ZYAMA ROSENBERG
CONGRATULATIONS ON THE GLORIOUS MILESTONE YOUR REACHED THIS MONTH, YOUR 100TH BIRTHDAY! WE WISH YOU MAZEL TOV, GOOD HEALTH AND NACHES FROM YOUR FAMILY.
PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR LIFE. WHERE DOES YOUR FAMILY COME FROM?
I was born exactly 100 years ago in a Jewish place in Ukraine in a religious family. We had seven children: three brothers and four sisters. My father was the Gabai of the local synagogue. Jewish traditions were observed in the family, including Shabbat, holidays, and kosher food. Our childhood was difficult, especially during the hungry thirties in Ukraine.
After completing seven grades at the local cheder, at the age of 14, fleeing the pervasive hunger, I moved to the city of Korosten where my older sister lived and went to work at a shoe factory.
In December 1939, during the Finnish War, I was conscripted into the Red Army and assigned to an anti-aircraft artillery regiment, located in Azerbaijan, 50km from Baku, where I was stationed when World War II broke out. In order to be protected from the attacks of the German aviation, we dug trenches for shelter and for our guns. Since Baku was a large oil capital, the Germans made desperate attempts to break through to Baku from the air to bomb Azerbaijan’s oil fields in order to paralyze the oil production. Our task was not to allow German pilots to reach the oil facilities. In 1942, German air raids increased significantly. But we firmly held the defense, and only rare bomber managed to break through our defense. I was noted for excellent service, eventually reaching the rank of platoon commander.
I must say that I was the only Jew among all the personnel, and, as you understand, it was not at all easy. Nevertheless, I was awarded the medals "For Military Merit", "For the Defense of the Caucasus", "For Victory over Germany", and subsequently several commemorative medals for various memorable military dates.
Victory Day is forever etched in my memory. When the end of the war was announced, everyone jumped out of the trenches and began kissing and hugging, dancing and shooting into the air. After the end of the war, my family, returning from evacuation, was in extreme distress. When I returned from military service, my relatives advised me to go to Riga, where life was easier. From 1946 to 1953 I served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs there as a policeman.
In 1953, before the death of Stalin, I learned that cars were being prepared for the deportation of Jews from Latvia. Rather than wait to be dismissed, I decided to resign my position myself.
Later I got married, my daughters were born. To support my family, I worked at different businesses in Riga.
I tried as much as possible to convey to my children the Jewish traditions laid down by my parents in my childhood. In Riga there was a significant Jewish community, especially before the war. After the war, only the large synagogue operated in the old city, where my children and I went on holidays. In this synagogue, before Passover, they baked matzah, and we, together with other Jews of the city, bought it for the holiday. My daughters were very fond of Simchat Torah, for which all Riga Jewish youth usually gathered to celebrate.
During school holidays, my wife and I sent our daughters to our homeland — to Ukraine — to their grandmother, my wife's mother. There they had more opportunity to live a Jewish life, and they returned from there inspired and full of impressions of the Jewish way of life. In the town, the girls admired the fact that all the surviving Jews spoke Yiddish, and it was there that our daughters first heard and fell in love with Jewish songs. Through the years they passed this love to their children, my grandchildren, who know many Jewish songs, such as “Lomir ala Inneim”, “Aidishe Mom”, and “Aleichem, Sholom Aleikhem.”
Before coming to Canada, I worked as an equipment mechanic at a plastics plant in Riga, and this was my last job in that country.
WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR FREE TIME?
I devote all my free time to my grandchildren. In addition, I must say that throughout my life I tried to catch up in my education. I literally studied with my daughters, studying with them through school textbooks. I am generally a reading person and still am a regular reader of Exodus magazine. Every Saturday and holidays, if health permits, I attend the synagogue in the building where I live.
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?
In my years, I would like to be less ill, enjoy life, my children, my grandchildren, without causing them too much trouble.
