Efimovich (1907-1982) – 12/11

FEJGIN Lejba SHmerkovich (1900-1991) – 12/12

FEJGIN Leontij Izrailevich (1937-1979) 14/9

FEJGIN Samuil SHmerkovich (1897-1963) – 10/4

FEJGINA Genja Berkovna (1906-1986) – 14/8

FEJGINA Genja Efimovna (1905-1987)-1987) – 13/16

FEJGINA Gilja(?) Solomonovna (1890-1985) – 3/4

FEJGINA Pelageja Evel’evna (1890-1980) – 21/6

FEJGINA Emma L’vovna (1908-1948) -12/10

FEL’DMAN Dvejra-Pesja Zelikovna (1877-1951) – 12/33

FEL’DMAN Erna(?) Davidovna (1896-1984) – 3/10

FEL’DMAN Mera Lazarevna (1891-1979) – 19/3

FINKEL’SHTEJN Krejna Davidovna (1903-1990) – 16/27

FINTUSHAL Guta Gil’kovna (1896-1987) – 29/3

FINTUSHAL Zavel’ Fajbeshevich (1894-1982) – 29/2

FISHKIN Isaak L’vovich (1910-1987) – 17/11

FISHKINA Zinaida Solomonovna (1913-1965) – 9/10

FISHKINA Sarra YAkovlevna (1916-1986) – 17/12

FISHKIND Abram Samuilovich (1911-1978) – 5/29

FISHKIND Mota Movshevich (1881-1970) – 6/14

FISHKIND Samuil Abramovich (1931-1986) – 2/23

FISHKIND-SHUL’KINA Hasja Haimovna (1911-1990) – 2/24

FISHMAN Asja Iosifovna – (1912-1985) – 22/7

FLEJTLIH Ida SHimonovna (1900-1979) – 16/12

FLEJTLIH YAkov Lejzerovich (1989-1985) – 16/13

FRAJKINA Gesja Pejsahovna (1872-1961) – 11/5

FREJDINA Rohlja Haimovna (1892-1980) – 13/14

FRIDLYAND Iosif Haimovich (1990-1974) – 16/25

FRIDLYAND Lejba Iosifovich (1919-1989) – 16/19

FRIDLYAND Marija Markovna (1903-1981) – 13/3

FRIDLYAND Rahil’ Itskovna (1900-1933) – 16/18

FRIDLYAND Haja Gertsevna (1903-1987) – 16/26

FRIDMAN Anna YAkovlevna (1917-1979) -  13/36

FRIDMAN B.A. – (1880-1962) – 10/38

FRIDMAN Boruh Evelevich (1902-1964) – 10/15

FRIDMAN Borja (1977-1979) – 10/31

FRIDMAN Genja Iosifovna (1907-1989) – 1/16

FRIDMAN Geta Semenovna (1927-1980) – 6/32

FRIDMAN Efim Matveevich (1926-1980) – 24/3

FRIDMAN Ida Iosifovna (1900-1968) – 9/20

FRIDMAN Iosif Moiseevich (1913-1989) – 4/42

FRIDMAN Lazar’ Samuilovich (1910-1978) – 13/37

FRIDMAN Roza Samuilovna (1909-1983) – 4/4

FRIDMAN Semen Zelikovich (1885-1989) – 6/34

FRIDMAN F.S. (1921-1936) – 18/10

FRIDMAN Fruma Boruhovna (1895-1976) – 6/33

FRIDMAN TSipa Aronovna (1914-1991) – 4/43

FRUMINA Marija Gilevna (1896-1956) – 15/10

FRUMKIN Hatzkel’ Borisovich (1907-1985) – 3/2

FRUMKINA Raisa Matveevna (1919-1985) – 3/1

FRUSIN YAkov Solomonovich (1904-1991) – 5/39

FRUSINA Rahil’ Solomonovna (1910-1981) – 5/40

FUKSMAN Rahil’ Markovna (1912-1991) – 1/10

FUKSON Bronislava Klement’evna (1935-1959) – 15/29

FUKSON Nina Grigor’evna (1911-1982) – 4/19

FUNDYLER Sonja SHmujlovna (1898-1981) – 13/1

FUNT Aleksandr Isaakovich (1927-1988) – 13/53

FUNT Isaak (1897-1945) – 12/50

FUNT-KLYACHUK Rahil’ Aleksandrovna (1899-1995) – 12/49

FURMAN Isaak Semenovich (1890-1869) -3/3

FURMAN Marija Moiseevna (1909-1977) – 16/17

FURMAN Meer Avseevich (1904-1986) – 16/16

FUTERMAN Izrail’ Moiseevich (1886-1962) – 18/15

FUTERMAN Moisej Afroimovich (1860-1951) – 18/14

FUTERMAN Sof’ja Solomonovna (1890-1961) – 18/16

G

GAL’PERIN Meer Beniaminovich (1895-1987) – 3/25

GAL’PERINA Hana Pejsahovna (1915-1984) – 3/24

GANTVARG Anna Moiseevna (1928-1987) – 4/2

GANTVARG Riva Solomonovna (1903-1986) – 2/2

GANTVARG Semen Borisovich (1925-1983) – 4/3

GEZENTSVEJG Roza Froimovna (1912-1987) – 2/31

GEL’FARD Leja Ajzikovna (1893-1972) – 15/40

GEL’FER Bella Il’jashevna (1936-1988) – 3/6

GEL’FER Maks Aronovich (1900-1968) – 8/22

GEL’FER Haja Abramovna (1900-1981) – 8/23

GERTNER Evsej Moiseevich (1896-1970) – 6/1

GERSHELEVICH Mark L’vovich (1938-1989) – 5/47

GERSHMAN Lazar’ Anatol’evich (1916-1985) – 31/2

GERSHTEJN Samson Moiseevich (1904-1973) – 13/48

GILENSON Sarra Haimovna (1914-1990) – 26/7

GIL’DENBERG Iosif Grigor’evich (1908-1984) – 19/8

GIL’DENBERG Raisa Samuilovna (1911-1981) – 20/7

GIL’DENBERG Riva Solomonovna (1908-1984) – 19/9

GINDINA Bronja Evnovna (1917-1984) – 15/43

GINDINA Enta Girshevna (1895-1975) – 15/42

GINDINA Enta Girshevna (1895-1975) – 19/2

GINZBURG Grigorij L’vovich (1888-1989) – 12/41

GINZBURG Guta-Mera Zalmanovna (1896-1983) – 6/10

GINZBURG Eruhim Hananovich (1891-1970) – 6/9

GINZBURG Liza Samuilovna (1915-1980) – 14/2

GINZBURG Rahil’ Hononovna (1907-1989) – 5/27

GINZBURG Roza Lejbovna (1901-1984) – 14/47

GINZBURG Faina YAkovlevna (1899-1952) – 12/42

GINZBURG SHevel’ Abramovich (1888-1954) – 11/51

GINZBURG YUrij Grigor’evich (1933-1960) – 12/40

GIRSHGORIN Haja Isaakovna (1896-1985) – 4/38

GITLEVICH Izrail’ Davidovich (1899-1984) – 25/5

GITLIN Lazar’ Genuhovich (1913-1985) – 13/18

GITLIN Moisej Elevich (1899-1981) – 13/12

GITLINA R.YU. (1906-1953) – 11/38

GLIKMAN Dmitrij Aleksandrovich (1927-1984) – 3/28

GLIKMAN Naum L’vovich (1916-1977) – 5/7

GLIKMAN Riva Ruvenovna (1894-1964) – 9/15

GOL’BRAH Mar’jasa Mendelevna (1910-1985) – 29/1

GOL’DBERG Isaak Solomonovich (1910-1986) – 5/46

GOL’DBERG Matvej SHaevich (1888-1976) – 18/18

GOL’DBERG Faina Solomonovna (1892-1965) – 18/17

GOL’DIN A.N. (1908-1990) – 33/9

GOL’DFARB Moisej Girshevich (1918-1959) – 16/32

GORELIK Ida Zalmanovna (1913-1980) -26/3

GORODINSKAYA Hasja Gil’evna (1905-1950) – 12/17

GRINBERG Daniil Genuhovich (1905-1986) – 2/10

GRINBERG Sof’ja Iosifovna (1935-1988) – 1/27

GRINSHTEJN Iosiv Isaakovich (um. V 1958) – 11/46

GUREVICH (drugih svedenij net) – 9/19

GUREVICH Abram SHaevich (1886-1971) – 16/22

GUREVICH Abram SHmujlovich (1889-1955) – 8/49

GUREVICH Alter Lejbovich (um. V 1968) – 10/36

GUREVICH Bejlja Zalmanovna (1887-1958) – 15/23

GUREVICH Bejlja YAnkelevna (1909-1991) – 6/47

GUREVICH Dvosja Abramovna (1885-1971) – 12/2

GUREVICH Drejza Pejsahovna (1895-1969) – 7/6

GUREVICH Zalman YUdelevich (1906-1984) – 6/48

GUREVICH Lejb (1871-?) – 14/48

GUREVICH Ljubov’ L’vovna (1912-1993) – 16/46

GUREVICH Malka Mejlahovna (1923-1987) – 13/23

GUREVICH Moisej YAkovlevich (1905-1983) – 5/41

GUREVICH Morduh Samuilovich (1893-1983) – 21/2

GUREVICH Pesja Meerovna (1895-1983) – 30/2

GUREVICH Rahil’ Alterovna (1905-1990) – 16/43

GUREVICH Sarra Girshevna (1913-1992) – 16/45

GUREVICH Solomon Haimovich (1905-1983) – 13/20

GUREVICH Fanja Mejlahovna (1925-1986) – 12/24

GUREVICH Fanja YUdelevna (1922-1955) – 15/6

GUREVICH Haja Davidovna (1893-1964) – 9/7

GURLO Mihail Nikolaevich (1925-1995) – 38/1

GUTKOVICH Efim Iosifovich (1922-1980) – 12/3

GUTKOVICH Iosif Mendelevich (1897-1954) – 12/63

GUTKOVICH Paja Abramovna (1900-1948) – 12/1

GUZMAN Gita Ruvimovna (1904-1988) – 1/6

GUZMAN Evgenija Bentsianovna (1925-1990)  – 1/5

GUZMAN Isaak Bentsianovich (1926-1987) – 2/6

H

HATZKEVICH Stella Borisovna (um. v 1989) – 13/2

HAJKIN Isaak Moiseevich (1905-1994) – 32/11

HAJKIN Moisej Lejbovich (1905-1984) – 24/2

HAJKIN Semen Isaakovich (1934-1970) – 6/18

HAJKINA Vera Isaakovna (1928-1988) – 6/17

HAJKINA Pesja Davidovna (1905-1976) – 5/11

HASINA Dvejra-Fejga Semenovna (1873-1948) – 13/15

HASINA Ejdlja Tanhelevna (1906-1963) – 9/2

HAZANOVICH Raisa Moiseevna (1902-1987) – 2/30

HAZOVA Anna Fedorovna (1913-1992) – 26/9

HEJMAN Ruvim Solomonovich (1898-1968) – 8/18

HEJFETS Grigorij Mihajlovich (1928-1974) – 10/50

HEJFETS David Bencianovich (1897-1987) – 33/7

HEJFETS Semen Kalmanovich (1898-1981) – 28/2

HMEL’NIKOV Iosif Semenovich (1912-1981) – 12/46

HOLODENKO Abram Moiseevich (1909-1990) – 32/9

HOLODETS Hana Evseevna (1883-1945) – 13/79

HONIN Moisej Mendelevich (1907-1989) – 1/37

HREJN Moisej Il’ich (1910-1989) – 1/19

I

INTRATOR Semen Davidovich (1920-1988) – 2/33

IOFFE Aron Vul’fovich (1910-1993) – 27/7

K

KABAKOVA Fanja Meerovna (1929-1975) – 9/43

KAGAN Abram Solomonovich (1923-1984) – 23/5

KAGAN Aleksandr Romanovich (1898-1982) – 12/15

KAGAN Bella Zaharovna (1915-1977) – 20/2

KAGAN Bljuma Izrailevna (1881-1946) – 18/11

KAGAN Vul’f SHepelevich (1904-1960) – 13/50

KAGAN Genja Fajvovna (1909-1987) – 16/38

KAGAN Izrail’ Borisovich (1909-1965) – 10/22

KAGAN Isaak Zundelevich (1875-1954) – 18/13

KAGAN Iuda Berkovich (1901-1963) – 10/7

KAGAN Marija Izrailevna (1920-1972) – 8/44

KAGAN Marija Matveevna (1909-1985) – 13/22

KAGAN Moisej Borisovich (1897-1962) – 17/20

KAGAN Moisej Naumovich (1910-1968) – 8/11

KAGAN Polina YAkovlevna (1904-1973) – 9/38

KAGAN Rahil’ Samuilovna (1905-1991) – 16/41

KAGAN Sof’ja Naumovna (1894-1976) – 7/28

KAGAN Haja Isserovna (1900-1983) – 17/17

KAGAN TSilja Pejsahovna (1902-1971) – 13/49

KAGAN SHaja Samuilovich (1900-1981) – 16/37

KAGAN SHlema Samuilovich (1908-1983) – 16/39

KAGAN-MOLOCHNIKOVA Ginda Lejbovna (1913-1958) – 15/19

KAGANOVICH Malka Movshevna (1912-1991) – 3/46

KAGANOVICH Ester Girshevna (1915-1987) – 10/27

KAGANOVICH YAkov Abramovich (1909-1975) – 10/26

KAGANOVICH Zlata Abramovnv (1905-1990) – 16/42

KALINKOVICH Vladimir YAkovlevich (1940-1994) – 24/9

KANTAROVICH Izrail’ Vul’fovich (1902-1969) – 11/29

KANTAROVICH Meer Izrailevich (1934-1992) – 11/31

KANTAROVICH Sarra Davidovna (1900-1980) – 11/30

KANTOR Riva Meerovna (1880-1979) – 14/18

KANTOROV Ehiel Lejbovich (1903-1941?) – 2/40

KANTOROV Mark Berkovich (1918-1989) – 1/25

KANTOROVICH Girsha Abramovich (1908-1982) – 4/23

KAPEROVSKAYA Sof’ja Iosifovna (1900-1981) – 26/5

KAPILEVICH Basja Davidovna (1905-1966) – 9/16

KAPILEVICH Zalman Lipovich (1893-1962) – 10/6

KAPILEVICH Isaak Tevelevich (1893-1976) – 5/9

KAPILEVICH Hana L’vovna (1904-1972) 6/23

KAPLAN Grigorij Izrailevich (1897-1983) – 25/1

KAPLAN Lazar’ Zalmanovich (1916-1981) – 28/4

KAPLAN Moisej Irmovich (1895-1984) – 3/29

KAPLAN Naum Isaakovich (1904-1968) – 8/20

KAPLAN Nina Iosifovna (1911-1992) – 1/32

KAPLAN S.P.(1877-1962) – 13/38

KAPLAN Faina Markovna (1923-1986) – 3/41

KAPLAN TSilja Samuilovna (1889-1964) – 11/20

KAPLUN YAkov Emmanuilovich (1899-1981) – 4/34

KARASEV Gennadij Ivanovich (1940-1979) – 23/2

KARASIK Boris Bentsianovich (1909-1982) – 4/6

KARASIK Izrail’ Moiseevich (1887-1970) – 18/19

KARASIK Sof’ja Gerchikovna (1898-1971) – 18/20

KARASIK TSilja Iosifovna (?-?) – 18/25

KATZ Anna Moiseevna (1903-1974) – 16/3

KATZ Aron Avel’evich (1894-1967) – 14/36

KATZ Lejba Itskovich (1905-1969) – 6/7

KATZ Sarra Solomonovna (1909-1949) – 12/26

KATZ Hana Berkovna (1898-1983) – 14/37

KATZ Etta YUdelevna (1898-1979) – 14/38

KATZMAN Gita Samuilovna (1900-1971) – 7/20

KATZMAN Ruvim Gershevich (1903-1990) – 34/3

KATZNEL’SON I.E. (1929-1990) – 1/4

KATZNEL’SON YAkov Romanovich (1925-1984) – 3/16

KAZHDAN Abram Germanovich (1916-1945) – 13/66

KAZHDAN Ben’jamin SHolomovich (1902-1944) – 18/5 (simv.)

