TALES OF THE ‘NASTY KURSKIAN JEWS’
CHAPTER 1, Velvele
Anti-Semitism. Defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as “hostility towards or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group”. A common practice by majority of the modern society. We grow up with the idea to hate certain people, not because of their actions in the present, but based on an ancient feud in the past that nobody wants to move forward from and find a solution. What is the connection with this story? Well in a moment I would like to further fuel your anti-semitic practices by revealing some stories of the Jews that once existed in Kursk, their lifestyle and how they were successfully eradicated from the modern society of today’s streets of our city of Kursk.
The first Jewish presence in Kursk was in the middle of the 19th century. In 1858 the Jewish population stood at 465 people. In 1939, the number of Jews has risen to 4,914 inhabitants, who comprised 1.4 percent of the entire population. All of the details below is based on the effort of a local historian Kovalev Vladimir Tikhonovich (1925–2010), who was born and raised among the Jewish community here. His memoir serves us from his childhood until the decade of war.
Those who have been to Barcelona, Prague, or Budapest might be familiar with the famous tourist attraction of the old Jewish Quarters. Just as it says, such quarters also existed here. Where it is you may wonder. On the days of taking the bus either to or from centre, we would definitely passby the bus stop of “Centralny Rinok” (Central Market). Back in the days, that's their location. But the heart of the Jewish quarters is on Verkhne-Lugovaya street, and that is where Vladimir was born and raised.
“I have always been impressed with the Jewish people’s unity, mutual understanding, willingness to help others, the sick, the poor and in trouble, often a complete stranger, and loyalty in friendship. These beautiful human qualities can only be envied. And, of course, I liked the whole subtle, savory, sometimes wise, Jewish humor.” quoted Vladimir.
He grew up as an inquisitive boy surrounded by interesting and friendly hardworking Jews. All the neighbors called Vladimir as Velvele, which is Yiddish for Volodya. “The Jewish kids in the whole neighborhood didn’t refuse to be his friend. The offensive word “Jew” was more often used in the heat of the Jews themselves. When they quarreled, one shouted at the other: “The Jew is fluttering, full of shit!” and received in return: “And you, Jew, will die sooner.”
The tip of the iceberg of the uncultured Jewish mentality has been revealed. So let's move forward to know a little more about their traditions. In Vladimir’s life, he attended mournful funerals, the service in the synagogue, noisy and cheerful weddings too.
“I would like to say a few words about Jewish weddings. As a rule, a lot of guests are invited. A lot of money is spent on arranging a wedding ceremony and treating guests. But after all this, the wedding pays off fruitfully too.”
Fruitful because guests often present them with lavish gifts in a form of a clan. For example, one clan, gives all the necessary furniture to the new family, while another — everything for the kitchen, third — a refrigerator, fourth-everything for the bedroom, etc. Thus, after the wedding, the newlyweds are provided with everything necessary for the first years of their married life.
In a two-story brick building built in the shape of the letter “G” on Sovetskaya 25th street, was a “heder” (Jewish school). What is the environment in a Jewish school I wondered. Bright teachers taught students there. The trouble faced by our storyteller was as follows: In an ordinary mathematics class taught by the teacher who explains new material, he seems to forget who he was dealing with. The “simplest things” were presented from the standpoint of higher mathematics. Some of the children had messed up their brains, that after his maths lessons, they suffer a terrible headache. Sounds like a typical student’s life despite what background you are from.
For Vladimir’s 15th birthday, his parents gifted him a soccer ball and boots. They (Verkhne-Lugovaya street team) decided to settle their rivalry against the Arkhangelsk street team. They played in front of the St. Michael’s Church. One of the guys kicked the ball through the window of a nearby private Jewish house. Everyone was stunned as they started feeling as cold as ice.
The bald owner ran out of the courtyard and yelled that he would kill them all, and they would never see the ball again. Before their eyes, he destroyed the ball with a large kitchen knife and went away. As Vladimir starts to cry a river, his Jewish peers said they will find a way to avenge him.
The boys went to Pokrovsky market and bought a kilo of fresh yeast. In the evening, one of them climbed over the fence and let the bag of yeast into the toilet. As it was a hot summer night, the yeast fermented the faeces at a higher rate, causing all the contents to spill out into the yard and even onto the street!
A sweet, successful and stinking revenge they thought to themselves as they observe from the corner while gazing at the bald Jew in distress of the stench coming out of his toilet. He even offered a high pay to the cleaners to quickly remove the horrendous rotten smell.
Growing up in a typical family setting, with average school days, with mischievious deeds and surrounded by friends and family was the life of the nasty Jews. Still, a reason to treat their community differently? Yes, I believed.
CHAPTER 2, A SNAKE IN THE GRASS
In 1937, the Pekhov family appeared in the neighbourhood. Ivan Mikhailovich Pekhov is the antagonist in our story. His wife works as a caterer and they had two daughters. The old man himself was jobless, but he was engaged in “pigeon hunting and breeding”.
