CHAPTER NINE
1919–1920
Belaya Tserkov was the largest city on the way to Kiev, making it a natural destination for the several hundred Jews who were desperate to flee from Stavishche. In general, the larger cities were more peaceful, because they tended to be less of a target. When a rumor circulated that another wave of bandits was approaching, even more Stavishche Jews picked up their children without thinking twice, and began running.
Belaya Tserkov was a day and night’s journey from Stavishche, even by horse and wagon.I Rebecca had both a brother and a sister living in Belaya Tserkov. She had taken Channa and Sunny there only once before to visit her oldest brother, Shalum Cutler, and his wife, Baila. The couple’s vast holdings included a great deal of acreage covered with beautiful flowers and roses. Their main dwelling stood on a hill with a view overlooking the picturesque city full of white domes and churches.
Even more impressive was the fact that all seven of their children, including the daughters, attended a gymnasium, a privilege that was rarely afforded to Jewish children. An exception was made for Shalum on account of his work as a blacksmith for Tsar Nicholas’s army. Despite Shalum’s apparent monetary success, it wasn’t his help that Rebecca sought out in Belaya Tserkov. She was much closer to her sister Molly, whose doorstep the family landed on.
Two Years Earlier: Stavishche, 1917
Just a few months after losing their mother, Fay, Molly, a gorgeous, blue-eyed brunette with a slender figure, surprised her older sister Rebecca with a visit. “I’ve just spent the summer with Shalum and Baila,” she told Rebecca, as five-year-old Channa listened in. “I had no idea there were so many eligible men in Belaya Tserkov!”
“You’ve come miles out of your way to see me; did you meet a man?” Rebecca asked Molly.
“Not exactly one.”
“Two?”
“No, not two.”
“Three?” Rebecca asked surprisingly.
Molly shook her head.
“Four?”
“I’ve received four marriage proposals! I need your advice: I don’t know what to do,” Molly said. “I want to marry for love, just like you and Isaac did.”
“Then why did you agree to a matchmaker?”
“I refused to see the matchmaker. Baila took it upon herself; she spread the word that her younger sister-in-law was in Belaya Tserkov looking for a husband. Suddenly, Shalum and Baila had lots of unexpected visitors.”
“Which man did you chose?” Rebecca asked.
“I haven’t decided yet; that’s why I’ve come to Stavishche to speak with you. Baila pointed out that I am already twenty-three, I have no dowry, and in Skibin, there are no marriage prospects for me. She urged me to choose one and marry him.”
“Do you favor one over the others?”
“There is one man, an established tailor with a large house, who is a bit older than me. He is a widower named Itzie with two young boys. Shalum and Baila invited him to a large dinner party, and after the meal, he led the dancing there. He asked me to dance. He is the best dancer I have ever partnered with—sparks flew! Later that evening he told me that I am the first woman to capture his heart since his wife, Gittel, died.”
“What about the others?”
“They are all much younger than him, closer to my age. I really don’t know any of them very well. What do you think I should I do?”
Molly saw that her older sister was at a loss for words, a problem she rarely struggled with.
“I’ve made up my mind,” Molly declared out of frustration. “The next man who comes to my door, I shall marry!”
That is truly what happened. The next suitor to knock at her door, after travelling all the way from Belaya Tserkov to Skibin, was Itzie Stumacher, the widower sixteen years her senior. He had suffered the painful losses of his twenty-nine-year-old wifeII and their youngest daughter, Libby.
On December 23, 1917, twenty-three-year-old Molly Cutler wed thirty-nine-year-old Itzie Stumacher in Stavishche.III At first, his eleven- and six-year-old sons, Ruby and Moe, made their young stepmother’s life a living nightmare. But eventually, they managed to overcome their grief at the thought of another woman replacing their dear mother and saw Molly for the kind woman she was. It wasn’t long before they began to call her their mother.