KAZHDAN Vladimir Moiseevich (1913-1976) – 5/15

KAZHDAN Vul’f Morduhovich (1890-1989) – 34/1

KAZHDAN German YAkovlevich (1883-1941) – 13/65

KAZHDAN Iosif Borisovich (1927-1991) – 4/40

KAZHDAN M.SH. (1914-1973) – 10/34

KAZHDAN Mark Naumovich (1900-1961) – 13/41

KAZHDAN Sarra L’vovna (1887-1958) – 15/15

KAZHDAN Sonja Fajvovna (1905-1982) – 18/4

KAZHDAN Tamara Vladimirovna (1925-1985) – 10/33

KAZHDAN Hasja Abramovna (1882-1957) – 15/13

KEMPINSKIJ David Isaakovich (1909-1982) – 4/32

KERSHENBAUM Galina YAkovlevna (1932-1949)- 12/29

KERSHENBAUM YAnkel’ Gerasimovich (1906-1984) – 11/22

KERSHTEJN Ajzik Eruhmilovich (1904-1970) – 10/29

KERSHTEJN Anatolij Eruhmilovich (1904-1970) – 12/35

KERSHTEJN Anna Borisovna (1905-1994) – 4/28

KERSHTEJN Leonid Erahmeilovich (1895-1969) – 11/28

KERSHTEJN Malka YAkovlevna (1909-1972) – 10/28

KERSHTEJN Malka YAnkelevna (1909-1972) – 12/36

KERSHTEJN Samuil Iosifovich (1898-1980) – 4/29

KIMEL’ Iosif YAkovlevich (1909-1980) – 23/3

KISEL’MAN Raisa Aronovna (1916-1985) – 3/39

KISHETSER Moisej Davidovich (1909-1947) – 13/68

KLEBANOV Zalman Moiseevich (1911-1990) – 33/1

KLEBANOV Lazar’ Samuilovich (1918-1947) – 13/85

KLEBANOV Lazar’ YAkovlevich (1929-1987) – 1/30

KLEBANOV Moisej Abramovich (1896-1979) – 5/35

KLEBANOV Fala Irmovich (1895-1982) – 4/7

KLEBANOV Haim Samuilovich (1896-1970) – 6/8

KLEBANOV YAkov Girshevich (1905-1965) – 10/24

KLEBANOVA Anna L’vovna (1918-1986) – 33/2

KLEBANOVA Gita Iosifovna (1906-1980) – 13/74

KLEBANOVA Gita YAnkelevna (1898-1962) – 11/11

KLEBANOVA Mina Abramovna (1899-1995) – 23/6

KLEBANOVA Nehama Girshevna (1906-1974) – 10/25

KLEBANOVA Pesja Evseevna (1903-1952) – 12/8

KLEBANOVA Roza L’vovna (1899-1975) – 15/41

KLEBANOVA Tsilja Aronovna (1908-1978) – 5/34

KLEBANOVA Tsilja Mendelevna (1914-1993) – 10/56

KLIMKOVICH Nikolaj Semenovich (1922-1970) – 10/46

KLIMKOVICH Roza Davidovna (1897-1969) – 10/47

KLIMKOVICH Semen Dmitrievich (1893-1959) – 11/47

KLIOT Grigorij Abramovich (1902-1942) – 13/31 (simv.)

KLIOT Sof’ja Borisovna (1906-1980) – 13/30

KLYUMEL’ SHahno Mendelevich (1908-1976) – 5/12

KOGAN Berta Grigor’evna (1901-1982) – 16/23

KOGAN Dora Iosifovna (1906-1985) – 18/24

KOGAN Iosif Abramovich (1900-1975) – 16/24

KOGAN Iosif Moiseevich (1924-1943) – 17/18 (simv.)

KOGAN Fajvish Itskovich (1904-1986) – 18/23

KOKINA Esfir’ Samsonovna (1906-1990) – 2/37

KOLESNIKOVA Raisa L’vovna (1911-1948) – 12/28

KOPYTO CH.A. (1907-1982) – 4/24

KORDUNSKIJ Markus Gershevich (1929-1993) – 35/2

KOSAYA Hansa YAnkelevna (1912-1961) – 15/7

KOFMAN Meer Gershkovich (1892-1985) – 3/36

KRAVTSOV Girsh Lejbovich (1906-1976) – 8/33

KRAVTSOVA Sarra Solomonovna (1908-1958) – 15/25

KRAKOV Boris Lejbovich (1893-1954) – 12/59

KRASNIK Abram YUdovich (1910-1980) – 24/7

KRASNIK Aron Gdal’evich (1904-1979) – 14/14

KRASNIK Zinaida jakovlevna (1912-1993) – 14/13

KRASNIK Marija Gennad’evna (1913-1976) – 16/15

KRASNIK Naum Gennad’evich (1911-1968) – 11/32

KRASNIK Hana Evseevna (1912-1994) – 24/6

KRASNIK El’ka YAnkelevna (1882-1960) – 15/17

KREDO Il’ja Markovich (1897-1973) – 6/27

KREJNIN E.A. (1909-1971) – 6/20

KRIVOSHEJ Abram Mendelevich (1909-1985) -3/34

KRIVOSHEJ Evgenij Semenovich (1966-1991) – 3/35

KRUPKIN Azar Haimovich (1931-1985) – 3/32

KRUPKIN Ruvim YAnkelevich (1876-1948) – 13/62

KRUPKIN Haim Idelevich (1910-1941) – 11/4 (simv.)

KRUPKINA Elizaveta Efimovna (1904-1984) – 27/4

KRUPKINA Marija Pejsahovna (1912-1962) – 11/3

KRUPKINA Nina YUdovna (1875-1949?) – 13/63

KRUPKINA Hasja Morduhovna (um. v 1958) – 15/28

KUGEL’ Grigorij YAkovlevich (1905-1982) – 4/13

KUGEL’ Lesha Abramovna (1912-1982) – 4/12

KUZEMETS Genja Aronovna (1922-1973) – 9/39

KUZINETS Aron Davidovich (1888-1964) – 10/16

KUZINETS Riva Abramovna (1905-) – 22/9

KUZNETSOV Mihail YAkovlevich (1894-1965) – 10/21

KUZNETSOVA Ljubov’ Moiseevna (1910-1987) -2/17

KUNDO Iosif YAkovlevich (1895-1962) – 14/28

KUNDO Moisej YAkovlevich (1902-1979) – 8/28

KUNDO Rahil’ Evseevna (1896-1968) – 7/4

KUNDO El’frida Isaakovna (1950-1991) – 2/7

KUNEVSKIJ David Grigor’evich (1923-1985) – 6/51

KUPERSHTEJN Esfir’ Lbvovna (1901-1987) – 2/27

KURNOVA Bronja Zalmanovna (1911-1977) – 13/51

KUSTEROV Isaak SHlemovich (1890-1976) – 5/14

KUSTEROV Semen Izrailevich (1924-1978) – 5/5

KUSTEROVA Dora Aronovna (1930-1986) – 2/14

KUSTEROVA Klara SHlemovna (1893-1963) – 11/17

KUSTEROVA Krejna Davidovna (1899-1990) – 34/4

KUSTEROVA Hana SHevelevna (um. V 1987) – 5/13

L

LEVANT Sarra Gertsevna (1902-1965) – 9/12

LEVENTOV Abram Efimovich (1911-1952) – 12/55

LEVIN Ben’jamin Semenovich (1891-1980) – 24/5

LEVIN Boris Morduhovich (1897-1966) – 8/5

LEVIN Boris Samuilovich (1882-1949) – 13/76

LEVIN Grigorij Moiseevich (1901-1981) – 25/4

LEVIN Isaak L’vovich (1894-1965) – 10/17

LEVIN Isaak Naumovich (1932-1991) – 2/4

LEVIN Lazar’ Grigor’evich (1892-1941) – 17/25 (simv.?)

LEVIN Miron Isaakovich (1896-1957) – 11/50

LEVIN Mihail Davidovich (1911-1991) – 4/22

LEVIN Moisej YAnkelevich (1913-1984) – 14/52

LEVIN Semen Afroimovich (1908-1978) – 5/31

LEVIN YAkov Moiseevich (1924-1982) – 4/20

LEVIN YAkov Morduhovich (1893-1978) – 5/33

LEVINA Anna Evseevna (1902-1966) – 8/6

LEVINA Berta Zaharovna (1901-1969) – 10/49

LEVINA Genja SHimovna (1885-1980) – 4/30

LEVINA Dobrusja Abramovna (1895-1984) – 17/24

LEVINA Z.YU. (1929-1980) – 22/4

LEVINA Lidija Isaakovna (1930-1987) – 17/5

LEVINA Nina Nikolaevna (1928-1984) – 28/5

LEVINA Roza Abovna (1923-1992) – 36/1

LEVINA Sarra Ruvenovna (1905-1968) – 7/3

LEVINA Sonja (um. v 1948) – 12/22

LEVINA Emma Davidovna (1903-1980) – 19/6

LEVITIN Evsej Abramovich (1930-1992) – 6/54

LEJKIN Leonid Il’ich (1920-1969) – 10/44

LEJKINA Roza Vladimirovna (1922-1969) – 10/43

LEJKIND Bejlja Isaakovna (1903-1991) – 22/11

LEJKIND Evdokija Leont’evna (1915-1980) – 25/2

LEJKIND Zalman Girshevich (1903-1969) – 11/25

LEJKIND I.I. (um. v 1924) – 22/12 (simv.?)

LEJKIND Ljonja (1949-1954) – 12/5

LEJKIND Marik Semenovich (1939-1959) – 11/41

LEJKIND Semen Davydovich (1911-1983) – 25/3

LEJKIND SHljoma Itskovich (1893-1968) – 17/22

LEJKIND SHolom Davidovich (1922-1992) – 17/8

LEUS Lev Hatskelevich (1922-1942) 11/40 (perezah.)

