Haim SVIRINOVSKI and his family
Dvinsk
Haim Svirinovski was born
on November
15, 1900 in Dvinsk to Zelik, aged 24 in 1896 and a son of a bookkeeper at the synagogue and Rachel, a
granddaughter of an owner of a tannery..., which employed 16 people,
aged 23 in 1896 and born to Zusman Shliomovich Grein, aged 64 in 1896
and Hanna- Feiga Getzelovna, aged 62 in 1896. The
1897 census for the Grein and Svirinovski family
Haim Svirinovski's father, Zelik died in Daugavpils in 1934 and his wife, Rachel was killed in the holocaust in Dvinsk in 1941.
As a child and teenager Haim Svirinovsky was taught Latin, French and German. He was also taught to always hold his back straight and his head up, to eat with his mouth shut, never to raise his voice and make gestures while talking, and, most of all, to be kind to people and to keep his dignity no matter what. That is how he lived his life -- always straight and well groomed among sloppy and untidy, screaming neighbours in the communal flat.
Haim had had plans to do his studies in one of the Swiss universities. He was drafted instead, in 1918, to the Red Army -- from the first year of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Harkov in Ukraine, where the family had been evacuated during the First World War. In lieu of Switzerland, he found himself in the barrack for the soldiers dying of typhus, but miraculously survived.
Haim Svirinovski as a teenager
During the purges, Haim -- called Efim Zaharovich after he moved to
Moscow -- lost his job with no right to be hired again and stayed
unemployed for a year for his loyalty to his arrested supervisor whom
he did not denounce in the course of numerous interrogations. He lost
his mother and his entire family in Latvia during the Soviet and the
Nazi occupations. Both his 18-year-old son and his 19-year-old brother
perished in the war as soldiers.
He was so trusted and respected that in the fall 1941 -- in spite of the fact that he had never been a party member or had not belonged to the higher management -- he was designated to stay day and night in his textile factory, on the martial law , supervising it and being prepared to make it explode in case if Moscow was invaded by the enemy. With all the looting and robbery going on in the city at that time, he would get to the bank escorted by a group of sub-machine-gunners and bring the money back. His hands and feet swollen of hunger, he would meticulously distribute the salary to the workers.
Efim Zaharovich (Haim) Svirinivski. 1941
He kept dignity and compassion until his last breath . At the age of 72, while in good health, he was invited to attend his friend's funeral. He returned home and died of a heart attack the same night on May 29, 1973.
Haim's mother, Rachelle Svirinovskaya, born Grayne( Grein), had taught him courage and resilience. Three of her six children died at a young age while the other three were living in Moscow and Leningrad, behind the iron curtain. Used to a comfortable life style as an owner of a tannery she had to sell it after her husband's, Zelik Svirinovsky's, sudden, early death. She then worked hard in a store belonging to her relatives -- her back always straight, never complaining, using any opportunity to support her adult children and their families. No doubt, she met her death in the Daugavpils camp in 1941 showing the same dignity she had lived with all her life.
Haim's elder sister, Ida Svirinovskaya, during the siege of Leningrad
in 1941-1942, believed that running to the shelter in the beginning of
the bombing was below her dignity. Instead, at the sound of the siren,
she would put on her best silk nightgown, sprinkle herself with French
perfume and lay in bed with a French novel.
Ida Svirinovski survived the war and continued to live in her beloved Leningrad. She was passionate about music and poetry. She had some romances, but never married and had no child. At the age of 82, she broke her hip. She was hospitalized, first in Leningrad then -- in a much better ambiance of a semi-private ward -- in Moscow'.. Yet she could not handle a deeply humiliating position of a patient in a Soviet hospital. Slowly, she starved herself to death.
Liuba's husband returned home safe. They lived happily ever after in Leningrad for more than thirty years. Contrary to a saying that nobody dies after somebody else, Liuba -- who was deeply attached to her husband -- died of sadness very soon after him.
Liuba Svirinovski
Info and photos submitted by Alla Nikonova, Haim Svirinovski's Granddaughter.
July/ August 2012.
Made by Christine Usdin.
