Elizaveta Dubinskaya with her sister Maria Dubinskaya and their nephews Zhenya and Dima

On the left - I, Yelizaveta Dubinskaya, on the right - my sister Maria. The girls had this picture made on purpose with their sister's children Zhenya (Yenya) and Dima, because they were very proud of becoming "aunts". The photo was made in Kiev before the war (approximately in 1940).

My name is Yelizaveta Dubinskaya. I was born with this last name; this is my father's last name.

I was born in Kiev, or to be more precise, Kiev's suburb, Slobodka, on the Pushkinskaya Street. I was born on May 12, 1922.

Sister Maria got married just prior to the war. She married Yakov Sokolovsky. They got married in May 1941. Yakov had some education, he worked as an engineer at the cable plant. Yakov was called up to the army, and Maria (who was pregnant) went to evacuation, first to Kuibyshev, and then to Middle Asia, to our parents.

Yakov was wounded during the war and was demobilized before its end. He and Maria returned to Kiev after us, in 1945. They had a daughter, who, I believe, was named Sonya. Yakov worked at the cable plant, and when emigration began they too left for Israel. I know that they have already died, but I don't know about their daughter, we have no communication with her.

When I turned eight, I went to school. I went to a Ukrainian school because there were no Jewish schools in our area.
There were Jewish schools and kindergartens in our town. My eldest sister went there, and learned such songs as, "Hey, play and dance, sing, mede loch mach a zoy, mede fis lach mach a zoy" [sings]. My sister who was born in 1919 also studied at a Jewish school for two or three years, and then she was transferred to a Ukrainian school.

Other children at school (Russians, Ukrainians) called me a kike; they said I had a tail. I showed them that I had no tail to prove that I was not a demon, but human, just like them.

Teachers treated us normally. They called us good names, and when they saw that it was hard for me to speak Russian, they would say, "Don't hurry, just think and you will remember". They never gave lower marks to the Jewish children.

I was a "young October League member" and a young pioneer. I was very active; I sang in choir and danced. My parents, even though they were religious, liked it very much. They were interested in my life. My father would always ask me what new songs I've learned, what instructions I got.

After school I went to the Kiev Medical Accoucheur School, which later turned into the Medical Technical School. I was a good student.
People thought I was a Russian or a Ukrainian. They would invite me to their Easter parties and treat me well. We played together, walked together, did our homework together and everyone was fine. We went together to the beach and to the "Communard" cinema in Podol.
After the technical school I was sent to the village of Dubechnya, but the situation there was very bad. I stayed at one peasant's house. Everybody there talked about Jews being the cause for such poor life, saying that the whole government and Kaganovich were Jews and that the Jews "would never let us have a good life". "Until we deal with those Jews we will not have a good life", that's what people said in the village, where I had to work, and at the house of that peasant, and in the hospital.
So, I fled to Kiev. When I returned to Kiev, my mother did not let me work anywhere else