LEUS H.L. (1891-1979) – 12/47

LIBENSON Zoja Grigor’evna (1923-1988) – 1/33

LIBENSON Lev Iosifovich (1898-1975) – 8/30

LIBENSON Morduh Gertsikovich (1892-1966) – 14/35

LIBENSON Nehama Itskovna (1900-1985) – 14/34

LIBENSON Ester YAkovlevna (1897-1968) – 7/1

LIBERMAN Boris Markovich (um. v 1956) – 16/34

LIBERMAN Zinaida Honovna (1906-1991) – 5/48

LIVSHITS Abram Rahmielovich (1900-1967) – 8/9

LIVSHITS Bentsion Lejbovich (1885-1949) – 13/75

LIVSHITS Isaak Bentsionovich (1927-1984) – 14/21

LIVSHITS Isaak Samuilovich (1910-1991) – 6/52

LIVSHITS Marija Isaakovna (1910-1989) – 2/34

LIVSHITS Sof’ja Sofronovna (1918-1991) – 4/41

LIVSHITS Fejga Gershevna (1895-1983) – 15/34

LIPKINA (drugih svedenij net) – 22/10

LIPKINA Frida YAnkelevna (1888-1977) – 20/1

LIPKIND Maks Samuilovich (1905-1987) – 2/29

LIPKIND Solomon Izrailevich (1909-1946) – 12/56

LITVIN Genja Isaakovna (1910-1985) – 3/5

LITVIN SHaja Abramovich (1893-1955) – 8/48

LITVINENKO Anatolij Nikiforovich (1938-1993) – 35/3

LITMAN Sof’ja YAkovlevna (1906-1966) – 9/14

LIFSHITS  Haja Isaakovna (1910-1991) – 2/41

LIHTSHTEJN Haim Zelikovich (1908-1988) – 12/9

LOSEVA Rasja Mendelevna (1906-1976) – 6/25

LOSIN Aba YAkovlevich 1898-1972) – 6/24

LUSKIN Vul’f Mendelevich (1895-1970) – 6/11

LUSKIN Izrail’ Vul’fovich (1925-1990) – 6/13

LUSKINA Berta Iosifovna (1896-1980) – 6/12

LYANDRES Ljubov’ Aronovna (1914-1988) – 3/30

LYAHOVITSKAYA YUdif’ Solomonovna (1907-1980) – 19/4

LYATZMAN Honja SHmujlovich (1916-1994) – 37/3

M

MAZIN Mihail Efimovich (1932-1986) – 5/45

MAZO Ljubov’ Markovna (1916-1983) – 26/2

MAZO Marija Solomonovna (1896-1986) – 12/54

MAZO Meer Zalmanovich (1910-1993) – 2/42

MAZO Samuil Evseevich (1883-1951) – 12/53

MAZO Fajtel’ Rafailovich (1904-1982) – 7/14

MAZO Hava (1905-1970) – 14/52

MAZO Hava Vul’fovna (1905-1970) – 7/15

MAJZEL’ Naum Aronovich (1904-1985) – 4/39

MAJZEL’S Berta Mendelevna (1906-1980) – 14/3

MALKIN Frol’ (Srol’?) Elja Zalmanovich (1898-1962) – 10/5

MANEVICH YUda Simonovich (1903-1986) – 2/9

MARGOLIN Boris Semenovich (1941-1960) – 8/46

MARGOLIN Zalman Evseevich (1897-1990) – 16/21

MARGOLIN Semen Grigor’evich (1898-1955) – 8/47

MARGOLIN Semen Simhovich (1939-1977) – 5/4

MARGOLINA Ginda Berkovna (1910-1958) – 15/22

MARKMAN Iosif Grigor’evich (1903-1976) – 5/26

MARTINKEVICH Aleksej Viktorovich (1921-1993?) – 36/6

MEDVELEVA Hana Meerovna (1907-1976) – 6/35

MELAMED Zoja Iosifovna (1900-1976) – 9/27

MELAMED Lev Aronovich (1892-1967) – 8/8

MELAMED Sarra Haimovna (1898-1978) – 8/7

MEL’NIKOV Zalman YAkovlevich (1902-1949) – 13/73

MEL’NIKOV Moisej YAkovlevich (1896-1977) – 6/30

MEL’NIKOV Semen Zalmanovich (1932-1982) – 4/35

MESSERMAN Berta Abramovna (1902-1978) – 5/28

MESSERMAN Grigorij Naumovich (um. V 1954) – 11/52

MESSERMAN Haja Zalmanovna (1899-1992) – 5/6

METRIK Aron Grigor’evich (1886-1959) – 14/33

METRIK Berta Isaakovna (1910-1983) – 13/10

METRIK Lazar’ Borisovich (1933-1982) – 4/16

METRIK Marija Iosifovna )1940-1992) – 4/17

METRIK Marija Samuilovna (1894-1977) – 20/3

MILOSTOVA Hena Boruhovna (1905-1991) – 27/6

MINDEL’ YU.F. (1895-1971) – 13/45

MINKOV Boris Aronovich (1883-1953) – 12/57

MINKOV Moisej Rubinovich (1913-1988) – 33/5

MINKOVA Raisa Samuilovna (1949-1979) – 5/1

MINKOVICH Aleksandr Grigor’evich (1912-1989) – 1/23

MINKOVICH Anna Zalmanovna (1895-1976) – 6/31

MIRKIN Marik Isaakovich (1933-1964) – 16/33

MIRKINA Evgenija Il’inichna (1930-1988) – 1/34

MIRKINA Mera Kopelevna (1907-1985) – 16/11

MIRKINA Hasja-Bejlja Iosifovna (1905-1964) – 9/6

MIRKIND Anna Ajzikovna (1906-1983) – 14/43

MIRKIND Isaak Mendelevich (1907-1982) – 14/42

MIRKIND Frid Lejbovich (1907-1970) – 6/19

MIRSKAYA Hana-Eshka (1810-1962) – 11/13

MIHAJLOVER Iosif Zaharovich (1905-1984) – 3/14

MIHEL’SON Malka SHmulovna (1878-1974) – 16/2

MISHKIN Boris Vul’fovich (1900-1968) – 8/17

MISHKIN Boris Naumovich (1896-1982) – 4/18

MOVSHOVICH Fira Zelikovna (1918-1984) – 3/23

MOLOCHNIK Lev Samuilovich (1947-1987) – 6/46

MOLOCHNIK Samuil Mendelevich (1908-1983) – 5/42

MONTATZKAYA Chernja Lazarevna (1902-1962) – 11/12

MONTATZKIJ Boris Moiseevich (1918-1972) – 13/47

MONTATZKIJ Moisej Abramovich (1898-1962) – 14/31

MUNVEZ Malka Lejbovna (1904-1988) – 33/6

MUROVANCHIK Boris Aronovich (1904-1965) – 10/18

MUROVANCHIK Ljubov’ YUdovna (1906-1986) – 26/6

MUROVANCHIK Mihail Borisovich (1932-1976) – 6/29

MUTERPERL S.M. (1875-1969) – 11/35

N

NAJDIS Abram L’vovich (1913-1980) – 13/54

NAJDIS Lejba Isaevich (1882-1969) – 13/55

NAJDIS H’ena Elevna (1882-1949) – 13/56

NEJMAN Efim Isaakovich (1903-1959) – 16/31

NEJMAN Fanja Iosifovna (1912-1994) – 4/10

NEMAHINA Kuna Samuilovna (1900-1949) – 12/25

NEHAMKIN Isaak Iosifovich (1885-1948) – 13/71

NISNEVICH Elizaveta Arkad’evna (1945-1990) – 2/38

NISNEVICH Ljubov’ Isaakovna (1909-1983) – 17/9

NISNEVICH Sof’ja Markovna (1917-1990) – 1/14

O

OGUR Roza Fedorovna (1939-1980) 13/29

OKSENKRUG Grigorij Moiseevich (1913-1991) – 34/7

OKSHINSKAYA Riva-Leja Mendelevna (1905-1969) – 7/10

OKSHINSKIJ Bronislav Iosifovich (1895-1970) – 7/11

OLEJNIK Marija Mihajlovna (1922-1977) – 6/42

ORMAN Zinaida YAkovlevna (1905-1991) – 34/6

P

PALEUS Aron Il’ich (1893-1963) – 10/11

PALEUS Klara Mendelevna (1906-1990) – 12/14

PARETSKIJ YAkov Grigor’evich (1901-1978) – 14/19

PASEKOVA TSilja Aronovna (1912-1990) – 34/5

PASSAZH Aleksandr Izrailevich (1920-1973) – 10/48

PASSAZH Izrail’ Idelevich (1887-1957) – 11/49

PASSAZH Lev Fedorovich (1948-1989) – 11/24

PASSAZH Marija Vul’fovna (1893-1964) – 11/48

PASSAZH Fedor Izrailevich (1924-1965) – 11/23

PEVZNER Nina Nilovna (1937-1994) – 27/8

PERS Rasja Nohimovna (1898-1973) – 15/2

PETRUSHKEVICH Stanislav Danilovich (1901-1995) – 37/1

PINTSOVA Haja Rafailovna (1904-1983)- 17/4

PLAVNIK Zahar YAkovlevich (1938-1990) – 1/38

PLAVNIKOV Zahar Markovich (1901-1985) – 9/21

PLAVNIKOVA Sonja Abramovna (1902-1967) – 9/22

PLISKIN Vladimir Borisovich (1920-1994) – 36/3

PLISKIN Roman Borisovich (1912-1968) – 8/13

PLISKINA Elizaveta Morduhovna (1924-1992) – 36/2

PLOTKIN Samuil Borisovich (1935-1993) – 2/3

PLOTKIN SHeftel’ Lejbovich (1909-1990) – 4/1

PLOTKIN YAkov Moiseevich (1901-1958) – 11/45

PLOTKINA Liba Girshevna (1880-1959) – 15/30

POBOGINA Elizaveta Aronovna (1923-1975) – 6/38

PODNOS Meer Lejbovich (1894-1953) – 12/61

PODNOS Rahil’ Borisovna (1903-1989) – 31/1

PODNOS Hana El’evna (1986-1981) – 26/4

PODOKSIK Abram Samuilovich (1904-1982) – 15/38

PODOKSIK Alta Abramovna (1886-1952) – 12/39

PODOKSIK Berka Itskovich (1887-1946) – 13/70

PODOKSIK Evgenija Abramovna (1926-1994) – 3/8

PODOKSIK Marija Efimona (1920-1982) – 16/10

PODOKSIK Marija Samuilovna (1904-1962) – 15/39

PODOKSIK Rahil’ Fajtelevna (1906-1989) – 13/8

PODRABINIK Basja Gennad’evna (1906-1966) – 15/16

PODRABINIK Moisej SHevelevich (1902-1967) – 15/18

POLYAKOV Isaak Solomonovich (1887-1961) – 13/44

POLYAKOVA SHejna Markovna (1888-1950) – 12/31

POTASHNIK Fruma Markovna (1912-1978) – 21/3

PRASS Mihail Adeksandrovich (1914-1987) – 1/28

PRON’KINA Bronislava Efimovna (1921-1986) – 2/11

PRUSAK Boris Vul’fovich (1906-1990) – 14/11

PRUSAK Eremej Petrovich (1904-194?) – 13/67

PRUSAK Lev Eremeevich (1934-1991) – 17/7

PRUSAK Hana Germanovna (1909-1980) – 14/10

R

RABINOVICH Dvosja Iosifovna (1903-1982) – 4/11

RABINOVICH Solomon Morduhovich (1896-1992) – 3/43

RABINOVICH TSilja Markovna (1900-1981) – 14/41

RAJZBERG Faina Markovna (1928-1993) – 1/13

RAJMAN H#ena Lejzerovna (1910-1995) – 26/10

RAJHEL’SON Aron Dmitrievich (1879-1966) – 8/1

RAJHEL’SON Valentin Mihajlovich (1937-1990)

RAJHEL’SON Viktor Mihajlovich (1932-1968) – 8/16

RAJHEL’SON Mihail Pronovich (1906-1984) – 17/1

RAJHEL’SON Sarra Moiseevna (1978-1957) – 15/14

RAJHENSHTEJN Leja Morduhovna (1888-1969) 7/8

RAPOPORT Kusel’ Lekumovich (1894-1968) – 8/19

RASKIND Naum Pejsahovich (1911-1976) – 8/26

RASKIND Raisa Aronovna (1924-1978) – 8/27

RASKIND YAkov Iosifovich (1903-1983) – 5/44

RATNER Evgenija Grigor’evna (1888-1979) – 14/15

RATNER Zalman Grigor’evich (1885-1938) – 14/16 (simv.)

