{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/m32n58fj6k/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Shkirenko, Matilda and Balakhasvili, Alisa"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/082/original/TheBreman_SecondaryMark_Horizontal_Blue_Black.png?1713640889","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2009-08-13 (captured)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Shkirenko, Matilda (Interviewee)","Balakhasvili, Alisa (Interviewee)","Meyerhoff, Harriet (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["Audio"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source"]},"value":{"en":["William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum","Esther \u0026amp; Herbert Taylor Jewish Oral History Collection"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eMatilda Shkirenko and Alisa Balakhasvili were interviewed by Harriet Meyerhoff on August 13, 2009, in Savannah, Georgia.\u003c/p\u003e (general)","\u003cp\u003eMatilda Shkirenko was born on January 23, 1941, in Odesa, Ukraine. She is the oldest child of Klara and Iona Chernyak. She has a younger sister, Alisa. Matilda grew up in Odesa, which was part of the Soviet Union at that time. While living in the Soviet Union, she earned a college degree. In 1978, she immigrated to the United States with her husband Vladimir and two sons, Leonid “Lenny” and Alexander, mother, sister, brother-in-law Lawrence.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMatilda and her extended family settled in Savannah, Georgia. She became a United States citizen on May 11, 1984. After settling in Savannah, she started working for the city of Savannah and eventually became a civil engineer. She retired in 2004 after working for the city for 26 years. In 1986, her husband Vladimir passed away. Matilda later remarried Boris Pichkadze, who passed away in 2019.  Matilda continues to live in Savannah.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAlisa Balakhashvili was born on August 2, 1946, in Odesa Ukraine. She was the youngest child of Klara and Iona Chernyak. She has an older sister, Matilda. Alisa grew up in Odesa, which was part of the Soviet Union at that time. She attended university and worked as an electrical engineer in the Soviet Union. In 1978, she immigrated to the United States with her mother, husband, Lawerence, and her sister, Matilda, and Matilda’s family.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAlisa and her extended family settled in Savannah, Georgia. She became a United States citizen on November 7, 1984. She eventually worked for the city of Savannah, first as a draft engineering aide and then as a draft engineering coordinator. She retired after 26 years with the city. Alisa and her first husband, Lawrence, divorced. She later remarried Boris Oyzbod, who passed away in 2011. Alisa continues to live in Savannah.\u003c/p\u003e (bioghist)","\u003cp\u003eThe interview begins with sisters, Alisa and Mathilda sharing their memories of arriving in the United States and Savannah, Georgia. They mention the various individuals who welcomed them, and the family they came with. They spoke about their expectations when they arrived in the United States. They also described struggling with very little English and getting jobs in Savannah. Matilda talks about their mother, Klara, and her adjusting to life in Savannah including working and learning to drive.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThey discussed deciding to leave the Soviet Union and impact on the family when the government realized they wanted to leave. They recount the assistance they received from HIAS once they were out of the Soviet Union. They recall how the government refused to let them take very few personal possessions with them when they left and the uncertainty of what happened when they left. They spoke about not knowing where they would settle once they came to the United States.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThey spoke about life in the Soviet Union including not being allowed to practice religion. They also reflected on the discrimination that Jewish people faced. Alisa details how the Soviet Union was made up of 15 republics and how they are connected through government policies. They talk about their grandmother practicing her Jewish faith despite the government’s ban on religion. They discuss what life was like under Joseph Stalin and later Nikita Khrushchev. They reflected on what they had heard about the United States before coming to the country. They spoke about what conditions are like in Russia now since Vladmir Putin has taken over. Alisa recalls what she saw when they visited Odesa, Ukraine after the Soviet Union fell.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMatilda talks about her sons, Lenny and Alexander and what they do for a living. They reflect on what life is like for them after living in Savannah for 31 years. They share the cultural things they didn’t understand when they arrived. They mention their gratitude for the freedom they have in the United States. They end the interview by expressing concern about changes occurring in the United States related to health care under President Obama, and a fear they country was sliding towards socialism.