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Overview
The Two Regimes Memoir specifically includes deportation to German forced labor camps. Through it all, Teodora was a woman who strived to feed and protect her children under very severe conditions, and she did so with sheer survival mode determination, integrity, prayer, and perseverance.
These are Teodora’s thoughts concerning her children and what they lived through. Teodora and her daughters, Nadia, and Lucy were survivors and witnesses to the Holodomor and the Holocaust. Teodora wrote her memoir to document that these events took place, and, most importantly, to validate that the people she knew and lost would never be forgotten.
Teodora’s daughter, Nadia Werbitzky, was haunted her entire life by what she had experienced. As a professional artist, Nadia used a paintbrush to express her thoughts. Nadia understood the importance of her mother’s manuscript, memories shared by both mother and daughter. Nadia painted feverishly in the last years of her life so that her story would not perish with her.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781462007622 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | iUniverse, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 04/16/2012 |
| Pages: | 170 |
| Sales rank: | 758,612 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.39(d) |
About the Author
Very little is known about Teodora Verbitskya. According to her daughter, Nadia, Teodora recorded her years of labor and concentration camp interment for many reasons:
1.) To hopefully set right the facts surrounding the death and destruction of people and property.
2.) For her children and others to know what had happened to them (her family).
3.) For her children to survive and (should she pass), to understand what she was thinking at the time, and to comprehend why it was she made certain choices, for herself and for others during an impossible war.
4.) To preserve the memory and dignity of those who lost their lives.
5.) For her own sanity.
6.) To chronological horrific situations and experiences in order during the course of events also helped her to mark the passing of time in days, months and years.
7.) So she could remember, should she survive, what she survived!
Nadia was a professional artist who’s painting, “Eternal Motherhood” won first prize at Frankfurt’s International Art Show in 1973.
Very little is known about Teodora Verbitskya. According to her daughter, Nadia, Teodora recorded her years of labor and concentration camp interment for many reasons:
1.) To hopefully set right the facts surrounding the death and destruction of people and property.
2.) For her children and others to know what had happened to them (her family).
3.) For her children to survive and (should she pass), to understand what she was thinking at the time, and to comprehend why it was she made certain choices, for herself and for others during an impossible war.
4.) To preserve the memory and dignity of those who lost their lives.
5.) For her own sanity.
6.) To chronological horrific situations and experiences in order during the course of events also helped her to mark the passing of time in days, months and years.
7.) So she could remember, should she survive, what she survived!
Nadia was a professional artist who’s painting, “Eternal Motherhood” won first prize at Frankfurt’s International Art Show in 1973.
Very little is known about Teodora Verbitskya. According to her daughter, Nadia, Teodora recorded her years of labor and concentration camp interment for many reasons:
1.) To hopefully set right the facts surrounding the death and destruction of people and property.
2.) For her children and others to know what had happened to them (her family).
3.) For her children to survive and (should she pass), to understand what she was thinking at the time, and to comprehend why it was she made certain choices, for herself and for others during an impossible war.
4.) To preserve the memory and dignity of those who lost their lives.
5.) For her own sanity.
6.) To chronological horrific situations and experiences in order during the course of events also helped her to mark the passing of time in days, months and years.
7.) So she could remember, should she survive, what she survived!
Nadia was a professional artist who’s painting, “Eternal Motherhood” won first prize at Frankfurt’s International Art Show in 1973.
Very little is known about Teodora Verbitskya. According to her daughter, Nadia, Teodora recorded her years of labor and concentration camp interment for many reasons:
1.) To hopefully set right the facts surrounding the death and destruction of people and property.
2.) For her children and others to know what had happened to them (her family).
3.) For her children to survive and (should she pass), to understand what she was thinking at the time, and to comprehend why it was she made certain choices, for herself and for others during an impossible war.
4.) To preserve the memory and dignity of those who lost their lives.
5.) For her own sanity.
6.) To chronological horrific situations and experiences in order during the course of events also helped her to mark the passing of time in days, months and years.
7.) So she could remember, should she survive, what she survived!
Nadia was a professional artist who’s painting, “Eternal Motherhood” won first prize at Frankfurt’s International Art Show in 1973.
Very little is known about Teodora Verbitskya. According to her daughter, Nadia, Teodora recorded her years of labor and concentration camp interment for many reasons:
1.) To hopefully set right the facts surrounding the death and destruction of people and property.