RATNER-FIL’VINSKAYA Haja Meerovna (1896-1987) – 2/8

RATNITSKIJ Mihail YAkovlevich (1914-1977) – 7/27

RAHLINA Rysja Davydovna (1894-1990) – 32/7

RASHKOVSKIJ Leonid Semenovich (1937-1994) – 13/35

REJSER Nehama Isaakovna (1924-1984) – 3/13

REMESNITSKAYA Roza Moiseevna (1921-1985) – 17/19

RINGEL’ Moisej Matisovich (1915-1981) – 18/3

ROGINSKAYA Esfir’ Naftol’evna (1914-1991) – 13/28

ROGOVSKAYA Majja Lejbovna (1940-1994) – 12/27

RODOVA Roza Zelikovna (1894-1960) – 11/2

ROZENBERG Boris Solomonovich (1931-1993) – 35/1

ROZENBLYUM Sof’ja Lejbovna (1902-1987) – 2/1

ROZENBLYUM Faina Grigor’evna (1894-1958) – 15/21

ROZENMAN Ljudmila Arkad’evna (1940-1990) – 28/6

ROZENFEL’D Boris Feliksovich (1955 – 1960) – 15/35

ROZIN Berka Gil’kovich (1898-1979) – 14/5

ROZINA Faina Davidovna (1906-1958) – 9/41

ROL’BINA Ljubov’ Lejbovna (1922-1982) – 4/5

ROL’BINA Sonja Efimovna (1905-1981) – 14/39

ROTSHTEJN Fruma Berkovna (1902-1973) – 9/42

ROYAK Mendel’ YUdovich (1912-1975) – 5/24

ROYAK Mihlja Pejsahovna (1901-1981) – 5/25

RUBINCHIK Raisa Kuz’minichna (1912-1984) – 3/33

RUDERMAN Efim Izrailevich (1936-1954) – 8/42

RUDERMAN Moisej Haimovich (1907-1968) – 8/14

RUDERMAN YAkov Moiseevich (1937-1990) – 3/44

RUMM Moisej Lazarevich (1910-1979) – 8/43

RUSS Rahil’ Erahmeilona (1909-1969) – 7/9

RUTSHTEJN Rahil’ Haimovna (1900-1984) – 3/21

RUHMAN Bronja Lazarevna (1914-1983) – 30/3

RYER Faina YAkovlevna (1924-1980) – 13/34

RYZHIKOV Mihail Semenovich (1920-1986) – 25/6

RYZHINSKAYA Enta YAnkelevna (1888-1955) – 11/37

RYZHINSKIJ Efim Borisovich (1951-1980) – 13/52

RYZHINSKIJ Lejba Izrailevich (1888-1963) – 10/8

S

SAVEL’ZON Marija Vladimirovna (1910-1987) – 10/52

SAVEL’ZON Moisej Haimovich (1904-1977) – 10/53

SAVEL’ZON Fima (1945-1955) – 11/54

SAVUL’KIN Evnos YAkovlevich (1908-1991) – 17/14

SAVUL’KINA Leja Evnovna (1983-1972) – 17/15

SAVUL’KINA Tsilja Izrailevna (1908-1985) – 17/13

SAGALOVICH Aleksandr Arkad’evich (1910-1989) – 13/80

SAPOZHNIKOV Isaak Morduhovich (1916-1984) – 32/3

SARNOVSKAYA Frida Haimovna (1923-1992) – 26/8

SAHNOVICH Anna Meerovna (1913-1984) – 3/9

SAHNOVICH Etja Gdal’evna (1923-1987) – 2/26

SAHRAJ Girsha Mihajlovich (1930-1993) – 34/8

SAHRAJ Mihail Aleksandrovich (1901-1970) – 6/16

SAHRAJ Haja Mendelevna (1900-1975) – 6/41

SVERDLOV Haim Iosifovich (1935-1995) – 38/2

SVERDLOV YAkov Haimovich (1915-1985) – 3/31

SVERDLOVA Liza Grigor’evna (1903-1970) – 7/16

SVERDLOVA Sof’ja Vul’fovna (1904-1979) – 14/17

SVERDLOVA Tat’jana Matveevna (1939-1993) – 36/4

SEREBRYANYJ Girsh Morduhovich (1914-1985) – 3/38

SIGAL’CHIK Ekaterina Naumovna (1905-1991) – 13/21

SHABLOVSKAYA Sof’ja L’vovna (1930-1987) – 14/7

SHABUN Abram Gilevich (1897-1985) – 3/12

SHABUN David Abramovich (1929-1990) – 1/1

SHABUN Il’ja Gilevich (1908-1970) – 6/2

SHABUN TSilja Davidovna (1903-1984) – 3/11

SHABUN Esfir’ Gilevna (1907-1988) – 3/42

SHAEVICH Riva Solomonovna (1916-1984) – 31/3

SHAEVICH Hava Lejbovna (um. V 1962) – 11/8

SHAPIRO Bejlja SHmujlovna (1902-1988) – 11/27

SHAPIRO Vladimir Mihajlovich (1942-1993) – 1/3

SHAPIRO Mihail Izrailevich (1898-1976) – 5/8

SHAPIRO Morduh Haimovich (194-1985) – 18/9

SHAPIRO Rahil’ Naumovna (1908-1989) – 1/15

SHAPIRO Semen Borisovich (1965-1982) – 23/1

SHATZMAN Roza Haimovna (1902-1970) – 7/13

SHVARTS Ljuba (1887-1978) – 21/5

SHVARTSBERG Faina Samuilovna (1919-1985) – 32/2

SHVARTSBERG YAkov Lejbovich (1911-1991) – 32/1

SHVARTSMAN Pesja Vul’fovna (1928-1968) – 7/2

SHVEJTSER H’ena YUr’evna (1933-1981) – 13/82

SHVETS Anna Isaakovna (1916-1990) – 32/8

SHEJKMAN Gida Froimovna (1898-1979) – 14/40

SHEMESDINER Elja (1906-1960) – 8/52

SHER Esfir’ Afroimovna (1910-1976) – 15/44

SHERMAN Izrail’ Aronovich (1904-1986) – 3/40

SHERMAN Moisej Grigor’evich (1892-1980) – 14/4

SHEHTMAN Genja Haimovna (1910-1979) – 8/41

SHEHTMAN Mendel’ Mihajlovich (1893-1949?) – 13/58

SHEHTMAN Samuil L’vovich (1906-1975) – 8/40

SHEHTMAN Frejda Aronovna (1895-1949?) – 13/59

SHIFRIN Aron Zaharovich (1900-1973) – 8/35

SHIFRINA Rahil’ Kuselevna (1900-1979) – 8/36

SHIFRINA Haja Kuselevna (1905-1991) – 1/41

SHKOL’NIK Lev Samuilovich (1909-1992) – 13/9

SHKOL’NIK Polja Moiseevna (1909-1982) – 13/11

SHLIMAK Vladimir YAkovlevich (1898-1946) – 13/69

SHLOSBERG Mihail Saulovich (1923-1990) – 32/5

SHMIDT Roza Iosifovna (1905-1962) – 11/10

SHMIDT Samuil Tsalevich (1902-1970) – 6/3

SHMULIK Ajzik YAkovlevich (1936-1994) – 5/16

SHMULIK Ljubov’ Samuilovna (1902-1980) – 5/2

SHMULIK Moisej Ajzikovich (1899-1978) – 5/3

SHNEJDER Hana Ioselevna (um. V 1969) – 7/7

SHPIL’MAN Zlata Berkovna (1897-1948) – 12/23

SHPREJGIN Samuil Haimovich (1884-1963) – 10/39

SHPREJGINA Nehama Zalmanovna (1898-1971) – 10/40

SHPREJREGEN YUrij Tsalovich (1909-1990) – 32/6

SHPUNT Grigorij Samuilovich (1894-1981) – 20/6

SHPUNT Polina Emmanuilovna (1910-1980) – 20/5

SHPUNT Fruma Lejbovna (1870-1952) – 12/38

SHTERN Aron Solomonovich (1908-1987) – 2/21

SHTERN Sofija Davidovna (1914-1994) – 2/20

SHTUKMASTER Efim Mihajlovich (1915-1982) – 13/25

SHTUKMASTER Sof’ja Kuselevna (1927-1989) – 13/26

SHUB Grunja Elevna (1902-1992) – 18/8

SHUB Zinaida Avseevna (1901-1981) – 4/33

SHUB Isaak Markovich (1911-1974) – 5/21

SHUB Mihail Isaakovich (1886-1982) – 18/7

SHUB Morduh Zalmanovich (1902-1989) – 9/29

SHULEGINA Zinaida Abramovna (1921-1993) – 36/5

SHUL’KIN Mendel’ Zalmanovich (1929-1988) – 4/26

SHUL’KIN YAkov Haimovich (1896-1987) – 4/8

SHUL’KINA Basheva Girshevna (1902-1982) – 4/9

SHUL’KINA Marija Iosifovna (1936-1978) – 5/30

SHUL’KINA Roha Haimovna (1908-1986) – 9/18

SHUL’KINA Sonja Haimovna (1904-1956) – 15/9

SHUL’KINA Faina Mihajlovna (1908-1982) – 4/27

SHUL’KIND Iosif Haimovich (1910-1968) – 8/12

SHUL’MAN Vul’f Davydovich (1903-1955) – 8/50

SHUL’MAN Genja Grigor’evna (1909-1989) – 3/27

SHUL’MAN Denis Grigor’evich (1979-1981) – 10/51

SHUL’MAN Evel’ Kalmanovich (1906-1955) – 11/53

SHUL’MAN Efim Davidovich (1910-1987) – 2/5

SHUL’MAN Ida Vul’fovna (1899-1986) – 26/1

SHUL’MAN Sof’ja Solomonovna (1910-1994) – 37/2

SHUL’MAN Honja Samuilovich (1910-1984) – 3/26

SHUL’MAN SHaja Davidovich (1897-?) – 12/52

SHUSTEROVICH Haja Iosifovna (1908-1985) – 27/1

SIMKIN David Nisonovich (1934-1939) – 13/5 (simv.)

SIMKIN Nison Mendelevich (1904-1944) – 13/6 (simv.)

SIMKINA Roza Fajtelevna (1907-1981) – 13/7

SINEL’NIKOVA Genja Girshevna (1897-1990) – 2/36

SLEPYAN Aron Grigor’evich (1926-1995) – 39/1

SLOUWER Iosif Mironovich (1904-1982) – 15/45

SMOLKIN Meer SHlemovich (1897-1961) – 14/30

SMOLKIN Semen Mihajlovich (1932-1988) – 1/26

SMOLKINA Frada Zalmanovna (1901-1985) – 14/29

SMORODINSKIJ Nohim Mendelevich (1900-1966) – 8/4

SMUSIN Misha (1930-?) – 14/50

SMUSIN YAkov Borisovich (1898-1948) – 13/61

SMUSINA Fanja Iosifovna (1899-1984) – 14/49

SOKOL Moisej Markovich (1907-1991) – 2/12

SOKOL Sima Gotgor’evna (1907-1986) – 2/13

SOSIN Moisej Mihelevich (um. v 1941) – 17/10 (simv.)

SOSINA Haja SHMULOVNA (um. v 1937) – 17/10 (simv.)

SOSKIND Berta Grigor’evna (1904-1980) – 19/7

SOSKIND Lazar’ Moiseevich (1889-1975) – 5/23

SOSKIND Raja Movshevna (1898-1966) – 9/17

SRUBWIK Haim-Gersh Borohovich (1895-1983) – 28/1

STARIKOVA Roza Izrailevna (1902-1975) – 14/27

STAROBINETS Moisej Isaakovich (1903-1982) – 22/1

STAROBINETS Samuil Iosifovich (1895-1949) – 13/77

STAROBINETS Fanja Lejzerovna (1887-1956) – 15/8

STAROZHILETS David YAkovlevich (1951-1989) – 1/11

STAROZHILOV Petr Zalmanovich (1894-1985) – 16/7

STAROZHILOVA Tsilja Viktorovna (1905-1983) – 16/8

STOLER Raisa Efimovna (1920-1961) – 15/36

STREL’TSIN Aron Elevich (1891-1973) – 8/37

STREL’TSIN Lev Aronovich (1927-1990) – 6/39

STREL’TSINA Perla Haimovna (1896-1976) – 8/38

STRONGIN Pejsah Berkovich (1902-1984) – 3/19

STRONGIN SHeftel’ Afroimovich (1899-1974) – 8/39

STRONGIN YAkov Vul’fovich (1923-1993) – 32/10

STRONGINA Basja Haimovna (1909-1980) – 21/7

STRONGINA Ljubov’ Pejsahovna (1944-1994) -3/20

STRONGINA Marija Isaakovna (1926-1990) – 5/10

STRONGINA Relja Girshevna (1896-1984) – 9/36

SURIS Polina Grigor’evna (1923-1992) – 4/44

SUSLIK Fruma YAkovlevna (1902-1961) – 11/21

SUTSKEVER Sof’ja L’vovna (1896-1973) – 9/40

SYRKINA Galina Borisovna (1903-1989) – 33/4

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TAJTS Genja Vul’fovna (1903-1988) – 33/8

TALAN Evgenij Savel’evich (1912-1992) – 22/8

TEPER Galina Efimovna (1907-1991) – 3/17

TEPER Grigorij Efimovich (1915-1984) – 3/18

TOMCHIN Solomon Borisovich (1908-1964) – 10/13

TRAHTENBERG Basja Elevna (1920-1991) – 1/40

TRUHNOVA Gnesja Gilevna (1875-1955) – 15/5

TEJSHOV Arkadij Zalmanovich (1946-1992) – 6/4

TEJSHOV Zalman Abramovich (1911-1970) – 6/5

TSIGENBORD Marija Iosifovich (1908-1983) – 21/8

TSIMKOVSKIJ Oleg Mihajlovich (1947-1984) – 24/8

TSIMMERMAN Dvejra Moiseevna (1887-1960) – 15/31

TSIMMERMAN Semen YAkovlevich (1889-1966) – 8/3

TSIPKINA Zinaida Lazarevna (1890-1989) – 1/21

TSITRON Liza SHevelevna (1898-1977) – 20/4

TSITSELYUK David Il’ich (1922-1987) – 3/7

TSUKERMAN Hana-Zlata Pejsahovna (1883-1971) – 7/25

TSVAJG Samuil Abramovich (1893-1962) – 11/7

TSVAJG Sima Morduhovna (1908-1962) – 11/6

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VAJSFEL’D Hana Iosifovna (1901-1972) – 9/33

VANT Riva Zelikovna (1907-1988) – 2/32

VERNOV Grigorij Davydovich (1918-1992) – 16/44

VERSHOV Zalman Abramovich (1890-1980) – 22/5

VIZLAH Abram Semenovich (1908-1991) – 1/39

VINOGRADOVA Sosja Lejzerona (1897-1971) – 7/19

VOL’MAN Boris L’vovich (1904-1972) – 6/22

VOROBEJCHIK Genja Abramovna (1908-1978) – 21/4

VUL’F Honja Lazarevich (1913-1964) – 10/2

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YANKELEVICH Abram Isaakovich (1908-1974) – 5/19

YANKELEVICH Iosif Isaakovich (1897-1990) – 4/37

YANKELEVICH Sarra YAnkelevna (1907-1985) – 4/36

YUDOVICH Roza Grigor’evna (1924-1987) – 2/22

YUDOVICH Roman Solomonovich (1954-1959) – 11/39

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ZALKIND Evsej Borisovich (1933-1989) – 16/6

ZARTAJSKAYA Galina Isaakovna (1909-1976) – 7/26

ZARTAJSKAYA Genja Isaakovna (1907-1990) – 5/32

ZARTAJSKIJ Aron Isaakovich (1905-1989) – 1/18

ZARHIN AVROM-FAJVESH Ben’jaminovich (1897-1981) -26/11

ZARHIN YAkov Grigor’evich (1907-1987) – 2/19

ZARHINA Haja Gershovna (1905-1990) – 13/13

ZARHINA Helja (1950-1959) – 15/26

ZASKIND Nison L’vovich (1895-1963) -10/9

ZASKIND Tamara Movshevna (1902 (1902-1981) – 10/10

ZASLAVSKAYA ? ? (1871-1952) – 12/37

ZEL’DINA Raisa Abramovna (1912-1993) – 3/47

ZISMAN Sarra YAkovlevna (1922-1948) – 12/21

ZISMAN YAkov Ajzikovich (1987-1964) – 10/12

ZLATKINA Raisa Iosifovna (1904-1986) – 27/5

ZLATKINA Hana Bentsianovna (1890-1962) – 15/24

ZLATKINA-LEVASHOVA Serafima Davidovna (1923-1972) – 9/30

ZUSMAN Masha SHmulevna (1890-1963) – 11/15

ZUHOVITSKAYA Tsilja Il’inichna (1919 – 1987) – 1/29

I have omitted a number of names listed as “Unknown,” with only some dates noted.

My writing time this week has been swallowed up by an article for an e-zine issue coming out in October about my genealogy research.  So I’ve turned over my regular post today to four “guest bloggers:” a couple of sadly-anonymous writers from the year 1916; Congressman “Speedy” Long in the 1967 Congressional Record; and the 2010 National Conference of State Legislators.

They each published articles about my grandfather Bornett L. Bobroff’s invention of the roll-call voting machine.

First article: from Popular Science Monthly, 1916

Article from 1916 Popular Science Monthly, with a composite photo showing what Bobroff's roll-call voting machine would look like in the United States Congress. Note the two panels on either side of the dais. These list each Congressman's name, along with lights indicating a yes or no vote.

Snippet from 1967 United States Congressional Record listing states in which the electric roll-call voting machine had been installed. Louisiana Representative "Speedy" Long (of the dynasty begun by Huey Long, in whose time Louisiana adopted Bobroff's voting machine) had just introduced a 1967 amendment that the US Congress finally install electric voting.

Bobroff’s most ubiquitous invention was the automobile turn signal, which he patented and manufactured at his Teleoptic factory in Racine, Wisconsin.  But he got more press coverage for inventing the roll-call voting machine.  Bobroff’s own state of Wisconsin was the first to install this machine in its legislature.  Other state legislatures followed.

In 1916, the US Congress was considering installing the machine in the Capitol in Washington DC.  This never came to fruition because  Congressmen were apparently afraid that speeded-up voting would eliminate filibusters.  But meanwhile, there was a brief window of excitement that a Wisconsin inventor, an immigrant from Russia, might make the national scene.

Milwaukee Free Press cartoon and article

My next 1916 guest blogger is the author of a Milwaukee Free Press article about my grandfather, adorned with a wonderful cartoon drawing.

