(Wywiady dostępne są w językach angielskim i ukraińskim. Prosimy o wyrozumiałość.)
Chernivtsi, Ukraine
Interview conducted in 2002 by Ella Levitskaya
My mother Tonia Barzak, nee Roitberg, photographed on her 16th birthday. The photo was taken in 1922 in Yassy.
My mother Tonia Barzak, nee Roitberg, and her younger sister Etia. The photo was taken in 1924 in Yassy.
My parents: my father Borukh Barzak and my mother Tonia Barzak, nee Roitberg. The photo was taken in 1930 in Soroki.
Wedding photo of my mother’s younger sister Etia. From left to right: Etia, her father and my grandfather Ishye Roitberg, and Etia’s husband Mark Shteinberg. The photo was taken in 1930 in Yassy.
Wedding photo of my mother’s older sister Fania: Fania and her husband Matey Levinzon.The photo was taken in 1927 in Yassy.
I, Sally Barzak, on my 5th birthday. My father dreamed about a son and before my brother was born my parents dressed me like a boy. The photo was taken in 1932 in Soroki.
I, Sally Barzak, and my family visiting me in Yassy, where I was taught. We were photographed at the entrance to the French boarding school where I studied. From left to right: my cousin Shoimu, the son of my mother’s older brother Mark; my mother Tonia Barzak, nee Roitberg; I, Sally Barzak; and my aunt Etia, my mother’s younger sister. Photo made in Yassy in 1939.
My husband Jacob Uzvalov (Oswald) and his mother Molka Finkel (her last name in her 3rd marriage) visiting my husband. My husband worked as a mechanic (repaired elevators) in Bucharest. The photo was taken in 1938 in Bucharest.
My father’s brother Meyer Barzak, his wife Golda (on the right) and grandson Zhenia. Meyer and his family were in exile in Siberia. His grandson was born in exile. Photo made in Mogochino village, Krasnoyarsk region, Siberia, in 1953.
From left to right, sitting: my mother Tonia Barzak, nee Roitberg; she’s holding my one-year-old son Boris Uzvalov; my uncle Leon, my father’s brother and companion. My father and Leon were arrested in 1940 and sent to Solikamsk, Molotov region in Siberia. Standing: I, Sally Uzvalova, nee Barzak, and my husband Jacob Uzvalov. Photo made in Chernovtsy in 1952.
My son Boris Uzvalov. The photo was taken in 1976 in Chernovtsy on the street.
I, Sally Uzvalova, photographed at my home in Chernovtsy in 2000, to send the photo to a friend of mine living in the US.
The offspring of a religious Jewish family with roots in Poland, Moldova and Romania, Mrs. Uzvalova tells us about the fate of her relatives who were morally and physically obliterated by the Soviet power. In 1940, her father and his brother – business partners and storeowners – were arrested as “socially dangerous elements” and sent to a security camp in Solikamsk. In June 1941, many other family members were exiled to Siberia, some of them starving to death. When the Great Patriotic War began, the interviewee, her mother and brother were advised to leave Soroki (today Moldova) and decided to go where her father was kept. They never made it there, but ended up in Astrakhan, where she and her mother worked in a hospital. When part of Bessarabia was liberated in 1944, they returned to Soroki and found out that the father had committed suicide in Siberia. In 1945 they planned to leave for Romania but right before their departure the borders were closed, so they settled down in Chernovtsy. After the war, Mrs. Uzvalova worked as an accountant and was the breadwinner in the family, supporting her mother and brother even after she got married and founded her own family. 13 photos help retrace a fascinating family history.
