CATEGORY: MY FAMILY
WHERE: Soviet Union
WHEN: 1941-44
AGE: Before my time.

My maternal grandfather was an illiterate, deaf-mute cobbler. During World War II my mother and her family where evacuated in trains from Kiev east toward Central Asia. My grandfather took with him his portable shoe repair kit. Because he was mute and could not advertise his services vocally, during stops he would set-up his kit, pick-up one of their own shoes and start fixing it. Within minutes people came to have their shoes fixed. Shoes, and specially soles, wear out fast during times like those. Because money was not a popular currency during war, he got paid with food. My mother said that thanks to her father’s skill and the tools of his trade, they ate well throughout the war.

She also described bombing of trains she was on, people running from a burning train, while german airplanes strafed them with machine guns.