The breeds of pigeons that Pekhov bred (pure white with a black neck and pure white with a red neck) were highly valued at that time. Pekhov earned money by catching and breeding pigeons which he sold later. Ivan Pekhov was a greedy and rather evil man. If he was not paid the certain price for the bird, he ruthlessly tears off the pigeon’s head in front of the former owner. “Cold blooded murderer who should burn in Hell”. But you fellow readers don't think he deserves to be called such just because of some pigeons loosing their heads.
In 4th November 1941, the German forces occupied the city. The majority of the Jewish population of Kursk managed to fled. Many returned to their homeland while some evacuated to Kazakhstan, Canada and so on for safety. Pekhov had a change in character. The old man who never leaves his house decided to keep wondering out around the vicinity. All this behaviour has its reasons. Pekhov became interested in the evacuation of Jewish families and Communists of the area.
Vladimir’s mother, Yulia Sinyaeva, an old Communist, talked to an old Jewish doctor Gilman, a friend, about his departure from Kursk due to the approaching front. Gilman refused to leave Kursk. He explained that during the first world war he had been a prisoner of the Germans for three years. They, knowing that he was a Jew, did not oppress him in any way. Having a perfect command of German, he will help the neighbors to explain themselves to the German authorities. In addition, he is already old, and can not stand a long trip on a plank bed in a train.
He considers the Germans to be civilized people who won’t kill non-harmful Jews without reason, especially sick old people. How naive these clever old men were. The Germans did not spare any of them, and many were doomed to execution.
In the autumn of 1943, Vladimir who served the war was treated in Kursk after a bullet wound received at the front. After being discharged from the military hospital, he went to his home on Verkhne-Lugovaya street and learned from his Russian friends about a treacherous act.
The villain Pekhov submitted a large list of Jews who remained to live in Kursk to the German authorities. All these unfortunate people, as it was later established, were arrested by the Germans. Neighbors saw Pekhov accompany the Germans when some of the Jews were arrested.
In February 1942, the Germans shot to death 125 Jews, together with the captured Red Army and Communists at the quarter near Dalnye Parki. In June 1942, there were two shootings in Kursk. On one day, the Germans shot ten Jews next to Dzerzhinsky Street and on the other day they shot 14 next to the Kursk State Medical University. In the same month the Germans also arrested up to several hundred Jews and brought them to the city prison. All of them were shot which led to total nullification of Jews in Kursk.
For Pekhov’s services to the Germans, they gifted him a substantial monetary reward and rewarded a large Jewish house on Arkhangelsk street and a store on Pokrovsky Bazaar. Pekhov opened a beer hall in the pavilion with their help, and was a spy who informed the German counterintelligence about all unreliable visitors.
After being demobilized from the army, Vladimir went on a special assignment to work in the state security agencies. He served in the Kursk Department of the MGB-KGB from the beginning of 1951 for more than 20 years. On a documentary basis, he learned all about the crimes committed by Pekhov in favor of the occupiers.
Pekhov Ivan Mikhailovich and his daughter Sofia Yufa were put on the all-Union wanted list №1 as active agents of the “GFP” (“Gecheim Feldpolizei” — German secret field police).
As the hunt for Pekhov intensifies, he successfully met Smialkovsky, a friend to flee with the retreating Germans to the West. In Ukraine, when the Germans searched their belongings, they found gold coins and jewelry in considerable quantities.
The ruthless Nazis always believed that gold should belong only to the Reich (empire). Pehov and Smialkovsky, despite their services to the German command, were shot without a doubt. The old man’s daughter Pekhov-Sophia Yufa was found in America, executed.
The Pekhovs betrayal led to the shooting of the Kursk Jews. More than two hundred lives of Jews who lived in the quarters from Endovishchenskaya to Lomonosovskaya and from Dzerzhinsky to Suvorovskaya. He was definitely a snake in the grass, and innocent lives were lost.
After all of this, I wonder if you would now agree with me that he is a cold blooded murderer and a traitor. Yet the own kind betrayed, while the others are hated for ancient and ridiculous reasons. What makes me curious is that the practice of Antisemitism is still going strong in major society, yet today’s Germans are not hated, instead looked upon as a symbol of beauty and power, despite their shameful past of their ancestors too.
So why hate one and not the other? Why judge one based on commits of the past, why punish innocence? The answer to that begins individually, as only if you change your perspective as an individual, you can change the environment around you. According to the bible, there will be no ending to such war, but I believe true peace could be achieved if we all start to focus on solving problems instead of complaining about them. Only then changes will be ready to bloom like spring flowers.
REFERENCE
1. old-kursk.ru/book/kovalev-mem/index.html
2. yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/index.asp?cid=1006