May 1916 Milwaukee Free Press article with a great cartoon drawing of my grandfather, Bornett L. Bobroff

Well, unfortunately this article prints too small for the text to be legible.  And it isn’t available anywhere else online.  At some point down the trail, I’ll try to post it magnified enough to read.  Meanwhile, if you’re writing a school report or doing historical research on the American voting system, shoot me an email, and I’ll be happy to send the whole article to you.

National Conference of State Legislatures article

Last, let’s return to Louisiana.  I’m honored that this past February, 2010, the National Conference of State Legislatures decided to reprint a Louisiana article about my grandfather and his voting machine.   To see this 2010 article in a larger, more readable .pdf version, click here.

2010 National Conference of State Legislatures reprint of a Louisiana article about the introduction of Bobroff's roll-call voting machine into the Louisiana State Legislature.

The Borisov ghetto at liberation, 1944.

At the end of this post is Alexander Rosenbloom’s list of Borisov (Barysaw) victims of the Nazi genocide, transliterated from his Russian language website.  This list contains something close to 3,000 names.

By publishing Rosenbloom’s lists on my English-language website, I’m making them available to non-Russian speakers searching for relatives, and other interested readers.

I want to thank Rosenbloom (Rosenblyum) for the many years of research he has devoted to compiling this list.  I also want to thank Leon Kull for transliterating the names from Cyrillic for my website.  And thanks to my son Nicky Hajal for doing the programming needed to accommodate such a massive list on this blog post.

Leonid Smilovitsky’s book, Katastrofia Evreev v Velorusii 1941-1944 (“The Holocaust in Belarus”) has an excellent chapter about Rosenbloom’s work, translated by Judith Springer,  available online at JewishGen.com here.  I highly recommend reading this interesting placement of Rosenbloom’s efforts within the context of new Holocaust history developed by Russian Jews who emigrated during the 1990s after the fall of Communism.

Nazi genocide of the Jewish population of Borisov (Barysaw)

According to information pointed out to me by JewishGen member Rhoda Weiss, in 1939, there were 10,011 Jews in Borisov.  They made up 20.4% of the total population.

Borisov was occupied by German troops on July 2, 1940.  According to one account, a ghetto was established on the outskirts of Borisov in the late summer of 1941.  The Slavic population was moved out of an area of a few blocks and told to take Jewish homes on other streets.  The ghetto was surrounded by barbed wire, leaving only one gateway.  Resettlement occurred in a single day, with Jews allowed to take only what possessions they could carry by hand.  Extreme overcrowding led to terrible sanitary conditions and disease.

The ghetto of Smolensk, USSR, roughly 150 miles east of Borisov (that is, deeper into Soviet territory). We may wonder whether similar scenes played out in Borisov.

On Oct. 20-21, 1941, in a single, organized operation, the Germans (along with some number of Soviet collaborators) rounded up and shot or buried alive some 7,245 Jews.  Other separate actions brought the total of those murdered to around 9,000.

As one reviewer wrote of Rosenbloom’s lists of Jews killed by the Nazis and in the Soviet GULAG,

“The author…defined his work as a requiem to those who perished, an expression of gratitude to the righteous, and a curse on the traitors.  In this he sees a tribute to the memory of the generation that went through the trials of the war, Soviet construction, and liquidation of national and religious life.”

Rosenbloom’s list

This list included the names of those who lived not only in Borisov, but also in other areas in Borisov uyezd (district).

KEY

* Zembinsk ghetto prisoners shot on Monday, August 18, 1941.
** Prisoners of the Ivyevsk ghetto.
? There may be an error with respect to the name, according to an informant.

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How to join in “The World of Jews in Borisov/Barysaw”

If you would like your Borisov/Barysaw family included in future posts and have pre-1917 information to share about them, please click on the “Comments” link at the end of any post.  Use the Contact Anne or the Leave a Reply box to email me.  I will respond to all contacts, and write about your family as time and material permit.  Earlier posts about family members of those who have been in contact with me are here.

This is Part 2 of Finding Elkinds of Borisov/Barysaw.  Part 1 is here.

A spectacular example of a tile-covered Russian stove in the peasant style, with a space for sleeping on top, and steps to climb up there. See more about these tiles and stoves below.

These two posts about Borisov Elkinds began when Logan Lockabey emailed me about his search for family members named Elkin or Elkind.  In last week’s post, I wrote about a tragic chapter in Elkin/Elkind history: the deaths in Stalin’s Great Terror of five Borisov/Barysaw natives by those names.

This week, I promised a happier Elkind chapter, about information I found while researching for the first post.  On an unofficial Russian-language Borisov City website, I had found short bios of seven additional Borisov Elkinds from the past.

These “new” Elkinds may or may not have been Logan’s family members.  I haven’t had time to translate of all of their bios perfectly enough to post online (as I’ve said before, my Russian is good but not fast, since I use the dictionary a lot).  I’ve passed along all these short life stories to Logan, in case any may be members of his family.  I will update this post in future if he determines that.

Meanwhile, though, two Elkinds on this new list were  intriguing to me.

Two Borisov entrepreneurs

Here are the brief bios from the Borisov website:

“ELKIND Nekhama Girshevna, entrepreneur.  She owned one of Borisov’s pottery-tile enterprises, which opened in 1898.

“ELKIND Yudel, merchant. In 1883, he opened a tobacco manufactory, one of the first Borisov enterprises of the capitalist type.”

Photo of my grandfather, Boris L. Bobrov, taken in Mogilev in the early 20th century

I was excited about these two Elkinds for a couple of reasons.  The first is that they lived in Borisov at a time when my grandfather could have known them.  My personal focus in most of these blog posts has been on the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before my grandfather, Boris L. Bobroff (Bobrov) emigrated to the United States.  I’ve wanted to know more about the places he and his family lived, and about the people he might have known (or known of).

The second reason I was interested is that these two Elkind bios give information on the manufacturing enterprises that each created.  I love discovering the kind of work people did in the towns I’m researching because it also tells us something about the nature of the town itself.

Not only do these little Elkind bios list the type of company run by each Elkind.  If you read them closely, they also hint at a bit more: Borisov apparently had several pottery tile companies.  And the tobacco manufactory which Yudel Elkind opened was “one of the first of the capitalist type” in Borisov in 1883.

Yudel Elkind and tobacco manufactory

The Berezina Match Factory in Borisov

So far, I’ve had little luck finding information about tobacco manufacturing in late 19th-century Russia.  So for the time being, I can’t explore Yudel Elkind’s work.  The one bit of tangential imagery I have is 1907 photos of two match factories in Borisov.  You can see the Victoria Match Factory here, and the Berezina Factory (left).

These photos give a feeling of the factories beginning to develop in Borisov/Barysaw around the turn of the century.  We can only wonder for now whether Yudel Elkind’s tobacco “manufactory,” opened about 25 years before these match factory photos were taken, resembled them in any way.

It’s conceivable that Elkind’s tobacco manufactory, described as “one of the first Borisov enterprises of the capitalist type,” may have been fairly large.  The word “manufactory” (in English and Russian) suggests some kind of production-line process done by hand, without machinery.  But it can also be an archaic word for “factory.”  What kind of machinery might Elkin’s manufactory have involved, if any?

I believe that figuring out what the next questions are is the first stage in good research.  That means we’re making progress!

Nekhama Girshevna Elkind and the pottery-tile business

Tile from a Belarusian website. This tile is decorated with a relief design.

I would love to know the story of Nekhama Girshevna Elkind herself, because she must have been a very enterprising and clever woman.  Since I don’t have her specific life history, I turned to researching the type of work she did.  And here I discovered something interesting: there were a lot of Belorussian Jews in the pottery-tile business at the end of the 19th century.  So it seems that Nekhama was in good company with her business.  She had other similar examples in her area, and maybe some solid competition.

According to the 1904 Collection of Materials about the Economic Position of Jews in Russia (Сборник матеріалов об економическом положенiи евреев в россiи), several places in Belarus had “favorable soil characteristics, conducive to the rise of the pottery and tile business.”   There were abundant clay deposits not far from the surface, along with plenty of the fuel needed for firing pottery.  And everyone needed to buy dishes and tiles.  So Nekhama Elkind had a guaranteed market.

Snippet from Collection of Materials about the Economic Position of Jews in Russia, 1904. Gives the number of Jewish potters and tile masters in Minsk, Vitebsk, and Mogilev guberniyas (alphabet written in the pre-revolutionary style).

Borisov uyezd’s neighbor, Mogilev province, had the hottest hotbed of Jewish tile and pottery makers.  By 1909, there were 415 Jewish pottery and tile makers there, and 14 tile plants.  The tiles they produced were sold in all cities of Mogilev, and in Kiev and Kremenchug in the Ukraine.

The famous green-glazed tiles (muravniye). "Green tiles from Ivenets may be seen very often in homes in surrounding cities and towns." (left)

Nekhama Elkind’s neck of the woods: Borisov in Minsk province

Minsk guberniya, where Borisov is located, came in second to Mogilev, according to this source.  Of 733 Belorussian Jews involved in making pottery and tile, 160 lived in Minsk guberniya (province).

“The town of Zembin (in Borisov uyezd) sells its wares in nearby cities and small towns at a yearly sum of 2,000 rubles.  In the small town of Ivenets (Minsk uyezd), traveling merchants yearly buy 5,000 rubles worth of earthenware dishes and tiles from the makers.  Green tiles from Ivenets may be seen very often in homes in surrounding cities and towns.

“In Rakov…there are about 25 pottery workshops.  Of them 6 are Jewish….  The quality of the work of Jews and Christians is equivalent: it is possible that that of the Jewish masters is even higher since they depend entirely on this trade, while among the [Christian] peasants, it is only a secondary trade to their agricultural work.”

Borisov (here "Barysau") is in the bottom right corner of the map. The red star marks Zembin in the center.

The city of Borisov isn’t mentioned here.  So we might wonder whether Nekhama Elkind’s tile enterprise, along with the others referred to her bio, were actually in the town of Zembin in Borisov uyezd, rather than in the city of Borisov/Barysaw, 14 miles southeast of Zembin (see map, right).

How large was Nekhama’s workshop?

The Economic Position of Jews in Russia says that the average size of ceramic shops in Belorussia was two people, generally a master and an apprentice.  So Nekhama Elkind’s tile shop was likely small.  Was she only the owner of the shop, or did she create the tiles herself?  For now, I can’t answer this question.  But I did find descriptions of the process of creating the tiles, the method that Nekhama Elkind’s workshop undoubtedbly used.

How did Nekhama Elkind create her tiles?

A Russian English-language website describes the process, and I like to try to envision Nekhama going through each step – or maybe directing as some one else did it.  Can you picture her in the description below?

When starting to make a tile,

“the potter would temper clay with his hands, his fingers penetrating inside the clay and removing small pebbles and clots, anything that could lead to cracks during baking. The clay took in the warmth of the master’s hands and became pliable. Then the master would fill it into a wooden mould with a carved ornamentation on the bottom.

Russian tiles of the 16th-17th centuries. One is glazed, the other isn't (earthenware).

This carved design inside the mold created a relief design such as the birds on the blue tile above and the two tiles left.  The bottom of the mold was first “sanded” to prevent the clay from sticking.

Then the potter

“consolidated it and pressed into the tracery holes. After processing it on the potter’s wheel he dried it and baked in a furnace. The pattern was not always relief. Sometimes the front side of the box [that is, the part of the tile that showed in the finished tiled object] was smooth and painted.”

Last, the decoration, whether relief or painted, was glazed or enameled.

As this description suggests, the earliest Russian tiles, beginning in the 15th and 16th centuries were decorated with relief designs.   By the 18th century, the front of tiles was often left flat and painted with elaborate designs (see photo below).

What was Nekhama Elkind’s market for her tiles?

St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow.

We can all imagine how large the market for pottery dishes must have been in Russia, since everyone needs dishes.  But what about tiles?  Why were they in such wide demand?

Tiles were used in Russia to decorate lavish interior and exterior walls.  The most famous example of tile decoration on the outside of a building is undoubtedly St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow.

But the real reason there was such a market for tiles in Russia was the Russian stove, which was used for heating and sometimes also for cooking and sleeping (see photo at top of this post).

Why did the Russian style of stove create such a huge market for pottery tiles?

Russian stoves were big, with a vast surface area.  Covering them with tiles meant buying a lot of tiles.

I don’t think that the average peasant stove was sheathed in tiles.  But anyone who could afford them wanted them, for their beauty and practicality.  Tiles added to the stove’s heat transfer capacity.  And they were much easier to clean than earthen surfaces.

Tile-covered Russian stove from the Rostov Prince's Palace. Note many of these tiles are the flat-surfaced, painted style.

Why did the Russians have gigantic stoves that required so many tiles to decorate, creating a great market for Nekhama’s wares?  I’ve always wondered what was going on inside all that bulk that would make Russians want to sacrifice so much of their living space to them.

A fascinating article in Low Tech Magazine explains that inside Russian stoves were labyrinths of smoke channels (see diagram below).  These channels held onto the heat, allowing it to be absorbed into the masonry rather than escaping up a chimney.  They also allowed more complete combustion of the fuel, unlike the partial combustion of our fireplaces, which coat the chimney with half-burned fuel (creosote).  Over many hours, the Russian stove’s masonry and tiles slowly radiated their heat (they didn’t use convection, as most of our heating systems do in the US).

Interior diagrams of Russian stoves. The one on the left appears to be a more vertical stove, while the one on the right seems to be the more horizontal peasant style.

These stoves were incredibly efficient at heating homes through frigid Russian winters – much more efficient and non-polluting than the American hearth or iron stove.  Properly operated, a Russian stove heats 60 square meters for an entire season using a single tree.  (If you’re interested in more on these stoves, along with many gorgeous photos, read the Low Tech article here.)

Did Nekhama sell her tiles only to the wealthy, or was her market broader?

All Russians, from the poorest peasants to tsars, heated their homes with these huge stoves.  But did the average Russian’s stove have a layer of tiles?  Was Nekhama Elkind likely selling her tiles only to the wealthy, or could her market have been wider?

According to one source,

“In the nineteenth century, tile production became widespread.  Products were manufactured in a wide assortment, varying in cost and artistic value for a broad section of consumers.  Tiles were designed primarily for finishing stoves, perhaps the primary and indispensible part of Russian life.”