2.) For her children and others to know what had happened to them (her family).
3.) For her children to survive and (should she pass), to understand what she was thinking at the time, and to comprehend why it was she made certain choices, for herself and for others during an impossible war.
4.) To preserve the memory and dignity of those who lost their lives.
5.) For her own sanity.
6.) To chronological horrific situations and experiences in order during the course of events also helped her to mark the passing of time in days, months and years.
7.) So she could remember, should she survive, what she survived!
Nadia was a professional artist who’s painting, “Eternal Motherhood” won first prize at Frankfurt’s International Art Show in 1973.
Read an Excerpt
TWO REGIMES
A Mother's Memoir of Wartime SurvivalBy Teodora Verbitskya
iUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2011 Mimi Shaw and Kelly BowenAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-0762-2
Chapter One
In the Kuban region of the USSR on the shore of the Azov Sea, forty kilometers from the city of Yeisk, there is a small fishing village located around a group of grain elevators. It is called Pereprava (ferry), and it received its name in earlier years when the Kuban region was rich with grain. The elevators were used to store the grain before it was transported abroad. The bay was protected from the fast sea current by a long reef, and although it was not very wide, it was deep enough to allow even the ships from the Mediterranean Sea.We moved there in the beginning of March 1927. Snowstorms were still raging over the ice-covered sea. The steppe, stretched as flat and smooth as a tablecloth, and vast like the sea itself, was covered with snowdrifts from which the dry leaves of last year's growth protruded.
We found ourselves in this area by circumstance, and had never imagined that fate would lead us there—this place of "fearless birds." These were the first years of Stalin's repressive policies; a time when people felt guilty without cause and tried to run as far as possible, hiding from the ever-growing danger.
One of these people was my husband, Dimitri Fyodorovich Verbitskya. While living in Mankovka, he was the director of the Mankova-Kalitvensk Technical School located not far from the railway station. Someone had informed the authorities during a card game (where tongues tend to wag) that he allegedly said, "The Kremlin has become inhabited by little long-noses." This was symbolic of certain little insects that live in the Kuban region, and exist by eating the kernel of wheat grain.
In addition, he was accused of allowing the children of clergy and of the "kulaks" to enroll into his school without permission from the authorities. Finally, he had to forfeit his rights, and leave this area where we were all living, along with resigning as director of the school. Moreover, he was put under house arrest until further notice. GPU had not, as yet, come into existence but there was a kind of transitional force, an outgrowth of the former CheKa. They were stationed in the more popular areas and were involved in flushing out the remaining bourgeoisie class and remnants of the anti-communist White Army. This militia did not operate in such backwoods areas like Mankovka. Since there were no guards assigned to watch my husband, he took advantage of the situation by jumping out of the window and escaping. Before anyone noticed, he went to the Chertkov station and left by train to the above-mentioned Pereprava in the Kuban.
When word spread that my husband had fled, the village council paid me a visit. Pretending to be upset and feigning tears, I told them that he had left me. The council was made up of simple people not yet corrupted by the Soviet regime. They believed me and even took me and my children (one of whom was only two months old) to the station and bought us tickets to Mariupol where my widowed father was living. (Though many people tried to save themselves by fleeing, most were eventually caught when the government introduced compulsory employment lists and hiring applications.)
As my husband and I had earlier agreed, I was to go to my father's and wait there for further instructions. After some time I received a letter from him stating that he had found work as an inspector at the grain elevator in Pereprava and that we should join him. He urged me to be very careful. With my children, I boarded a boat to Yeisk. There I managed to get a ride from the dock to the village. My husband had found an abandoned cottage and fixed it up for our arrival. We decided to wait there until everything calmed down. Perhaps with time they would forget about us. So far we had been lucky!
My husband soon began receiving wages and rations. I began teaching reading and writing to the village children. Pereprava did not have schools and even half of the adults were illiterate. Since I did this for free the students would sometimes bring me fresh fish or a pitcher of milk as payment so we were not completely destitute. At night while sitting by the stove and listening to the howl of the wind, we felt content and warm, hoping that no one would find out about us.