\u003c/p\u003e (scope content)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, recorded by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written consent of the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["Shkirenko, Matilda (b. 1941) (personal name)","Balakhasvili, Alisa (b. 1946) (personal name)","Chernyak, Klara (1915-2010) (personal name)","Shkirenko, Vladimir (1941-1986) (personal name)","Balakhashvili, Lawrence (b. 1939) (personal name)","Lipsitz, Janet Mallis (1925-2005) (personal name)","Lukin, Doris Goldin (1924-2011) (personal name)","Ramati, Stanley (1937-2020) (personal name)","Ramati, Dorothy Toppel (b. 1946) (personal name)","Engelhardt, Jacob (1930-2022) (personal name)","Rosenberg, Samuel I. (1906-1996) (personal name)","Radetsky, Elaine Schwartzman (b. 1935) (personal name)","Center, Leo (1918-2012) (personal name)","Meyer, Lee (1932-2008) (personal name)","Khrushchev, Nikita (1894-1971) (personal name)","Stalin, Joseph (1878-1953) (personal name)","Putin, Vladimir (b. 1952) (personal name)","Melaver, Millicent “Millie” (1930-2020) (personal name)","Obama, Barack (b. 1961) (personal name)","Savannah, Georgia (geographic term)","New York, New York (geographic term)","Vienna, Austria (geographic term)","Rome, Italy (geographic term)","Odesa, Ukraine (geographic term)","Atlanta, Georgia (geographic term)","Soviet Union (geographic term)","HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) (corporate name)","United Nations (corporate name)","M\u0026amp;M Supermarket Chain (corporate name)","KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) (topical term)","Socialism (topical term)","Yiddish (topical term)","Kosher (topical term)","Passover (topical term)","Shochet (topical term)","Shabbat (topical term)","Yom Kippur (topical term)","Rosh HaShanah (topical term)"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eMatilda Shkirenko and Alisa Balakhasvili were interviewed by Harriet Meyerhoff on August 13, 2009, in Savannah, Georgia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eMatilda Shkirenko was born on January 23, 1941, in Odesa, Ukraine. She is the oldest child of Klara and Iona Chernyak. She has a younger sister, Alisa. Matilda grew up in Odesa, which was part of the Soviet Union at that time. While living in the Soviet Union, she earned a college degree. In 1978, she immigrated to the United States with her husband Vladimir and two sons, Leonid \u0026ldquo;Lenny\u0026rdquo; and Alexander, mother, sister, brother-in-law Lawrence.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMatilda and her extended family settled in Savannah, Georgia. She became a United States citizen on May 11, 1984. After settling in Savannah, she started working for the city of Savannah and eventually became a civil engineer. She retired in 2004 after working for the city for 26 years. In 1986, her husband Vladimir passed away. Matilda later remarried Boris Pichkadze, who passed away in 2019. \u0026nbsp;Matilda continues to live in Savannah.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAlisa Balakhashvili was born on August 2, 1946, in Odesa Ukraine. She was the youngest child of Klara and Iona Chernyak. She has an older sister, Matilda. Alisa grew up in Odesa, which was part of the Soviet Union at that time. She attended university and worked as an electrical engineer in the Soviet Union. In 1978, she immigrated to the United States with her mother, husband, Lawerence, and her sister, Matilda, and Matilda\u0026rsquo;s family.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAlisa and her extended family settled in Savannah, Georgia. She became a United States citizen on November 7, 1984. She eventually worked for the city of Savannah, first as a draft engineering aide and then as a draft engineering coordinator. She retired after 26 years with the city. Alisa and her first husband, Lawrence, divorced. She later remarried Boris Oyzbod, who passed away in 2011. Alisa continues to live in Savannah.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe interview begins with sisters, Alisa and Mathilda sharing their memories of arriving in the United States and Savannah, Georgia. They mention the various individuals who welcomed them, and the family they came with. They spoke about their expectations when they arrived in the United States. They also described struggling with very little English and getting jobs in Savannah. Matilda talks about their mother, Klara, and her adjusting to life in Savannah including working and learning to drive.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThey discussed deciding to leave the Soviet Union and impact on the family when the government realized they wanted to leave. They recount the assistance they received from HIAS once they were out of the Soviet Union. They recall how the government refused to let them take very few personal possessions with them when they left and the uncertainty of what happened when they left. They spoke about not knowing where they would settle once they came to the United States.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThey spoke about life in the Soviet Union including not being allowed to practice religion. They also reflected on the discrimination that Jewish people faced. Alisa details how the Soviet Union was made up of 15 republics and how they are connected through government policies. They talk about their grandmother practicing her Jewish faith despite the government\u0026rsquo;s ban on religion. They discuss what life was like under Joseph Stalin and later Nikita Khrushchev. They reflected on what they had heard about the United States before coming to the country. They spoke about what conditions are like in Russia now since Vladmir Putin has taken over. Alisa recalls what she saw when they visited Odesa, Ukraine after the Soviet Union fell.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMatilda talks about her sons, Lenny and Alexander and what they do for a living. They reflect on what life is like for them after living in Savannah for 31 years. They share the cultural things they didn\u0026rsquo;t understand when they arrived. They mention their gratitude for the freedom they have in the United States. They end the interview by expressing concern about changes occurring in the United States related to health care under President Obama, and a fear they country was sliding towards socialism.