Well, this general statement doesn’t answer the question fully.  I’ll be on the lookout for more information on Nekhama Elkind’s tile customers in future.  Meanwhile, though, it seems clear that the frigid Russian winters, and the stoves designed to cope with them, likely created her market.  And the rich, accessible clay deposits of Borisov uyezd gave her the raw materials to meet that market.

I’ll end this post with some additional images of exquisite Russian tiled stoves.

Before I do, though, I’d like to take a moment to dedicate this post to a dear friend, Saul Scheidlinger, who died this past week, and to his wife, Rosalyn Tauber-Scheidlinger.  Saul was a psychologist who made great contributions to the field of child and adolescent group psychotherapy.  He was appreciated worldwide for his wisdom and as a great teacher and trainer.  He was a cultured and lovely man, who, with extraordinary grace, overcame profound tragedies earlier in his life.  I miss him.  And I think he would have enjoyed these images of artistic Russian stoves.

Left to right: Russian tiled stove, 1680; Fairy tale illustration by I. A. Bilibin with tiled peasant stove in background; Red (earthenware?) tiled Russian stove.

"Moving Out" by Nikolai Getman, who himself was imprisoned in Stalin's Gulag.

Last week, I posted a translated version of Aleksandr Rosenblyum’s list of Jewish GULAG victims from Borisov.   Within a day, over a hundred JewishJen Belarus participants had already checked the list for their family members.

Logan Lockabey was among those who emailed me.  He had searched my site’s list and found several Elkins and Elkinds, the names he was looking for.  He wrote to take me up on my offer to translate the short bios that accompany each name on Rosenblyum’s Russian-language list.

Julius Grigorievich Elkind, born in Borisov in 1902, died in Stalin's Terror, 1938.

Rosenblyum has spent years compiling his list, and some names include photographs.  These photos are breathtakingly moving, posted next to the stories of each person’s arrest and sentencing on invented charges.

Checking for Logan’s Elkin/ds, I found that one of them, Julius Grigorievich Elkind, was among the entries that included a photograph (left).

Julius was 36 years old when he lost his life in Stalin’s Great Terror.

As I began the translations for Logan, I decided I’d post them here and use this opportunity to show a little of how I’ve been working through the research for my “The world of Jews in Ryazan” articles (and currently “The world of Jews in Borisov/Barysaw”).

First, here are my translations for Logan

Getman's painting of a morgue in a goldmine prison camp in Russia's far northeast. The Jamestown Foundation played a major role in preserving and protecting these paintings, which are the only known visual record of Stalin's camps. Unlike the Nazis, who recorded and preserved a detailed visual history of the Holocaust, the Soviets made no images of their camps.

Please keep in mind as you read these bios that the charges were fabricated.  There were no real trials or any other form of due process.  None of these arrests and deaths were warranted.  They were part of a program of terror by Stalin against his own people, during which millions of Russian citizens lost their lives by being summarily executed or through starvation and exposure in labor camps.

ELKIN Ilya Isaakovich (1888 -?), [my information for this entry is taken partly from a more complete entry for him here.]  Born in the village of Ratutichi. Expert in and promoter of Esperanto.  Worked at BELRAD (Belarussian Radio), where he managed broadcasts of programs in Esperanto.  Because the authorities found this language [Esperanto] objectionable, Elkin was arrested January 26, 1936, and immediately charged with anti-Soviet agitation and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.  His Esperanto department [at BELRAD] was eliminated.  There is as yet no information about his fate beyond this.  Rehabilitated in 1990.

ELKIN Miron Aronovich (1900 – 1946),  Party secretary of the Borisov Glass Plant. Arrested August 8, 1937, on charges of being a Trotskyist.  On 10 October 1938, by extra-judicial decree, he was sentenced to imprisonment in a labor camp for 5 years.  He was not released at the end of this period, and he died in prison.

ELKIND Boris Isaakovich (1891 -?), Born in Priyamino near Borisov.  Collective farmer at “Chyrvony Uskhod” Collective Farm in the Smolevich district of Minsk oblast. Arrested December 22, 1932, on charges of sabotage and immediately sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.  Rehabilitated in 1989.

Getman's painting of the daily sled-pickup of bodies of prisoners who died overnight. Estimates of the numbers who died in Stalin's camps range upward of 10 million.

ELKIND Boris Mikhailovich (1899 – 1936), native of Borisov.  Lawyer.  Lived and worked in Moscow.  Member of the Regional Board of Defense Lawyers. Arrested 24 November, 1935, on fabricated charges of espionage and shot on May 11, 1936.

ELKIND Julius Grigorievich (1902 – 1938), native of Borisov.  [See photo above.]  He lived and worked in Moscow.  On Aug. 26, 1938, Assistant Chief Transport Prosecutor of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR sentenced him on fabricated charges to capital punishment and he was shot on the same day.

Finding more Elkinds

I found these brief biographies deeply affecting, and wanted to see whether I could find out more about these these people in happier times, before their arrests.  Following my usual process, I googled each name (I used the Cyrillic version because Russian language websites are more likely to give information on relatively unknown countrymen and women than English language ones).

Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything new about these five GULAG victims.  But I did find short bios of seven other Borisov Elkinds from the past.

I had been planning to write about some of these new (to me) Elkinds here.  But the process of writing about Stalin’s Terror and seeing Getman’s images has put me in a very somber mood.  I can’t write now about the lives of other Elkinds who lived in different times.  And it doesn’t feel at all appropriate to include that material in this entry.

So it will wait till a later time.  And that post will be fuller of life than of death.

Borisov's "public security" building, called "the beginning of the road to the Gulag" by Rosenblyum. Victims arrested on fabricated charges were brought to its basement: "At night, in this evil building, electricity was always burning as interrogations and beatings went on."

Yesterday, I discovered that Aleksandr Rosenblyum, whose website I wrote about in my last post, had compiled a list of Borisov Jewish victims of the Gulag, beginning with Stalin’s Great Terror of 1937-8.

This morning, I found an email in my inbox: overnight, Leon Kull had generously transliterated the names from Cyrillic so that English-speaking readers doing geneological research can check here for relatives.  I’ve posted Leon’s translated list at the end of this article, below.

Rosenblyum’s webpage provides a paragraph of information about each person: occupation, the invented charges against them, and their fate (e. g. “sentenced for so many years,” “shot”).  Some entries include photographs of the victim.

For example, one victim in the list is named Boris Bobrov – the same name as my own grandfather, but born a decade later.  In fact, I had found Rosenblyum’s list as I was searching the web for information about my grandfather’s family.  I was startled and shaken to suddenly come upon the following entry (my translation from the Russian):

“BOBROV Shmuel-Ber (Boris Yakovlevich).  Born in 1894 in Borisov.  Managed the insurance fund of the Industrial Cooperative.  Accused of belonging to the Polish intelligence service and sentenced to capital punishment by a “special troika” [extra-judicial local sentencing body during the Great Terror*].  He was shot October 1, 1938.”

(*The “troika” was made up of head of the local secret police, the local Party secretary, and the prosecutor.)

So this Boris Bobrov, quite likely a relative of mine, once lived a routine life managing an insurance fund.  And then everything changed.  He faced false accusation and terror.  He was arrested, “tried,” and shot to death, quite likely in the basement of the very building pictured above.

Memorial recently placed in Borisov's Jewish Cemetery. Engraved on the memorial are the names found by Aleksandr Rosenblyum during many years of research. Photo sent to me by Rosenblyum.

Boris Bobrov was but one of millions of innocent men, women, and yes, children, of all ethnic groups in the USSR who were murdered under Stalin.

A full accounting of all of Stalin’s victims has never been possible because records were not maintained.  Rosenblyum’s list is the result of years of searching, and he says it is still incomplete.  He asks for readers to send in any additional information they may have.

Estimates of the total number of deaths in Stalin’s prisons and labor camps, together with famine deaths resulting from his policies, range from around 15 million to 25 million.

How to search for your family member

Non-Russian speakers who find family members in the list below can check Rosenblyum’s website for the additional information.  My son’s NiceTranslator Firefox plugin is a great tool which, once downloaded, creates pop-up translations on foreign language websites, with no cutting and pasting to another translation website (usable only with the Firefox browser).  Like all computer translations, these are very rough, but they give a general sense of the text.

If you find your family member listed here and would like help navigating the additional Russian-language information on Rosenblyum’s website, feel free to contact me or leave a comment below.

Aleksandr Rosenblyum’s list of Borisov’s Jewish Gulag victims, transliterated from Cyrillic by Leon Kull ________________________________________

Postcard of an unidentified street in the city of Borisov, Russia

A few weeks ago, I discovered – through Russian Census and Ellis Island material sent to me by Leon Kull – that my grandfather’s family probably came from Borisov uyezd (county) in what is now Belarus.  Ever since then, I’ve felt an unsettling transition underway inside me.

For years, the only place in Russia that I knew my grandfather had lived was Ryazan. Several months ago, I started writing a blog thread about the world of Jews in Ryazan.  My interest was not only my own grandfather, but also other people he might have known or been close to.  Ryazan was outside the Pale of Settlement, to which most Jewish citizens of the Russian Empire were confined by law beginning under Catherine the Great.  To live outside the Pale, Jews had to obtain official permits given only to people in certain professions and a very few other cases.  So I began by looking at a tiny group of Jewish residents of this rather unlikely spot in central Russia.

Map showing rough locations of Borisov, within the Pale of Jewish Settlement, and Ryazan, outside the Pale

It’s still a mystery to me exactly how my grandfather, Boris L. Bobroff, got to Ryazan, and I certainly haven’t given up trying to figure that out.  Meanwhile, though, I feel a bit as if I’m being called home, to the place where my grandfather – or at least his family – were likely born and lived some part of their lives.  So now I’ve decided to begin a new blog thread, the world of Jews in Borisov.

Dangers ahead inside the Pale?

In facing back toward Borisov, I feel I’m moving into somewhat dangerous emotional territory.  Life inside the Pale was what so many of our ancestors struggled to leave behind.  It was often a life of confinement, restriction, poverty, and lack of opportunity.  And of course those who were unable to get out were caught up in the Holocaust.  The Borisov towns where my ancestors originated are now dotted with memorials to Jews massacred in mass shootings.  An example is the small village of Es’mony, the childhood home of Rokhilya Bobrova, probably a close relative of my grandfather who also lived in Ryazan.

Polynskaya Street in Borisov, during the 1918 German occupation (electrification installed by the Germans). Visible are a pharmacy, hat shop, and mercer (textile dealer).

By living in Ryazan, and later the United States, my grandfather had, by 1904, escaped the Pale.  Now I’m plunging right back into it.  Why?  I suppose it’s because the Pale is where so many Russian Jews came from.  We can’t fully understand their lives unless we have some idea of their origins, and of the conditions in which they dreamed of other lives.

So on to Borisov …

So now I’ve begun a process of trying to learn about a new place, Borisov, just as I had been excited to learn about Ryazan.  I’ve begun writing to the many JewishGen participants whose ancestors also came from Borisov and started getting some responses, with new bits of information.

I’ve begun my usual search of Russian language websites – always something of a struggle because my Russian language skills are rusty (one of my most important tools is my son’s website, NiceTranslator.com, along with its Firefox plugin, which enables short translations to pop up on foreign language websites).  And there are the hassles of doing dual google searches in English and in Cyrillic without a Cyrillic keyboard (I use a good virtual one).

It’s a bit hard starting over, feeling once again how little I know about this new place, Borisov – new to me, that is.

But one of the fun parts of this research is finding amazing treasure stores of local information created by so many citizens everywhere.  When researching Ryazan, I had found the vast and rich Ryazan guberniia website, which includes extraordinary historical photos and articles.  (If you want to be dazzled, click through any of its pages to see its many different heading-artwork designs, elaborately custom-made for each topic.)

“Cocktail of My Soul”

Postcard with photo of the Borisov market bazaar.

For Borisov, I’ve found an amazing stash of old postcards and other photographs, collected by Aleksandr Rosenblyum, a present-day resident of the city of Borisov (capital of Borisov uyezd).  His website is called Cocktail of my Soul, and it’s about every aspect of Borisov past and present.  The website’s many nooks and crannies probably hold riches I haven’t discovered yet.

Sheyneman vs. Levin

Right off the bat, though, are the early 20th century postcards and Rosenblyum’s description of their history.  It’s an evocative story in itself (any mistakes in Russian-to-English translation are my own):

“In 1907, the owner of a Borisov stationer’s shop, A. Sheyneman, delighted his customers by selling postcards with photos of different corners of the city of Borisov.  Pretty soon his rival B. Levin, the owner of another stationary shop, followed his example, this time with postcards whose photographs had been colored.”

Postcard: General view of the town of Borisov and its pier on the Berezina River (the side of the town beyond the river is hazy in the background).

Rosenblyum provides images of all the postcards, some even labeled as to whose shop sold it, Levin’s or Sheyneman’s!

So here we have two clever competitors in business, each one-upping the other.  And they were competing via the latest technology of their time: photographs now available to everyone in the form of postcards of their very own town! We can imagine what excitement it must have spawned among small-town residents to suddenly see their own surroundings on cards they might be able to buy and send to family and friends.  The cards sold out quickly and soon became rarities.

Postcard of Borisov's wine warehouse (the sale of wine was a monopoly held by the Russian Imperial government).

Rosenblyum asks amusingly,

“What sort of Borisov sights were illustrated in these cards, of which about 30 were released?  Of course, in such a small provincial town, it was difficult to find 30 extraordinary places.  So the sites selected included the wine warehouse and the prison.”

The resourceful Rosenblyum

The story of how Rosenblyum came to have this wonderful collection of old postcards is as delightful as the story of the cards themselves.  Sometime after 1950, the staff of Borisov’s local history museum discovered that a famous Leningrad card collector, Nikolai Spiridonovich Tagrin, had the Borisov postcards among his vast collection.  The museum tried to buy the cards from him, but were only able to acquire a few.  Their efforts continued from various sources, but their collection remained very incomplete.

Postcard of the Victoria Match Factory in Borisov

Then, after Tagrin’s death, his wife donated his collection – consisting of 500,000 postcards – to Leningrad’s Museum of History.  And in 1987, our hero Aleksandr Rosenblyum stepped in.  He persuaded the editor of Borisov’s newspaper Communist Work to send a correspondent to Leningrad to make reproductions of the Borisov postcards.  According to Rosenblyum, the correspondent followed through brilliantly.  The postcards were eventually published with Rosenblyum’s comments, attracting great interest.