Itzie, whose father and grandfather were well-respected men in Belaya Tserkov, was considered to be an established man, and certainly, in comparison to Molly’s family, was financially secure. The beautiful twin house that he owned in Belaya Tserkov had a rental apartment attached to it with four large rooms.IV
In June 1919, when the Caprove family finally arrived at Itzie’s stately dwelling after fleeing the pogrom in Stavishche, Channa could not believe that her new uncle was so rich. The large wooden and brick dwelling had two front doors and two chimneys; one for the main house, and the other for the rental apartment. She looked up at the dark, picket fence that stood taller than she did; it was at least five feet in height. The points on top of the slats were triangular and painted white, giving the encompassed property a stately feel. The fence encased not only the house, but also a large porch that extended around the entire perimeter of the building. There was a large stoop in front of each front door where the family sat and enjoyed the sunny breeze. Every few feet, beautifully crafted windows, all rectangular, were open, allowing those inside the house to enjoy the fresh summer air.
Tarashcha, 1919
While the situation seemed to be calming down in Stavishche, the same could not be said for Tarashcha, located 18.5 miles northeast of Stavishche. Tsar Nicholas’s famous boot maker, Myer Ova Denka, the father-in-law of Rebecca’s brother, Avrum Cutler, was standing alone on the cobblestone street just outside of his shoe factory when a pogrom took him by surprise. A small group of Cossacks surrounded him and began taunting him mercilessly until one took it a step too far. Myer’s daughter, Slova, Avrum’s feisty wife, looked through a window and saw a pistol being placed in her father’s mouth.
The full-figured Slova bravely ran out into the street and cocked her own pistol to the head of the bandit whose gun was pointed at her father. “If you hurt my father, I will pull the trigger!” she screamed madly in Russian.V
The peasants, laughing nervously, could not believe their eyes: a Jewish woman defiantly holding a gun to the head of their comrade. The peasant slowly removed his gun from inside of Myer’s mouth and laughed, “I’ll let you both live because of the bravery of the young Jewess!”
The Cossacks let it be known that they released father and daughter because they were amused by Avrum’s gutsy wife. However, anyone who knew Slova believed that she meant business. Secretly, they were probably scared that she would not have hesitated to blow the head off of anyone who dared to hurt her beloved father.
Back in Stavishche: June–July 1919
Rebecca wanted nothing more than to be back in her own home when she gave birth to her third child. A Jewish committee of aid set up in Belaya Tserkov to assist the refugees from Stavishche had assured the family that it was safe to return. Like most of the Jews from Stavishche, they believed what they were told and were relieved to be on their way.
Shortly after their return home, rumors spread that bandits were approaching the town. It happened on a quiet, peaceful summer night. Windows were open everywhere, yet there was no movement in the air. At ten o’clock the tranquility was abruptly broken by the sound of screaming in the streets, alerting residents of impending danger. Rebecca, Isaac, and their girls found themselves throwing on their clothes and running for their lives with many others toward a public house, the bet hamidrash.
Once inside, Channa immediately spotted her eleven-year-old neighbor Rochela Feinzilberg, the daughter of the apothecary owner, huddled in a corner with her parents and sisters. The frightened girls locked eyes. In the midst of the commotion, each child prayed in silence to survive the night. The noise and screaming outside were horrifying, and many were crying hysterically.
The girls watched as mothers were trying to calm their little ones. Men paced the room while discussing what to do. They did not know whether or not to run again. Everyone knew that they could die at any moment; Rochela couldn’t imagine her life ending that evening. She thought to herself that just outside the door, there was such beauty in nature nearby. It began as such a lovely, calm evening; to even think that people could be so cruel toward others and to show such hatred was unimaginable.VI
When the sun rose the next morning and all was quiet, it was clear that the impending threat had passed. The girls gave a heavy sigh of relief, and everyone was thankful for their good fortune. God finally heard their prayers—it was truly a miracle.