Haim Svirinovski's father, Zelik died in Daugavpils in 1934 and his wife, Rachel was killed in the holocaust in Dvinsk in 1941.
As a child and teenager Haim Svirinovsky was taught Latin, French and German. He was also taught to always hold his back straight and his head up, to eat with his mouth shut, never to raise his voice and make gestures while talking, and, most of all, to be kind to people and to keep his dignity no matter what. That is how he lived his life -- always straight and well groomed among sloppy and untidy, screaming neighbours in the communal flat.
Haim had had plans to do his studies in one of the Swiss universities. He was drafted instead, in 1918, to the Red Army -- from the first year of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Harkov in Ukraine, where the family had been evacuated during the First World War. In lieu of Switzerland, he found himself in the barrack for the soldiers dying of typhus, but miraculously survived.
Haim Svirinovski as a teenager
He was so trusted and respected that in the fall 1941 -- in spite of the fact that he had never been a party member or had not belonged to the higher management -- he was designated to stay day and night in his textile factory, on the martial law , supervising it and being prepared to make it explode in case if Moscow was invaded by the enemy. With all the looting and robbery going on in the city at that time, he would get to the bank escorted by a group of sub-machine-gunners and bring the money back. His hands and feet swollen of hunger, he would meticulously distribute the salary to the workers.
Efim Zaharovich (Haim) Svirinivski. 1941
He kept dignity and compassion until his last breath . At the age of 72, while in good health, he was invited to attend his friend's funeral. He returned home and died of a heart attack the same night on May 29, 1973.
Haim's mother, Rachelle Svirinovskaya, born Grayne( Grein), had taught him courage and resilience. Three of her six children died at a young age while the other three were living in Moscow and Leningrad, behind the iron curtain. Used to a comfortable life style as an owner of a tannery she had to sell it after her husband's, Zelik Svirinovsky's, sudden, early death. She then worked hard in a store belonging to her relatives -- her back always straight, never complaining, using any opportunity to support her adult children and their families. No doubt, she met her death in the Daugavpils camp in 1941 showing the same dignity she had lived with all her life.
Rachelle
Svirinovski, born to Zusman Grein in circa 1874
Zelik Svirinovski, born to
Jankel in circa 1873
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| Dvinsk | Raduraksti. Page 500 | Rizhskaya st. House 39. Apt 1 | Bricks | Metal | GREIN | ГРЕЙН | Zusman |
Shliomo |
M |
Head of the household | 64 | Dvinsk uyezd | Dvinsk | Jew |
Yiddish | Yes, in Yiddish | Home | Trader of ready made clothes and owner of a tannery* |
The
tannery was founded in 1886. Working places: 16. Source
|
|
| GREIN, born SONDAK | ГРЕЙН/ СОНДАК | Khana-
Feiga |
Getzel |
F |
Wife | 62 | Dvinsk | Dvinsk | Jew |
Yiddish | Yes, in Yiddish | Home | Supported by husband | - |
||||||
| SVIRINOVSKI | СВИРИНОВСКИЙ | Zelik* |
Jankel |
M |
Susman's son in law | 24 | Dubki, Minsk gub | Dubki, Minsk gub | Jew |
Yiddish | Yes | Home | Bookkeeper at a synagogue |
Haim SVIRINOVSKI was born on November 15, 1900 in Dvinsk to Zelik, aged 24 in 1896. A girl, Nekhama was born to Zelik SVIRINOVSKI on 19/08/ 1898. | ||||||
| SVIRINOVSKI, born GREIN | СВИРИНОВСКИЙ/ ГРЕЙН | Rachel |
Zusman |
F |
Zelik's wife | 23 | Dvinsk | Minsk | Jew |
Yiddish | Yes | Home | Supported by husband |
- |