All in all, a good day on the road to Borisov

Postcard of house of Kandrian, a wealthy Swiss barrel-hoop manufacturer who immigrated to Borisov.

So this transition back to Borisov, which I began with some trepidation, has ended with pleasure.  Whatever the hardships of the Pale, there were in Borisov two inventive and successful Jewish stationary shop owners whose story – at least until the postcards sold out – is amusing and impressive.  The postcards created and sold by Levin and Sheyneman still exist today, revealing to us many hidden corners of their world.

Singer ads portrayed women of many countries sewing at their machines. This is a woman in traditional Russian costume, including a headdress in reality far too heavy to allow bending over her work.

This is Chapter 6 of the thread “The World of Jews in Ryazan: Beyond the Pale.” The previous chapter can be found here.

As described in a previous post, Yakov Kull and Rokhilya Bobrova both worked at the Singer Sewing Machine Company in Ryazan, Russia.

What was work like for them on a day-to-day basis?  What tasks were they responsible for at Singer?  What were their relationships with people they worked with?  With their superiors?

Rokhilya almost certainly taught sewing lessons and/or demonstrated sewing techniques on the different Singer machine models.  We can be fairly sure of this because these were the jobs the company typically hired women to do in Russia.

More details of what work at Singer was like for such women as Bobrova are hard to come by.  One thing we do know is that everyone who worked above her in the shop was likely a foreigner who did not speak her language well.  Singer had a very hierarchical structure of managers and auditors.  Non-Russians were sent from abroad to fill all supervisory roles.  They may have learned some Russian during their time there, but were likely not very comfortable in it.

We can wonder what it must have been like for Rokhilya Bobrova to interview for a job with, say, Germans or Americans, and to come to work every day in a place where all her superiors were foreigners.

Russian ad for Singer Sewing Machines

Rokhilya – a widowed mother of five – was, of course, herself something of a foreigner in Ryazan, having left her birthplace in Minsk province (now Belarus) in the Jewish Pale of Settlement, at about the age of twenty.  Her first language may not have been Russian, either.  But she had lived in Ryazan since 1887, for nearly 20 years before the Singer company arrived there, so her Russian was likely fluent.

At any rate, Bobrova would have had a number of co-workers who were longtime Ryazan inhabitants, including Yakov Kull.  Local residents were hired for all sales positions at Singer’s because the company realized that to sell lots of machines required salespeople who knew the language and the cultural and social mores of their potential customers.  (Domosh)

I like to  imagine Bobrova interacting in a friendly way with her fellow employees as she worked each day.  One of these fellow employees was Yakov Kull.

Manual for the Singer Model 15, a foot-powered treadle sewing machine.

Kull, according to the 1910 Russian Census, was a “sales agent” at Singer’s. These agents – often called “canvassers” in English – were the foundation for Singer’s astronomical success in Russia (and the US).  Many worked in Singer’s roughly 4,000 shops in cities throughout the Empire.  Tens of thousands more “canvassed” the countryside looking for new customers all across the vast territory of the Russian Empire.  Mona Domosh wrote,

“At the most local level, the Singer ‘man’ on horseback was a common, everyday sight….  In rural areas, this person took daily horseback rides through the countryside, visiting farms and small villages.  He (they were all men) carried with him samples of Singer’s various machines and the materials necessary to demonstrate their use, such as thread and fabric.  He also carried with him his notebook, where he marked the weekly payments that he did or did not collect.  He interacted with customers mainly in their own homes, a visitor of sorts, perhaps known by the family beforehand or at least familiar to them by name and relations.”

Yakov Kull

The canvassers were “thought to be the key to sales success; they were meant to be energetic, bright, knowledgable about the machines, and honest.”  This description definitely seems to fit the enterprising young Yakov Kull, who had moved on to Singer’s from his job as shop assistant in a clothing store.

We don’t know whether Yakov Kull canvassed the countryside around Ryazan or whether he worked primarily in the shop in town.  We do know that he had grown up in a neighboring town, Zaraysk, so he would still have had contacts – perhaps potential customers – outside of Ryazan itself.  We might wonder whether his former hometown became part of the sales territory he worked.

A Singer Sewing Machine shop in Beloomut, Russia, 27 miles southeast of Ryazan.

On the other hand, it’s possible that there was yet another Singer shop in Zaraysk which employed residents of that town.  The photo to the left (sent to me by Yakov Kull’s descendent, Leon Kull), shows a Singer shop in another small town not far from Ryazan.  The building’s traditional Russian architecture is beautifully decorated with typical peasant carved-wood trim.  Note the large Singer sign across the top of the building, which reads “Sewing Machines / Singer Company.”  Unfortunately this photo is too blurry to make out the images on the other signs, but they undoubtedly bore pictures of Singer sewing machines.  They adorned the facade’s first and second floors, and the corners as well, so as not to miss potential customers coming down the street from either direction.

Hand-operated Singer sewing machine. "Singer" is printed on the wooden case in the Cyrillic alphabet, but not on the machine itself.

Most customers bought their Singers on installment because the cost of a sewing machine was more than the average Russian’s yearly income.  In the United States, Singer installment plans were paid off in two years.  But because most Russians were too poor to pay that quickly, payments there were typically spread out over four years.

Typical Singer treadle sewing machine in table with iron stand.

Russian sales agents such as Yakov Kull were responsible for collecting the installment payments from each of the customers to whom they sold sewing machines.  It’s possible that Kull’s wealthier Ryazan customers bought their machines outright.  According to fashion designer Elena Kroshkina, sewing machines became part of the fashionable young woman’s dowry at that time, purchased by the parents of the bride.

But it seems likely that many of Kull’s customers must have paid in installments.  According to Fred Carstensen’s terrific study of Singer in Russia, the company’s

“army of sales agents collected much of Singer’s income in the homes and workshops of customers.  Controlling these monies, which passed through many unsupervised hands, was critical to the financial health of the company.  Singer controlled the agents’ sales and collections through ‘hire books,’ coupons, and numbered stamps.  Each customer received a book when he purchased a machine.  Whenever an agent received a payment, he stuck the appropriate number of coupons in the hire book, then canceled them with a numbered stamp and his own signature.  These coupons served both as receipts for customers and as a check on the agent, who had to account for all his coupons when submitting collections and his weekly report.”

Singer Sewing Machine sales bill. Note what looks like a coupon glued into the left lower margin. (This is a pre-revolutionary sales slip, though this one happens to have been filled out in 1924.)

Once a customer made a down payment on a machine, it was not delivered until a credit investigation had been done that indicated Singer would receive all the expected payments.  As Domosh explains, this was another reason the company hired local people familiar with the economic conditions of their neighbors.

“Local knowledge of, for example, a bad harvest year or labor dispute at the main factory in town was needed to assess potential credit risks.  Therefore, retail employees were familiar with the general economic statuses of their potential customers….  What exactly was involved in this ‘investigation’ is not clear; presumably, a Singer staff member drawn from the local population, and therefore with access to local knowledge, made visits and phone calls to financial institutions and other local institutions.  After the appropriate information had been obtained, the machine was delivered and regular weekly payments were either collected or brought to the store or office.”

Singer newspaper advertisement for installment plans of one ruble payments.

So Yakov Kull may also have been responsible for credit checks on customers, along with his other duties.  For his work, Kull would have been paid a fixed salary, plus commissions on sales and collections.

Carstensen tells us that, because sales agents were collecting large sums of money outside its retail shops, Singer constantly worried about theft.  To protect the company, Singer required all sales agents, before being hired, to “deposit a security in the sum of 300 rubles,” which reverted to the company in case of theft.

This 300 ruble security deposit, though, was a massive sum which most potential Russian sales agents could not pay.  As Singer rapidly expanded in Russia, its corporate leaders began to realize they would not be able to find enough sales staff if they hired only people who could afford it.  Singer also eventually realized it was to their advantage to employ people who were dependent on hard work for the company to earn their living.  Sales agents who could afford a 300 ruble security deposit did not have the same level of financial pressure motivating them to work diligently.

So Singer abolished the security deposit in 1908.  Yakov Kull began working at Singer at roughly this time. We might wonder whether this change made it possible for Kull to leave the dress shop and move to Singer, where he likely earned a higher income.

At any rate, both Kull and Bobrova worked each day with a massive, hierarchical structure above them that required them to constantly account for work done and monies collected.  Everyone employed by Singer had to make weekly reports which were sent up the chain of command along with receipts, finally reaching corporate headquarters in New York.

Singer hierarchy: canvassers (sales agents) were tracked and supervised by layers of managers above them. From Carstensen, American Enterprise in Foreign Markets.

As I’ve described in an earlier post, because of the low level of entrepreneurial experience and training among the general Russian population, Singer turned to members of minority groups living in Russia, especially Jews, who did have the necessary background.

*       *       *

As a Singer sales agent, Yakov Kull would have been responsible for selling other sewing items to his customers as well, such as thread and needles, and providing minor servicing on machines.

Small tube with Singer name, containing a pencil which may not be original.

Another item sold was tailor’s chalk, contained in small metal tubes bearing the Singer name in Russian.  Leon Kull, great-grandson of Yakov, discovered this fact via yet another extraordinary coincidence which occurred around the time I posted Extraordinary coincidence in Ryazan: Kull and Bobrova co-workers at Singer Sewing Machine.

Leon, who now lives in Israel, happened to be strolling through a flea market the day after he discovered the census records showing that his great-grandfather and my relative, Rokhilya Bobrova, both worked at Singer and lived in the same building in Ryazan, Russia.  As Leon emailed me:

“The next day after I found the records about Rakhil Bobrova and my
great-grandfather, I went to the flea market on the Dizengoff Square in
Tel Aviv.  Occasionally, as usual at the flea market, I saw an item that
attracted my attention.”

Brass container that held tailor's chalk, with "Singer Company" embossed in Russian (pre-revolutionary lettering)

Of course, Leon bought the little tube on the spot!  It had a pencil inside, stuck into the gold-colored cap.  However, when Leon later spoke to an expert on the topic, he learned that these tubes originally held tailor’s chalk, not pencils.

As I wrote in my earlier post about Kull and Bobrova, “I suppose the reason anyone searches for information about their ancestors is that they’re yearning to find connections with others beyond themselves in time and place.”

And here once again, Kull and Bobrova’s ghosts were dancing together, this time through the medium of a little brass tailor’s chalk holder!

____________________________

“It is an odd feeling to correspond with people whose relatives knew yours 150 years ago.”    - Laurie Williamson, a friend doing Civil War research, after discovering some one whose ancestor was in the same Civil war brigade as her great-grandfather.

I now live in NY, USA; my grandfather lived in Wisconsin. Leon Kull grew up in Moscow and emigrated with his wife & kids to Israel

Leon Kull, great-grandson of Yakov Kull, grew up in Moscow, Russia.   In 1990, Leon emigrated to Israel with his wife and kids.

I grew up 6000 miles away in Sudbury, Massachusetts, a little town outside of Boston.  My Jewish grandfather, Boris (Bornett) Bobroff, had lived in Wisconsin, but died before I was born.

I “met” Leon Kull through the Ryazan subgroup within JewishGen.org as I set forth on an expedition to learn more about my grandfather.  Members of this JewishGen geneology subgroup all have ancestors who lived in Ryazan, Russia, at some point in the 19th or early 20th centuries.

Because Jews were only 2-3% of Ryazan’s population, the JewishGen Ryazan subgroup is tiny, about nine people.  It was easy to email them.  Several responded to me, including Leon Kull.   I began to learn bits of how their Ryazan ancestors had wound up living in a place from which most Jews were excluded by the laws of the Russian Empire.

I became intrigued by this small but very varied group of Jewish ancestors: wealthy, aristocratic members of the Polyakov family; Yakov Kull, who managed a ready-to-wear clothing store; the skilled shingle-maker Avrom Mesigal; and my own grandfather, who worked at Levontin’s agricultural machinery factory around 1904-5.  I began to write a blog thread, “The World of Jews in Ryazan” about this little group of Jews living “Beyond the Pale.”

Kull family in Ryazan in 1910. Yakov is the adult male farthest right. His brother Ber is next to him.

Ad for the Russian Singer Sewing Machine Company

Last week, while I was researching my most recent post, Leon at his computer in Israel began emailing me information he was turning up in some files he hadn’t checked in a while.  A number of years ago, Leon had hired an archival researcher in Russia who’d uncovered various pieces of information – including pages from the 1910 Russian Census listing Yakov Kull’s place of residence and work.

This Census showed that by 1910, Yakov had moved on from managing the clothing shop to working as a salesman at the Ryazan branch of the Russian Singer Sewing Machine Company.

As Leon looked through his files last week, he also suddenly began to discover information about a Ryazan Jewish family named Bobrov.  “Bobrov” is the same name as mine, “Bobroff,” just transliterated differently from the Cyrillic alphabet.  Given how small the Jewish population was in Ryazan, it’s almost certain that this Bobrov family was related to my grandfather.  Here are some of the nuggets Leon sent me:

Bobrova Rokhilya Movsheva (daughter of Movsha), bourgeoise, born in 1867 in Minsk province (within the Pale of Jewish Settlement).  She settled in Ryazan in 1887.
Rokhilya Bobrova’s husband was Elya Bobrov, born between 1860-65, died sometime before 1905.

At the time of the 1910 Russian Census, Rokhilya Bobrova was 42 years old.
Her children were:
Iokhim son of Elya  19
Bentsean 12
Moysha 10
Zalman 8
Nakhman 6

My grandfather, Boris L. Bobrov (or Bobroff) had already left Russia by the time of the 1910 Census, so he would not have been included here even though he had lived in Ryazan.

So, the mystery’s tendrils grew:

How was Rokhilya Bobrova related to my grandfather? She was about 16 years older than him.  So she could have been a young aunt or an older cousin.  (It’s unlikely that she was his very young mother, because his middle initial was “L,” meaning that his father’s first name began with that letter, so it was not Rokhilya’s husband Elya.)  Perhaps in future I’ll track down the connection between Boris and Rokhilya by looking back at Minsk, from whence they came.

I suppose the reason anyone searches for information about their ancestors is that they’re yearning to find connections with others beyond themselves in time and place.  Early on, I had thought that Robin Pollack Wood and I might have such a time-warp connection, via her great-grandfather who owned an agricultural machinery factory in Ryazan, and my grandfather, who worked in one.  But it turned out the two factories, though similar in name, were actually different.