\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, recorded by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written consent of the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/082/original/TheBreman_SecondaryMark_Horizontal_Blue_Black.png?1713640889","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - 131_132_Shkirenko_Balakhashvili.wav"]},"duration":3263.81333,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-thebreman.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/274/594/original/131_132_Shkirenko_Balakhashvili.wav?1748267836","type":"Audio","format":"audio/wav","duration":3263.81333,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Shkirenko, Matilda and Balakhashvili, Alisa [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e [This is] Harriet Meyerhoff at the JEA [Jewish Educational Alliance] on August 13, 2009, interviewing Matilda Shkirenko and her sister Alisa Balakhasvili. Now, they are very important to the Savannah [Georgia] community because they were the first family who arrived with the Russian resettlement. I want to start. Do you remember the date that you came, Alisa?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=4.0,40.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Yes, I do. We came to Savannah on June 28, 1978. I remember it was very hot. It was 104 degrees, which is very unusual for us. That was the day we came. We flew from New York [New York], we stayed overnight in New York, and we flew to Savannah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=40.0,70.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Who came with you at that time? Who arrived with your immediate family?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=70.0,81.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e It was seven of us, me and my husband Vladimir Shkirenko and my two children Sasha and Lenny and my sister Alisa with her husband Lawrence and my mother Klara Chernyak. All seven of us came in the same day and I . . . never forget that. It was very memorable. A lot of people met us at the airport. Janet Lipschitz and Doris Lukin and Stan Ramati and Dorothy Ramati with a big cake with three candles for Sasha's birthday, three years old. Jacob Engelhardt came with the big car, and it was inscription, taxi, in Russian. We thought it's just taxi. We want to tip him. It was very memorable. Also, people from the press were there too.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=81.0,147.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Alisa.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=147.0,149.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e I want to add. We also were met with Samuel Rosenberg. He was a rabbi, and he spoke Russian. He was very nice, very kind gentleman.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=149.0,172.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Other than being very apprehensive, you're coming to a new country, everything is going to be new, and here you are adults, where you don't change as much as, you are not as flexible as children. Alisa, you tell me first . . . What did you expect? What was your anticipation of coming here before you arrived?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=172.0,197.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Frankly, we didn't know what to expect. We didn't know where we were going to sleep. Where we're going to stay. When they brought us to the apartments that they were rented for us, the Jewish community. At that time [indistinct: 3:37] and other women, they served our lunch because it was a lunch time. We were shocked.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=197.0,230.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Shocked how?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=230.0,232.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Shocked in a good way. We never expected anything like that. It was up to the tears. Even now when I remember that it brings tears to my eyes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=232.0,247.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Matilda, what was your expression or what was your anticipation?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=247.0,254.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e After all this struggling, when we left our former country, with all this humiliation and all this madness. We came just like to a heaven, because people were very nice and very inviting, and we were in shock too.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=254.0,282.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Did either of you speak English before coming here? Matilda?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=282.0,289.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Almost zero.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=289.0,290.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Almost zero.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=290.0,292.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e I was learning in Russia, I was learning English for a couple of years. I had vocabulary, however, it was British English. When I came to United States, it's a little different, and it took a while to get used to the pronunciation, and adjusting my ears to that. In a half an hour speaking with people, I had a terrible headache, and I wouldn't understand a word.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=292.0,328.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e I think it's remarkable how you all adapted, you got jobs, you earned a nice living, had nice homes, you went on nice vacations. Before I . . . have you talk about life in Russia, tell me how you got settled with a job. Matilda?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=328.0,352.