The Story of My Life

Translation of
История моей жизни

Written by Nikolay Spevak

English translation edited by Dr. Rafael Manory and Karen Leon

 

Acknowledgments

 

Our sincere appreciation to Nikolay Spevak for permission to
place his book on the JewishGen web site.

This is a translation of: История моей жизни (The Story of My Life),
Written by Nikolay Spevak, 2015

This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of
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Chapter 1 - Paths of My Memory 8
My Parents House 8
Getting to Know the Phone and the Car 21
 
Chapter 2 – Hard Times 23
Start of the Thirty-Seventh Year 23
Lenin and Stalin's Policies 25
Tiger in Our Forest 27
The Story of Lisa and Love of the Jews 28
My Father's Return 30
The Start of the Second World War 31
The Last Time I Saw My Father 33
We Leave Our Homes 34
We Are Proud of You - Our Captain! 35
On the Way to Evacuation 38
How We Survived 42
Back Home 49
Memories From the War 50
Dear Sister Lena and Her Invaluable Assistance 51
A Little About Our Roots 52
Subsequent Years 57
The Partisan Movement in Belarus 58
Never Enough Food 62
America Provides for Us 65
There Will Be Peace 66
I Become a Jew Again 68
Return to Mother 71
Stalin and His Attitude Toward the Jews 73
 
Chapter 3 - Nikolay Spevak 74
Service in the Army 74
Stories That Are Not Forgotten 75
Returning Home From the Army 76
I Take Responsibility For My Brothers 79
Friendship with Misha Goman 81
On Vacation in Kalinkavichyi 82
Promotion at Komsomol 83
An Ax For a Jew 83
An Old Friend - Eugene Kochura 85
I Finally Met My Fate 87
We Have a Daughter 90
My Sister's Story About Registration 91
My Brother Arkady's Life After the Army 92
Friendship With Bella 93
Hello First Car 94
I Smiled in Happiness 95
My Dear Mother 97
The Jews are Blamed Again 100
The Decision of a Lifetime 106
Steps to Leave for Israel 108
We Say Goodbye to All We Hold Dear 110
On the Way to Israel 113
All Roads Lead to Rome 114
 
Chapter 4 - Our Life in America 118
Hello America! 118
Our First Experience with Rosh Hashanah and the Subway 119
Introduction to the Synagogue 121
How to Find a Job 123
Children Go to School 126
Ah, the English Language 127
Our Daughter Marries 130
I Wrote a Letter to the President 131
Our First Overseas Trip 133
Israel 134
The Blessing of the Rebbe Schneerson 135
Meeting With Friends - Arkady and Maya 138
We Move Closer to Our Daughter 139
Our Grandchildren - Alan and David 141
How I Wish to See My Family 145
We Are Going to Russia to See Our Families 147
Our Guest, My Niece Mariya 153
My Brothers Come to America 154
A Trip to Israel With My Brother Lev 156
Our Life at Greenwood Lake 161
Moving to California 163
Our Son Meets His Love 166
Hurricane Wilma 168
On the Horizon - Golden Wedding Anniversary 169
Our Friends 173
I Go to the Synagogue 173
Introduction to Jewish History 175
We Celebrate a Bar and Bat Mitzvah 177
We Must Adhere to Jewish Traditions 180
Please Go to the Synagogue 190
My Mother (photo) 191
Poems 192

 

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