Chapter Two
The snowdrifts enveloped our cottage almost up to its eaves and in the mornings we couldn't get out without a shovel. But the cottage was warm, heated by chips of horse dung that we bought from the local people. The chips were easy to ignite and held heat for a long time.And so, the cold winter passed; the sun warmed the earth; and with the spring thaw the steppes came alive! The steppe grass turned green and began to grow quickly; the ice began to move on the sea and was then swiftly carried out by the strong current. Finally, the swans flew in and settled themselves on the marshes of the bay. This was a sanctuary for migrating birds and a resting place for those that were flying further north. The tired and hungry flocks of geese and ducks would settle on the water, noisily flapping their wings and quacking so loudly that we would be awoken from our sleep.
After the spring rains, the steppe became even more active; the smells of the wormwood and grasses, the blooming of poppies and daisies, the sounds of the grasshoppers, and up above, the bell-tone song of the lark. Before you realized it the steppe grass was up to your knees, and soon even a man on horseback could disappear in it! And look—what flowers! So many birds! All is alive and happy. How gorgeous were the steppes by the beginning of summer!
We bought a dozen turkeys and let them out to roam in the fields. Toward evening we would round them up and put them in the shed. I would walk out into the steppes where the grass swayed and hawks circled above. The flock knew enough to hide in the tall grass, but I had to proceed carefully avoiding the many poisonous snakes who loved to lounge in the hot sun. At home we always made sure the doors were shut tight or they would come inside. Before going to sleep we had to check all corners of the house very thoroughly.
Summers are hot and humid in the steppes. The air hung like motionless clear smoke with flying insects and the intoxicating smell of the grass making it hard to breathe. Although the sea was close by, we couldn't swim in it because of the fast current, so we would rent a motorboat and take it out to the tip of the barrier reef. There we swam at a nice beach and caught fish and crabs from specially constructed wharves.
Chapter Three
Almost two years went by since our arrival in Pereprava. My husband began to grow restless and was thinking about leaving. Finally, he said, "How long can we sit in this hole? They probably forgot about me by now. It's time to go."We began preparing for the trip. We decided to go to my mother-in-law's in Yeisk. As a present, we brought along several of our turkeys. She didn't take too kindly to them at first because they damaged her yard and flower pots. Mainly, it was difficult to find feed for them in Yeisk since they went through half a bag of bran in one day. Keeping these birds in the city wasn't easy. They were accustomed to the expansiveness of the steppes and here they had to cluster around in a small yard. At night they would sleep in the fruit trees in the yard, while those that needed more room would fly over the fence, walk across the square, and perch themselves on the cornices of what was then still the Staropokrovsky Church.
I remember this church very well since I was married in it. Later, however, it was the scene of various disputes and conflicts between the CheKa agents and the clergy. In the early 1930s the priests were deported to the Solovki Islands and this church, along with all the others, closed.
When we first arrived in Yeisk the city was still alive and bustling.
The famine of 1921–22 and the starvation of the peoples living along the Volga River had not affected the Kuban region. There was still plenty of bread in this city, and although there was a city bakery, that is not where people bought their bread. Most of the bread was made by the housewives themselves. Its shape and taste resembled that of church bread (prosfora). This wonderful bread was baked from the finest flour, fragrant with a pinkish crust. At the market it was displayed in long rows. Crisp bagels covered with poppy seeds and bublichki hung from the stalls. The counters held rolls, sweet pretzels, and cheese cakes, as well as buckets filled with honey. There was a fish market where rows of women also sold milk products—especially a certain type of buttermilk in small clay pots that existed only in Yeisk, made from evaporated milk that was curdled with sour cream.
The city was beginning to experience unemployment, however, since my husband was unable to find work, we decided to move on to Mariupol. This came at a time when the New Economic Policy (NEP) was coming to an end. Although the State was struggling to organize collective farms, there were still many free merchants (chastniki) working at the Mariupol market. There one could see carts with live and killed fowl, as well as vegetables and milk; on the ground, piles of cantaloupe, watermelon, sacks of apples and pears, and wagons full of potatoes. There were grapes called "beriozka" sold by the crate, and flour of every imaginable kind. The meat market was piled high with the carcasses of slaughtered goats and cows. All this could even be delivered to your home, if only you could buy.
Here there were also the fish markets, like the ones that existed before the Revolution. There was sturgeon, rich with fat and pots of large and small caviar; barrels of salted fish and herring, sold by the pound or by the barrel; tables full of flounder and various sturgeon, as well as smaller fish like bullheads, these were free; take as much as you need. The result of this abundance was that the collective farm booths and their goods were passed by and ignored.