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e First, when we came, and my English was very poor, Elaine Radetsky, she was very nice and very patient with me. She was taking me to about 10 interviews that I showed [her that] might work, which I brought, or I did something, some job in somebody's office. Everywhere because of my English, probably, I didn't have any success.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=352.0,395.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Finally, you landed a job.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=395.0,397.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Finally, I had a job with the city of Savannah. I remember Leo Center was there at that time in the government, city government. I believe that he helped us to get the job, to get my first.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=397.0,420.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Your job was doing what?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=420.0,424.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e I started as a drafts person because of my language. Then I was promoted to engineering aid, and then I was an engineer later, in several years.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=424.0,437.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e You retired recently. When?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=437.0,439.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e I retired recently as a civil engineer in 2004 after 26 years of service [to] the city of Savannah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=439.0,451.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Alisa, tell me about your job.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=451.0,455.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e They were taking us to the interview, both of us, at the same time. One of the interviews was taken in Lee Meyer's architect office. Even though Matilda was an architect and I was an electrical engineer, which I never expected to be hired, but for some reason or another, Lee Meyer hired me as a draft person. I worked in his firm for about eight months. At the same time, I put my interviews in different places. One of them was city of Savannah. When the opening came in the traffic engineering department, they sent me a letter, and I was taking tests. Written test and the other type of test and then I passed the test even though I had to take vocabulary with me, I mean the dictionary, because I wasn't sure that . . . I have enough English to answer all the questions that pertained to the language. Surprisingly, I did pass. Then I had an interview with the boss, and I got my job. I started again as a draft engineering aide, and my final position was draft engineering coordinator for the city. That was it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=455.0,565.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Matilda, tell me about your wonderful mother, Klara Chernyak. She has been an inspiration to me. She came here at what age?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=565.0,581.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e She came here, she was 63 years old. She, in the country where she came from, she was a mechanical engineer. But at 63 years old, we told her ahead of time that she would not expect anything like that. She always knew how to sew. She sewed for us, for me and Alisa. She was the first one, who get a job. She was hired in the John B. Rourke men's store. She was working there, I don't remember for how many years, until she was 85 or 86 years old.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=581.0,630.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e How old is she today?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=630.0,632.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Today she is 93 years old, and she's well, and she is happy here.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=632.0,641.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Matilda, at what age did she start driving a car?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=641.0,645.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e I think she started to drive maybe after a year or a year and a half after we came here. She was very anxious to be independent. She hired the instructor, licensed instructor and after several months, she went to pass the test.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=645.0,668.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Did you three females drive in Russia? Did you have any experience?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=668.0,676.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e No, we did not. We never drove, this was our first [time]. We came here. We got our license. Here, actually, I started to drive until the age of 32.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=676.0,693.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Thank you, Alisa. Matilda, I think it's remarkable how Klara, at her age, adapted to a new culture and driving, the language, work, everything was totally new at her age. That's why you have all been an inspiration, because you've all succeeded. I want to know how long did you wait? Alisa, how long did the family wait? Did you apply to come here or how was that process done? Because we in America, we in Savannah really didn't understand what was going on in Russia. First tell me before I hear about the conditions, how did you get on the list to come here?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=693.0,749.