The stress that Channa’s family endured after returning to Stavishche surely contributed to Rebecca going into labor a few weeks earlier than expected. During both of her previous pregnancies, she had delivered large babies after long and difficult labors, and this time was no different. Rebecca’s anxious husband and two young daughters listened from another room in their home as she screamed out in pain.
Naturally, Channa’s father was hoping for his first son, who would become a bar mitzvah and would one day be able to recite Kaddish for his parents. Sunny, Isaac’s favorite, was cuddled in his lap when the midwife finally appeared cradling a tiny newborn covered in a white blanket.
“Isaac, you have another beautiful daughter,” she told him.
For a moment, Channa thought that she detected a look of disappointment on her papa’s face; now he had three daughters and no sons. However, as he held the delicate infant in his arms for the first time and saw his daughter’s tiny head and large eyes peeping out of the blanket, it was apparent to all that he fell instantly in love.
“What will we name her?” Channa asked her father.
“Your mama has already named her Fay,” the midwife told them.
Another pregnant woman on the block gave birth on the same day to a healthy son. A joint celebration was planned for the birth of Stavishche’s two newest and tiniest residents, and the Jewish women in town busied themselves baking and cooking for the event.
It resembled a scene that one might find in a Sholem Aleichem story: when a couple got married, the entire village showed up for the wedding. When someone laughed, the whole town laughed. When a baby was born, the whole community—men, women, and children—celebrated. Despite recent tragedies, everyone from the shtetl, between 4,000 and 4,500 Jews, was invited to join the celebration and eat cake and homemade strudel.
On July 31, 1919, seven-year-old Channa joined the other children as they went from door to door collecting cakes for the celebrations.VII As the group of Jewish children passed the town’s church, they all crossed themselves and then pointed their fingers at their derrieres. It was a defiant gesture made by young children who, at that time, felt persecuted by the Church.VIII
The children were simply reacting to the fear of the times, not knowing who to trust or what horrible circumstance they might witness next. Their reaction was understandable in light of the fact that the bandits that led the pogroms were Christian peasants. Jewish children grew up fearing the Church.IX Published testimony suggests that even some of the priests were among the bandits in Stavishche.X
Despite the tension and hostility between many of the Christians and Jews at that time, life continued as normal—and the Jewish children of Stavishche were caught up in the excitement of the festivities. But it seemed that their excitement was short-lived. No sooner had the festivities begun when a messenger arrived, screaming, “Run—be careful, they’re attacking!” Gunshots were audible from a distance. Many of those who had gathered for the brit milah fled to their cellars or any other safe hiding place. Isaac grabbed Channa and Sunny in each hand, and their mother cradled her newborn baby, as the family headed for the woods to hide. Earlier in the day, just hours before the celebration, it had rained, and the woods were swampy and full of water; they soon found themselves all covered in mud. They slept in the marshes that night.
Inside Stavishche, another murderous band of several thousand bandits, headed by Ataman Zeleny, began breaking into homes and looting Jewish shops. The son of a poor peasant, Danylo Trepylo had been given the nickname Zeleny, Russian for “green,” by his band of followers after hiding in green valleys near his village by the Dnieper River. Green soon became the color symbolic of the peasant uprisings. Zeleny was a central figure in the attacks against Kiev and a fierce enemy of the Reds, a band that he once supported. The hetman was “the prototypical representative of the rebel movement from the Ukrainian villages of this period.”XI
After the Bolsheviks tried to capture Zeleny in 1919, he clashed with Stavishche. Several thousand of his followers stormed the town, many armed with axes. The Jews hid in their cellars, attics, and in secret rooms in their houses.
In the woods, Channa’s family could hear the stomping of Zeleny’s men’s horses as they rode by. If the Jews didn’t make it back in time to their houses, they hid in the woods or in a garden. Some sought shelter in the homes of friendly Christians who saved them.
