Memories of Ann Williams: Jewish Life in Volchin Anne Williams shared some memories of 1930's Volchin with us in 2006, when we visited her home in England. We are indebted to Ann for her childhood memories of Volchin and allowing us to share them here. Ann left Volchin aged nine years in September 1936 with her family for Palestine, present-day Israel.
Many thanks to you, Ann, for your memories.
--Terry
• How did the villagers used to keep their fruit and vegetables cold? In the winter when the River Pulva iced over, the men would go down and cut out big blocks of ice and bring them back by horse and cart themto the back gardens of their houses. Here they had dug a big hole in the ground where they would put the blocks of ice and layers of straw to preserve the food and it lasted the whole summer!
• The women did the clothes washing down by the river Pulva using the stones and the children used to swim here. The Mill down by the River Pulva was owned by a Jewish family. There, corn was ground to flour.
• A Mikvah, the Ritual Bath House for the women was located down by the river Pulva. It is no longer there.
• There was a transport ferry across the river Bug to Janova (Polish: Janow Podlaski). This ferry was a large wooden plank or raft that was hauled across by ropes. It was big enough to take a horse and cart and cattle. My Mother and Iwould walk to the river from Volchin.This ferry is probably how Terry’s Grandfather Lejb travelled to Biala Podlaska to see his future wife, as from there a direct road runs from Janova. He would have sold cattle at the market in Biala. Lejb Zelcer’s father Faivel was a butcher.
We found out this piece of family history when searching the Jewishgen website relating to 1897 Russian Census for Grodno.
• There was a Post Office in the town owned by a Polish family. For travel to Brest the nearest Train Station was at Vysokoye. Bicycles were used to travel between villages, or horse-and-cart.
• I attended school with all the other children from Volchin village, They all spoke Polish in the classroom. Religious instruction was every Friday. The Rabbi came to teach this, along withYiddish, to the Jewish children. Later a Hebrew School was set up for the Jewish children of Volchin. Funds had been supplied from a Jewish organization in America.
Volchin Hebrew School 1936
Photo:
Courtesy of Ann Williams
• The Volchin villagers had to draw water from a well, used candles or oil lamps for light, and had outhouses for toilets. They usually lived in separate areas of the village Jewish, Polish, and Russian.
• There were about 110 Jewish Families living in Volchin at this time.
