Smushkevich

The past empowers the present,

and the groping footsteps leading to this present

mark the pathways to the future.

-Mary Catherine Bateson

These are the memoirs of the Smushkevich family. Our family did not have famous people, however, they were human beings who loved their family, worked hard, and raised their children. They were born in the shtetls of the Pale of Settlement and lived throughout the First World War, the Revolution, the Civil War, the Second World War, and Stalin’s terror.

Each individual was unique and led differing lifestyles, but they possessed a commonality between them: their unconditional love for their children. They deserve to be in our memories and they will stay in our memories forever.

This memoir was written by Moisha’s and Khaya’s granddaughter Nelli Medvinsky.

When I started to write about my family I used memories of my father Aaron who has told me about his family, the memories of my first cousin Zinaida (Zelda) Sorokina (who remembered her grandparents), my first cousin Galina Kogan (who kept in mind the recollections of her mother Rosalia), Shaya’s wife Riva who lived with my grandparents after her wedding, my second cousin Ludmila Smushkevich (granddaughter of Moisha’s brother Boruch) and my second cousin Polina Golub (granddaughter of Moisha’s brother Zeival).

The grandchildren of Moisha’s and Khaya’s Smushkevich recalled and wrote the memoirs of their parents.