IThe first letter) Му Bearest, Some time ago when we tal something about ту familj and were from and how I survived understandable. It is only whe interest in one s roots - but ther something about the past leave with them. A whole world then dj which formed us. and which has. 2 In time even some of our memo: noticing we forget and when we re While Old Grandma*1 was aliv and I did not expect (as I should k . v:—уггјп■-.;c ■»•нЦ co-.■ ך didn t inlerest her m ־was quite late: it bojĆcflSter to wri abcut it. and she плЛег l^cned ho tell me some thiD/f• »dar Ajzinbe A L E K S A N D A R A J Z I N B E R G LETTEES TO MATVEJ TRANSLATED BY VANDA PEROVIĆ AND ALEKSANDAR AJZINBERG Cover page: A. Ajzinberg & S. Polovina Layout: Srdjan Polovina Print: Digital Art, Belgrade 2017 Names of all objects, vilages and towns in Serbia as well as all Serbian and Russian names and surnsmes written in this book are printed on Serbian alphabet. The Serbian alphabet is strictly phonetic. The pronunciation of each letter is always the same. The letters are pronunciated as follows: Printed letter Pronunciation a or A English a in father b or B English b v or V English v g or G English g in go d or D English d đ or Đ a sound like j in Jew but slightly softer e or E English e in pet ž or Ž English s in pleasure z or Z English z i or I English i in mashine j or J English j in jet k or K English k l or L English l lj or Lj English lli in million m or M English m n or N English n nj or Nj English ni in onion o or O English o in hot, sometimes as or in lord p or P English p r or R Scottish r in merry s or S English ss in glass t or T English t ć or Ć A sound between the English t in time and ch in chalk u or U English u in rule f or F English f h or H English h and Schottish ch in loch c or C English ts in lots č or Č English ch in chalk dž or Dž English j in John š or Š English sh in she THIS LETTER IS DEDICATED TO THEM WHO WERE BEFORE US AND WAS WRITTEN TO THOSE WHO WILL COME AFTER US. PREFACE In 1991, my son, Matvej, left suddenly for Israel because he didn't want to take part in the insanity of the civil war that was just breaking out in our country. He did not want to be drafted and forced to kill people simply because they lived in Croatia, Bosnia, or any other republic of what was then Yugoslavia. Soon after arriving in Israel, Matvej expressed a lot of interest in his family roots and asked me to write to him about it. Additionally, he wanted me to briefly explain how I survived the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Serbia. At the time, I thought that I could write him just a few pages about it. I was wrong. I ended up writing thirteen rather lengthy letters to him. My wife, Gorjana, and I photocopied all of them. We sent Matvej the originals by mail, but kept the copies in case any were lost en route to Israel. Many years later, while travelling to a conference, I shared the story of how I survived World War II with a friend. He said it would be very interesting to take everything I had just told him and write it down. A few days later, I showed up with copies of all the letters I had written to Matvej and lent them to him to read. At his suggestion, and after hesitation, I submitted those first thirteen letters to an anonymous literary competition held by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Yugoslavia. I called the manuscript simply: Thirteen Letters. Some time later, I was extremely surprised to find out that the text had won first prize in the competition. After a long break, on the advice of some friends who had read Thirteen Letters and driven by the need to describe for my son what had happened to me after the war had ended, I began writing more letters. I continued writing, as before, without any literary ambitions. During the time of the NATO bombings of Serbia in 1999, I finished the last of the letters. Aleksandar Ajzinberg Belgrade, Serbia (The first letter) Belgrade, 23.03.1992. My Dearest, Some time ago when we talked, you told me you would like to know something about my family and my past: who my parents were, where they were from and how I survived World War II... Your interest is quite understandable. It is only when one matures that one begins to show interest in one's roots - but then very often it is too late. Those who know something about the past leave us, not to return, taking their memories with them. A whole world then disappears, a world we sprang from, a world which formed us, and which has, at least partially, made us the way we are. In time even some of our memories pale and disappear. Almost without noticing we forget and when we realize it - it is too late. While Old Grandma1 was alive I was preoccupied with other things, and I did not expect (as I should have) that one day she who knew and remembered everything so well could suddenly disappear. My mother knew less and her memory was not always completely reliable. In fact, I think such things didn't interest her much. By the time I decided to enquire, it was quite late: it bored her to write, it was tiring for her to talk to me about it, and she never learned how to use a tape recorder. However, she did tell me some things and I wrote them down. I learned about my father's family mostly from aunt Asja, but (in Tbilisi in 1973) I neither asked her a lot, nor did she herself talk much about it. I don't think she knew a great deal. Moreover, as the youngest child in the family, she barely recalled her eldest brother (my father). After World War I he visited Tbilisi and, it seems, stayed only a few months - and she was quite young then. She knew about him more through the stories of her elder brothers and sisters, but they are not alive any more... As far as my parents are concerned, I shall begin with my father. His Jewish ancestors, it seems, lived in Ukraine or in the western parts of Russia. By the end of the 18th century, Russia decided to “solve the Jewish problem“ in its Orthodox territory. So, in 1827, emperor Nikolai I issued a decree by which a “certain” number of young Jews were to be permitted to do military service for a period of 25 years. By doing so, the emperor thought ...“ the Jews will be forced to accept Russian culture and the Russian way of life...” (Dubnov, A Short History of the Jewish People). When there were not enough young men, boys of 12 and even younger were taken, allocated to special battalions where they received the necessary training so that later, when they grew up, they would be ready or military service. My great grandfather, Isaac Ajzinberg completed 1 This was what you used to call my grandmother Rozalija. Zinovij Ajzenberg This picture has been made before 1920. I got it a few years ago. the required service, took part in the Crimean war (1854-1856) and even distinguished himself by his bravery. (I remember my father saying that his grandfather was a ”hero of the Crimean war”). He became an officer and, upon completing his military service, received land as a war veteran, somewhere on the slopes of the Caucasus, which was then considered by the Russians as the “back of beyond''2. At that time people were sent there as a punishment, as a form of exile (remember Pushkin and Lermontov). When my grandfather was of school age (around seven) my great grandfather sold the land and went to Tiflis (as the Russians called Tbilisi). My grandfather's name was Zinovij Isaakovič Ajzenberg. He learned a trade and became a watchmaker and jeweller. He had a small shop in the main street of Tiflis (Rustaveli Street), and it was said that he was a very respected man in the city. After the revolution, at the time when almost everything in the Soviet Union was nationalised, even the Communists did not bother him and he remained in possession of his shop until just before he died. Unfortunately, I don't have a photograph of him. I saw in some of the photos that Asja had that he was a tall, lean and handsome man with a short beard. In 1973 I was shown the premises where Grandpa's shop used to be. It was a small flower shop then, a shop which you entered by going down a few narrow steps, as often used to be the case in Tiflis. My grandfather Zinovij married my grandmother Sofija Matvejevna, and my father Matvej was named after her father. As it turned out, two generations later you inherited the same name.