||||||
| SONDAK | СОНДАК | Liba |
Getzel |
F |
Susman's mother-in-law. Khana- Feiga's mother | 75 | Vidzi, Novo-Alexandrovsk uyezd, Kovno gub | Dvinsk | Jew |
Yiddish | No | - | Supported by son-in-law | - |
||||||
| SHMUTSHKIN | СМУЧКИН | Mina |
Mordukh |
F |
Maid | 20 | Kovno gub | Kovno gub | Jew |
Yiddish | No | - | Cook |
- |
||||||
| A | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dvinsk | Raduraksti. Page 502 | Rizhskaya st. House 39. Apt 2 | Bricks | Metal | GREIN | ГРЕЙН | Shliomo |
Zusman |
M |
Head of the household | 27 | Dvinsk | Dvinsk | Jew |
Yiddish | Yes, in Yiddish | Home | Makes business at father's |
- |
|
| GREIN | ГРЕЙН | Sora |
Khonen |
F |
Wife | 24 | Rezhitsa( Rezekne, Latvia |
Dvinsk | Jew |
Yiddish | Yes, in Yiddish | Home | Supported by husband | - |
||||||
| GREIN | ГРЕЙН | Hoda |
Shliomo |
F |
Daughter | 3 | Dvinsk | Dvinsk | Jew |
Yiddish | - | - | Supported by Grandmother, Khana- Feiga GREIN |
- |
||||||
| BESSER | БЕСЕР | Rokha- Abram |
Itzik |
F |
Maid | 18 | Kreutzburg, Dvinsk uyezd | Kreutzburg, Dvinsk uyezd | Jew |
Yiddish | Yes, in Yiddish | Home | Cook |
- |
||||||
| A | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dvinsk | Raduraksti. Page 504 | Rizhskaya st. House 39. Apt 3 | Bricks | Metal | GREIN | ГРЕЙН | Movsha |
Zusman | M |
Head of the household | 36 | Dvinsk | Dvinsk | Jew |
Yiddish | Yes | Home | Makes business at father's | - |
|
| GREIN, born SALOMONOVICH | ГРЕЙН/ CАЛОМОНОВИЧ | Feiga |
Leib |
F |
Wife | 34 | Minsk |
Dvinsk | Jew |
Yiddish | Yes | Private school | Supported by husband | - |
||||||
| GREIN | ГРЕЙН | Aron- Vulf |
Movsha |
M |
Son | 10 | Dvinsk | Dvinsk | Jew |
Yiddish | Yes | Jewish school | Supported by parents |
- |
||||||
| GREIN | ГРЕЙН | Daniel |
Movsha | M |
Son | 6 | Dvinsk | Dvinsk | Jew |
Yiddish | - | - | Supported by parents | - |
||||||
| GREIN | ГРЕЙН | Ita |
Movsha | F |
Daughter | 12 | Dvinsk | Dvinsk | Jew |
Yiddish | Yes | High School | Supported by parents | - |
||||||
| GREIN | ГРЕЙН | Esther |
Movsha | F |
Daughter | 11 | Dvinsk | Dvinsk | Jew |
Yiddish | Yes | Home | Supported by parents | - |
||||||
| GREIN | ГРЕЙН | Benjamin |
Movsha | M |
Son | 3 | Dvinsk | Dvinsk | Jew |
Yiddish | - | - | Supported by parents | - |
||||||
| LEVIN | ЛЕВИН | Khaya |
Movsha | F |
Maid | 18 | Vitebsk gub |
Vitebsk gub | Jew |
Yiddish | No | - | Cook |
- |
||||||
| A | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Dvinsk | Raduraksti. Page 506 | Rizhskaya st. House 39. Apt 4 | Bricks |
Metal |
MINSKI, born GREIN | МИНСКИЙ/ ГРЕЙН | The widow Sarah* |
Zusman |
F |
Head of the household | 30 | Dvinsk | Svenziani, Vilna gub. | Jew |
Yiddish | Yes | Home | Manager of the Grein's tannery |
Sarah
MINSKI, born GREIN remarried to Movsha, the son of Vulf REZNIK |
|
| MINSKI | МИНСКИЙ | Khatzkiel |
Aron, son of Mordukh |
M |
Son | 7 | Dvinsk | Svenziani, Vilna gub. | Jew |
Yiddish | Yes | Home | Supported by mother |
- |
||||||
| MINSKI | МИНСКИЙ | Ita |
Aron, son of Mordukh | F |
Daughter | 6 | Dvinsk | Svenziani, Vilna gub. | Jew |
Yiddish | - | - | Supported by mother |
- |
||||||
| TZIVIAN | ЦЫВЬЯН | Lea |
Khaim |
F |
Maid | 20 | Dvinsk uyezd | Kreutzburg |
Jew |
Yiddish | No | - | Cook |
- |
||||||
Ida Svirinovski survived the war and continued to live in her beloved Leningrad. She was passionate about music and poetry. She had some romances, but never married and had no child. At the age of 82, she broke her hip. She was hospitalized, first in Leningrad then -- in a much better ambiance of a semi-private ward -- in Moscow'.. Yet she could not handle a deeply humiliating position of a patient in a Soviet hospital. Slowly, she starved herself to death.