Chapter Four
Because of the high unemployment, no one had money. We found ourselves spending the last of our Rubles and looking toward an uncertain future. While searching long and hard for work, my husband registered at the unemployment office, as required. Almost immediately he was arrested and then reminded about statements that he made about those little "long-noses."By that time my father had already passed away and here I was with two little children, without resource or assistance, and with little hope of finding a job. I began looking in offices, factories, at construction sites. Everywhere I heard the same response, "there is no work." With the advent of unemployment registration, the authorities introduced the so-called "record-of-service." The huge employment hall could not accommodate all of the unemployed and the lines moved very slowly. To get to the registrar's window, one had to spend almost the entire day waiting in line.
"Do you have your record of service?"
"No. I haven't worked before."
"Where does your husband work? ... Oh, I see. Come back tomorrow."
"But I have hungry children. I'll take the hardest job."
"I said come back tomorrow. Next!"
The crowd had already pushed me away from the window. So it was, everyday.
I did, however, manage to find a room. My children and I were invited by another family to live with them until our situation improved. Even though they were very cramped living with their two children in one small room, these kind folks gave up their kitchen and never even asked me to pay them for it.
Once in a while I was able to work for a day, hauling bricks to a construction site or cleaning up stores. This was not sufficient work because even a full day's pay was barely enough to buy a little bread, and so we starved.
"Mommy, did you bring us some bread?"
"No, my children, I couldn't find work today."
"Well, all right, then bring us some tomorrow."
This was how my children often greeted me.
Life was becoming increasingly difficult. Food began gradually to disappear from the marketplace. Flour by the bag had become nonexistent. Fruit was sold by the pound and there were lines for meat and fish. Although everything was growing scarce, one could still purchase anything on the black market for a very high price.
The markets could no longer accommodate the throngs of people. There began to appear long rows of elderly women, sitting on the ground and selling all kinds of junk. One could find everything there from a simple button to old books in fine leather binding with gold borders. Silver trays, glass holders, crystal, and all kinds of expensive brick-a-brack were being sold for want of a piece of bread. Those who had money could stuff themselves with bread and cereal, but many were becoming undernourished.
There was, also, a critical demand for clothing. The seller, pushing and shoving through the rows, would carry them around the bazaar. Clothes had become increasingly valuable because the manufacturing of wearing apparel had virtually ceased with the establishment of the Soviet order. As far as I can recall, from the end of the First World War through the arrival of the Germans in 1942, I rarely saw anyone wearing new clothing. It was sold, then resold, and so on until there was nothing left but the patches. And even the patches had value. For example, the cloth from the binding of a book, after washing, would serve very well for patching up a pair of work pants. A patch could be worth as much as ten rubles, that is, when you could find one.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from TWO REGIMES by Teodora Verbitskya Copyright © 2011 by Mimi Shaw and Kelly Bowen. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Listing of Inserts in Order of Appearance....................ixForeword....................xiii
Acknowledgments....................xvii
Chapter One....................2
Chapter Two....................6
Chapter Three....................8
Chapter Four....................11
Chapter Five....................14
Chapter Six....................18
Chapter Seven....................22
Chapter Eight....................25
Chapter Nine....................29
Chapter Ten....................33
Chapter Eleven....................35
Chapter Twelve....................39
Chapter Thirteen....................44
Chapter Fourteen....................47
Chapter Fifteen....................49
Chapter Sixteen....................51
Chapter Seventeen....................53
Chapter Eighteen....................54
Chapter Nineteen....................56
Chapter Twenty....................58
Chapter One....................62
Chapter Two....................65
Chapter Three....................66
Chapter Four....................69
Chapter Five....................70
Chapter Six....................72
Chapter Seven....................77
Chapter Eight....................78
Chapter Nine....................81
Chapter Ten....................83
Chapter Eleven....................84
Chapter Twelve....................88
Chapter Thirteen....................92
Chapter Fourteen....................94
Chapter Fifteen....................96
Chapter Sixteen....................99
Chapter Seventeen....................102
Chapter Eighteen....................104
Chapter Nineteen....................106
Chapter Twenty....................108
Chapter Twenty-One....................112
Chapter Twenty-Two....................113
Chapter Twenty-Three....................118
Chapter Twenty-Four....................122
About the Author Teodora Verbitskya....................130
About the Artist Nadia Werbitzky (1922-2005)....................131
Names in the Book Listed in Chapter Order....................133
Glossary....................137
Webography....................145
Additional Books Of Interest....................148