Tired, wet, and hungry, Isaac led his family on foot to the home of a poritz, a Polish Catholic noble who was his friend and a customer at the shoe factory. The nobleman lived in a fine home located near the ruins of what once was Count Branicki’s magical estate, destroyed by the revolting peasants nearly two years earlier. As a poritz, he had suffered the loss of his wealth and valuables but was able to continue living on the count’s vast property, far from the Jewish quarter of town. Since he wasn’t a Jew, the nobleman’s home was safe. It was during the early hours of the morning when the poritz covered the exhausted family with warm blankets while his wife, the preetza, showed kindness by serving them a hot breakfast.
When it was safe for the family to return home, the noble took them by horse and wagon back to their living quarters in the center of town. His peasant wagon driver had abandoned him during the early days of the Revolution, so the noble positioned himself on the hay-cushioned driver’s box seat and grabbed the leather reins and whip. Isaac sat up front beside the nobleman and placed Channa on his lap. She sat in awe, mesmerized by the constant tick of the horse’s pointy ears and the bobbing up and down of its flowing, stringy mane.
The child was awakened from her pleasant but momentary trance by a startled cry coming from her mother, who was sitting behind her. Channa looked down and was terrified to see two corpses lying in pools of blood on the cobblestone street before her. Rebecca turned protectively to Sunny, but she was not sitting near enough to her oldest daughter to cover her eyes, and Isaac did not react fast enough to do so. The men from one of the victim’s family had already gathered and were hammering a pine box to be used for his burial. A wagon stood waiting to take his body to one of the two Jewish cemeteries in town; those close to him waited to follow on foot behind the casket of their loved one.
News of Zeleny’s attack quickly spread around town. The people of Stavishche soon learned what Rebecca and Isaac had witnessed while hiding in the woods the night before: the bravery of their rabbi, Pitsie Avram.
1. I. Belaya Tserkov had the nearest train station on the road to Kiev, and whenever the tsar’s mother, Marie Feodorovna, visited the city, everyone in town would stop what they were doing to watch her grand entrance. From the moment that the attractive widowed empress stepped off the train, red carpets were spread and rolled out before her feet until she reached her accommodation for the night.
2. II. Gittel died of an infection following an appendicitis attack. She was the daughter of Baila and Leib Dimenstein of Belaya Tserkov.
3. III. Itzie was also known as Izzy, Isidore or Isadore.
4. IV. Itzie’s address in Belaya Tserkov is thought to be 32 Gravana Ulitsa.
5. V. Source: Charles Cutler, in an interview with the author.
6. VI. Source: From an oral story by Channa, and also a composition written by Rochela Feinzilberg.
7. VII. One of the celebrations included a brit milah (circumcision), since the other child born that day was a boy.
8. VIII. Upon reflection, years later, Channa felt that the children should not have made disrespectful gestures when passing the Church. Not all Christians in Stavishche persecuted Jews. Many of the Christian peasants were good people, who had helped her family, even when it was unsafe for them to do so.
9. IX. Dr. Abraham Gannes, the late Jewish educator and author, summed up the possible reasons why some Jews in Ukraine may have at that time feared the Church: “In Jewish history, generally, the Church was the millennial symbol of Christianity’s anti-Semitic teachings, calling Jews Christ killers, attempting to convert them, overtly and covertly inciting their adherents to terror and pogroms, and holding them responsible for the economic and social chaos, anarchy and communism. Fear of the Church was a constant in Jewish life.”
10. X. There were also many kind priests in Ukraine, like the one in nearby Winograd, who risked his life while sheltering Jews in his cellar during a pogrom. He even fought for and helped win the release of a sixteen-year-old Jewish boy from that city being held by a group of bandits. Then there was the Peshinke priest, Leyavitsh, who allowed a Jewish boy from Stavishche to hide from Zhelezniak’s gang in his home.
11. XI. Source: Elias Tcherikower. Di Ukrainer Pogromen in Yor 1919. Translated by Janie Respitz. New York: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 1965.