Ida Svirinovski
Haim's younger sister, Liuba Grayne( Grein), born Svirinovskaya, in the
fall
1941, urged her husband to join people's volunteer corps defending
Leningrad. She believed that -- in a war like that -- every Jewish man,
no matter how old, should have taken up arms against the enemy.Liuba's husband returned home safe. They lived happily ever after in Leningrad for more than thirty years. Contrary to a saying that nobody dies after somebody else, Liuba -- who was deeply attached to her husband -- died of sadness very soon after him.
Liuba Svirinovski
Haim's eldest sister, Nehama (Nada) Svirinovski was born in Dvinsk on August 19, 1898 to Zelik Jankelevich and Rasia( Rachelle) Zusmanovna, née Grein.
Nehama Svirinovski
Nehama Svirinovski birth record
Nehama, who was a
tender, romantic dreamer, did not survive. the evacuation. She died in Kharkov at the age of nineteen.
Nehama Svirinovski
Nehama Svirinovski birth record
Pass to the Kharkov Institute of Commerce in the fall semester 1917( click to enlarge)
Haim's youngest brother, Natan Svirinovski,
who had been named after Nehama (Nada), shared her tragic destiny and
died at the same age. He was killed on the battlefield in 1942. His
head was torn off by a shell, and officially he was marked as 'missing
in the combat'. His fiancee Mara -- an avowed Daugavpils beauty -- was
murdered in the camp along with his mother, Rachelle.
Natan Svirinovski
Nathan Svirinovski went missing on July 31, 1942( click to enlarge)
Haim's eldest son, Semen Svirinovski, was named after his maternal grandfather, Simon Monosov, who had been killed at the age of 37.Nathan Svirinovski went missing on July 31, 1942( click to enlarge)
Haim's younger brother, Yakov Svirinovski,
was killed at the age of fourteen by a ball that had hit him in his
head, when he was playing football with the boys near their country house
(dacha) in Stropi, on the shore of Dvina. He died instantly. His
friends brought his body to his
mother, Rachelle, who was waiting for him for lunch.
Yakob Svirinovski
mother, Rachelle, who was waiting for him for lunch.
Yakob Svirinovski
Semen Svirinovski
Honourable certificate
issued to the student of the 4th class at the school 182 of the Kommintern district, Svirinovski Semen
for great success and good behavior.
Done on July 7, 1938 in Moscow. ( click to enlarge)
issued to the student of the 4th class at the school 182 of the Kommintern district, Svirinovski Semen
for great success and good behavior.
Done on July 7, 1938 in Moscow. ( click to enlarge)
Semen died much younger than his grand-father. A very kind, sensitive,
courageous boy with a rich imagination, he was drafted at the age of
eighteen, in 1944, volunteered to join the famous Hanin reconnaissance
company and was killed a few months later during a reconnaissance
mission near the village Dubossary in Moldavia.
Semen Efimovich Svirinovski's death certificate done on August 15, 1944( click to enlarge)
Semen Efimovich Svirinovski's death certificate done on August 15, 1944( click to enlarge)
Simon Monosov,
Semen Svirinovski's maternal grandfather, was a member of Red Militia
during the Civil War, who had
been ambushed and killed by a group of White Guardians, in a forest, in
Byelorussia, on his way from his village to the town, where he was
going to buy a birthday gift for his five-year-old youngest daughter.
Simon Monosov
Simon Monosov
Info and photos submitted by Alla Nikonova, Haim Svirinovski's Granddaughter.
July/ August 2012.
Made by Christine Usdin.