I had been silly, I thought, to expect such a coincidental connection within the Ryazan subgroup.

So it was with eerie astonishment that, a day or two after Leon’s first finding Rokhilya Bobrova, I read a new email from him.  This one had images attached: of a handwritten, double-spread page of the 1910 Russian Census for Ryazan.  Listed on line #81 was Rokhilya Bobrova.  On the very next next line, #82, was Yakov (Yankel) Kull!

1910 Russian Census pages listing Bobrova and Kull

“Why,” wrote my fellow detective Leon rhetorically, did the two families appear right next to each other?   For the answer, he turned my attention to the second half of the Census listing, which noted work place and residence.  Happily, Leon provided me an English translation of the faded, scratchy, handwritten Russian.

And there, there was the answer:

“Rokhilya Bobrova works at Singer company (служит в компании Зингер)
Place of residence: Ekaterininskaya Street, Ignatyev’s house (Место
жительства: Екатерининская ул. д.Игнатьева)”

“Yankel Kull is a sales agent of Singer sewing machines (Агент по продаже швейных машин Зингер)
Place of residence: the same (as above) Место жительства: там же”

In other words, as Leon explained, Bobrova and Kull worked in the same company, Singer Sewing Machine.  They also

“lived in the same house (on Ekaterininskaya Street).  And when we look at other addresses on this page, we understand that all 4 families lived on the same street.  Authorities compiled this census document by checking one house after another. That’s the reason why Kull and Bobrova appear one after another.”

Wow!  Leon and I might live 6000 miles apart, but a hundred years ago, our forebears lived in the same house.  And they worked together at Singer’s.  They must have known each other quite well.

I felt like Leon’s and my ancestors were not only coming to life.  Their ghosts were beginning to dance with each other!

*         *         *

But what was the quintessentially American Singer Sewing Machine Company doing in Ryazan, on the endless Russian steppes?  The Singer sewing machine was such a touchstone for 19th and 20th century Americans that when I mentioned Singer on my Sarah Lawrence College email list, it sparked a whole round of memories of our mothers sewing our clothes with the family machine.  To me, envisioning Singer sewing machines in Russia felt like culture clash.  An odd company for my Russian ancestor to be employed by!

But Singer machines were in fact all the rage in Ryazan in the early 20th century!  According to one Russian blogger,

“The first sewing machines appeared in Ryazan … in 1909.  They were sold in a department store at the corner of Astrakhan and Cathedral…. Each machine cost about 30 rubles, the average monthly salary of Ryazan employees.  By a year later, the miracle-machines had become the most popular item in the dowries of wealthy brides.  The machines were bought by parents.  In those days, it was not considered seemly for an unmarried woman to own a sewing machine.”

Another ad for Russian Singer sewing machines. Note the Art Nouveau influence, then popular in Russian fashion as well.

According to another source, Singer sewing machines had come to Russia well before this:  “By the beginning of the 1880s the network of Singer’s sales offices, depots and stores had covered the empire.  The aggregate number of branches was eighty-one.”  Many of the machines were imported from the United States.  In addition, in 1902, a large Singer factory, eventually employing 5000 workers, was built in Podolsk, in Moscow province.

So exactly what kind of work did Kull and Bobrova do for Singer?

Well, we have clues for Kull, because the Census listed him as “an agent for the sale of Singer sewing machines.”  So Kull was part of the Singer sales force which Mona Domosh describes in her wonderful American Commodities in an Age of Empire: a vast, far-flung, highly organized army of Russian sales agents.

In Russia, with the largest territory of any nation on earth – three times the distance east to west as the United States – these agents sold more sewing machines than in anywhere else in the world besides the US.  Sales in Russia went from almost 70,000 in 1895 to nearly ten times that in 1914.  The agents traveled the Russian Empire via trains, wagons, and horseback.  They floated cargoes of sewing machines thousands of miles down Siberian rivers.  There, nomads buying sewing machines paid for them in cattle, pelts and fish (which the sales agents in turn sold for cash).

Back in Ryazan, Kull’s work life was undoubtedly less adventuresome.  But Singer’s local operations in Russia were so intricately organized that Kull likely had a job worthy of its own separate blog post.  In fact, I’m finding so much almost palpable detail about Singer sales arrangements in Russia that I will postpone a fuller picture of Kull’s job to a later chapter.

But what about Rokhilya Bobrova?   What kind of work did she, a woman, do for Singer?

We must remember that, by 1910, Bobrova had been a widow for something over five years.  She had five children ranging in age from 6 to 19.  A lot of mouths to feed.

What jobs did the Russian Singer company hire women for at that time?  Again, Mona Domosh provides clues as how Bobrova may have lived her work days.  In the nearly 4,000 Singer shops in towns throughout Russia,

“potential customers could browse the various machines, examine samples of what could be made on each of them, watch demonstrations of various sewing techniques by employees, and take sewing classes.  Most of the employees who worked the floor in these shops and who demonstrated and gave sewing lessons were ‘natives,’ and many of them were women….  No women were hired at any level above retail sales and sewing instructors.”

In addition, employees, especially in more responsible positions, “were recruited from ethnic minorities living in Russia, particularly ethnic Germans and Jews,” due at least in part to the lack of commercial experience among ethnic Russians.

Thus it seems likely that Rokhilya Bobrova demonstrated sewing techniques or taught sewing classes at Singer’s.

We can probably assume that Bobrova had originally received her permit to live outside the Pale due to her husband’s profession (I don’t know yet what it was, but hope to unearth it).  But Jews had to renew their permits to live outside the Pale every five years, traveling all the way back to their place of origin to get the renewal.  Bobrova’s permit came up for renewal in 1909.  And now she was widowed.

However, 1909 was the same year Singer apparently arrived in Ryazan.  At that point, given Singer’s hiring tendencies, the fact that Bobrova was a Jewish woman may suddenly have become a huge asset.  I wonder whether the local Singer store’s management – perhaps even Yakov Kull – played a role in enabling the now-widowed Bobrova to stay on living in Ryazan in her own right.

Detail of 1910 Census page focusing on names Bobrova and Kull

Yakov Kull

This is Chapter 4 of my series The World of Jews in Ryazan: Beyond the Pale.”  Earlier chapters can be found here.

I had set myself the pleasant task this week of writing about the early 20th century clothing store in Ryazan, Russia, where Yakov Kull worked as a shop manager.  What followed was a lot of detective work of the kind that gets me excited, but doesn’t always resolve all my questions.  The answers get closer, but at the same time coquettishly move farther away, drawing me deeper in.

For now I’ll present a “progress report” on the intriguing issues that have billowed up as I’ve searched for Yakov Kull and his brother Ber, who worked in the same shop.  Maybe some one out there will read it and be able to part some of the mist surrounding this entire project on the world of Jews “Beyond the Pale” in Ryazan.  Whether or not that happens, my search will continue for more stories about the lives of these Ryazaners.

The shop where Yakov Kull worked sold men’s and womens’ ready-to-wear clothes, a fairly recent phenomenon at that time.  The Kull brothers worked in a new field, as it were, moving beyond the 19th century world in which poorer people made their own clothing and more well-to-do Russians had theirs custom-sewn for them by dressmakers and tailors.  According to one article,

Ber Kull

“In the early 20th century, Ryazan had only two clothing boutiques and one fashion atelier.  These institutions were able to meet the needs of all the Ryazan dandies (men and women).”

This article described one Ryazan ready-to-wear shop, that of Madame Gelyassen, where the fashionable new “tailored suits” for women appeared in 1906. The ready-to-wear suits consisted of a jacket and skirt, in both summer and winter fabrics.  The winter versions were made

“of inexpensive, practical fabrics in dark tones – broadcloth, wool.  The summer suit was made of silk, cotton linen or duck, the edges trimmed with lace braid.  Women of the intelligentsia and emancipated Ryazan women preferred dressing in these suits.

“In the first decade of the 20th century, a third element of the suit began to be sold: the blouse, which had to be lighter than the skirt and trimmed with lace.

Portrait of N. I Petrunkevich, by Russian painter N. N. Ge

“The suits of women who came from the villages to work in production were called ‘parochki:’ a fitted women’s jacket and flared skirt of the same fabric.  It combined the traditions of Russian folk costumes and European city fashion.  On the bodice of the jacket there was usually a lace insert.

“In the cold season, women wore capes – short fur capes often with a hood or a coat over their suits.”

Detail of "Still With You" by Anne Bobroff-Hajal

So the clientele of Madame Gelyassen’s ready-to-wear shop appears to have been both educated women and rural women who came into the city to work in some kind of production.

In fact, the description of “parochki” worn by the latter sounds very close to women in a painting I just finished of Russian peasants.  To the right is a detail of my painting, which is based on old Russian photos from the time period.  The entire painting can be seen here.

It seems very possible that Madame Gelyassen’s was the ready-to-wear shop where the brothers Kull worked.  I would love to know stories of their interactions with customers of various backgrounds who came into the shop looking for one of the versions of these suits.  What were the daily dramas of the Kull brothers’ lives in the ready-to-wear shop?

One group of women who continued to have their clothing custom-made, as opposed to buying ready-to-wear, were the very wealthy.  These women rushed to the latest styles when a new fashion, influenced by Art Nouveau, became all the rage in Ryazan, according to designer Elena Kroshkin.  These were high-waisted clothes, with fabric in “a great wave from the bodice down,” and “asymmetrical lace draperies, swirling in a spiral around the figure.”

Ideal forms of Art Nouveau fashion

The Kull brothers must have been very aware of their near-competitor, Wulfson’s  atelier, where clothes were made to order for wealthy clients.  I wonder what the brothers thought of Wulfson’s and his business.  Did they envy it or think it was over the top?  Or some of both?  According to one description,

Russian Art Nouveau fashion, 1916

“The girls stood in a queue for [the new Art Nouveau styles] at Wulfson’s – the German tailor, whose atelier was located on Seminary Street….  A month or two before each ball at the Noblemen’s Assembly Hall, the number of orders at the couturier’s increased significantly.  The atelier sewed 20 dresses a month, and up to 30 ready-made dresses, brought from Moscow, taken in and adjusted to the figures of the capricious Ryazan ladies. For the “puffy” [presumably fatter] ladies, Wulfson made a special insert….

“Wulfson sewed shot silk, translucent chiffon, tulle with bright patterns and gauze in pale shades.  He purchased these fabrics in Moscow.  The finery was supplemented with collars of ostrich and cockerel feathers, silver and golden lace.”

Ryazan Noblemen's Assembly Hall, where balls were held

Will the real Ryazan ready-to-wear shop please stand up?

I would love to find a photo of a ready-to-wear clothing shop in Ryazan – above all the one where the Kull brothers worked.  Photos of the shop would set the scene for us to envision the Kull brothers’ daily-life stories.

But the closest I’ve come after a week of searching has been photos of three ready-to-wear shops in other Russian cities at the beginning of the 20th century.  I’ve been wondering and debating with myself which of the three might have been more like our Ryazan shop.  Which would be closest to the setting in which Yakov and Ber lived out their everyday comedies and tragedies?

A ready-to-wear clothing shop in Arkhangelsk (right side of photo)

The first photo is of an elegant-looking shop (left side of photo above) in the far northern city of Arkhangelsk, on the White Sea along Russia’s long arctic coast.  This photo could easily be mistaken for one of the very upscale streets in Ryazan.  Notice the fancy awnings at the windows in the Arkhangelsk shop.  The structures on the sidewalks are electric poles of the same type seen on some Ryazan streets as well (see Ryazan photo below).

Ryazan's Postal Street: This trendy shopping street looks almost identical to the Arkhangelsk street, photo above

Leon Kull, great grandson of Yakov Kull, sent me links to two other wonderful photos of ready-to-wear shops in different Russian cities:

Ready-to-wear clothing shop in Novosibirsk, Russia

Ready-to-wear shop in Perm, Russia, 1903

Which of these three ready-to-wear shops most closely resembled the one where the Kull brothers worked?  The elegant stone building in Arkhangelsk?  The freestanding wooden building in Perm?  Or the Novosibirsk shop with its unusal Art Nouveau signage?  At this point I can’t say for sure.  I can only continue following clues which will hopefully bring us closer, not farther away, from history’s truth.

One clue we can pursue is location.  According to the article quoted above, both Wulfson’s couture atelier and Mme Gelyassen’s ready-to-wear shop were on Seminary Street, in the northwest quadrant of the city of Ryazan.  I don’t have a photo of any obvious shopping areas on Seminary Street.  There were both stone and wooden houses along this street, possibly fitting any of the three photos above.

However, Mme Gelyassen’s was on the corner with Cathedral Street (Соборная улица).  And Sobornaya was one of the trendy shopping streets in Ryazan.  As one author wrote:

“Ryazan city slickers at the beginning of  the 20th century bypassed the New Bazaar area.  They preferred the ‘trendy shops’ of Postal, Astrakhan, and Cathedral Streets to peasant stalls.  In New Bazaar square, the major dealers and buyers were Ryazan peasants.”

This description of Cathedral Street sounds more like one of the first two photos.  So perhaps we should envision the Kull brothers ensconced there.  (For a photo of another of the three trendy streets listed here, see the the photo of Postal Street above.)  Since both educated women and newly-arrived rural girls were listed among Mme Gelyassen’s customers, we would have to imagine that only the most successful of these new immigrants to the city would have been able to afford to shop on this fashionable street.

However, if the Kull brothers worked at a different ready-to-wear shop than Mme Gelyassen’s, our imagined picture may shift a bit closer to the third photo.  For according to the same author, New Bazaar’s trading square also included ready-to-wear shops:

“There were whole rows of small boutiques around the square at the beginning of the 20^th century.  ‘On New Bazaar square and its surrounding streets various goods were sold,’ describes historian Elena Kir’yanova.  Here is was possible to find, in addition to grocery shops, ready-to-wear clothing shops and footwear.  Here there were haberdashery and leather shops; the first shops appeared for books, candy and even tea.  The trade stalls were adorned with womens hats and handbags.  More than five hundred types of goods were sold in the retail stalls of New Bazaar.”

Perhaps less-affluent people, including those just arriving from the countryside, bought their ready-to-wear clothing in New Bazaar, while hoping to eventually make enough money to shift to shopping on trendier streets.  And perhaps at some point in the future, we will discover which type was where the Kull brothers worked.

New Bazaar Square in Ryazan. Note trading stalls toward the back of the square.

Closeup of trade stalls in New Bazaar square, Ryazan