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e We made up our mind to leave Russia. It was in 1976, and we started to get all the documents, gather the documents that we needed to apply for the visa, for the everything visa. We applied in October 1976, and we were waiting almost a year and a half. They never said no, but they never said yes, so just waiting. In the meantime, my husband lost his job, and my brother-in-law, Vladimir, also lost his job. They were working as laborers somewhere just to get food on the table. We were fortunate with Matilda [and I], we had our jobs until the last day.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=749.0,814.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Did the husbands lose their job because they were Jewish? Matilda?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=814.0,819.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e My husband was not Jewish. He lost his job because the Russian government realized that he applied for immigration. First of all, they did not let him . . . even apply for immigration because he was in the military for five years. After he was in the military, it [had] to be passed five years before he could even apply for immigration. After he applied for immigration, they found out that and he could not work anymore.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=819.0,864.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Did you know in Russia that American cities had a resettlement program going on?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=864.0,874.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Yes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=874.0,875.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e It was the government that helped you come here, not a Jewish source in Russia, is that right, Alisa?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=875.0,881.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Nobody helped us actually. We were helping ourselves in Russia. We just went legal routes to apply for the exit and the visa, and we had to pay the retribution for that. It was a lot of money for us at that time when we finally got the permission to leave the country. We had to pay for the citizenship, an equivalent of about, at that time, an equivalent in dollars. I would say it would be about five, six thousand dollars per person for the citizenship that we gave up the citizenship. Because when we left Russia, we were stateless. After we came and we went through Vienna, Austria and stayed in Italy and in Italy we got the permission to enter the United States. But in the meantime, as we arrived in Austria, then we were met by HIAS [Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society], the Jewish organization and then from that time on they would take care of us.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=881.0,965.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Matilda, did you need any shots or any preparation to come?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=965.0,970.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Yes, everything was taken care of by the HIAS, and when we stayed two and a half months in Rome, in Italy, we did through everything. All the analysis and shots and medical examination, everything was taking care, and HIAS was helping, and it was a lot of people immigrated in this year.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=970.0,1004.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Excuse me, were you the lucky ones or did you have connections or what do you think? Why were you selected, and others were not?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1004.0,1015.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e We were the lucky ones, because a lot of people denied and for no reason. They told the reasons, but it was not relevant at all.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1015.0,1029.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Matilda, were people coming, were families leaving Russia prior to the time that you came?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1029.0,1038.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Yes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1038.0,1039.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Go ahead, Alisa.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1039.0,1040.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e See, the thing is that we were waiting, like I said, for a year and a half. At one point, they told our mother, because she was going to that office, and they told our mother that they can let her out and one of their daughters, and one they're going to keep. They wouldn't mention which one. But our mother said, \"No, that we all leave or nobody.\" We were waiting and waiting.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1040.0,1081.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Many Jews left Russia. Was it also non-Jews, Matilda?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1081.0,1087.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e If we had mixed families like we did have, it should be at least one member of the family had to be Jewish to be able to apply even to leave. This resettlement, this all started, I think it was started in 1971. When it started and very few people were able to leave, and it was very difficult. All kinds of humiliation and anger and all kinds of different things were going on to prevent people [from leaving.]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1087.0,1138.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Alright, for example, when you got notice that you all were to leave, were you able to sell any of your possessions there, your house, your belongings, or were you able to bring anything here?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1138.0,1155.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e No, we didn't even pay for the apartments we left behind. Even though this apartment, we just made a renovation, this apartment looked perfectly. But we had to pay for this apartment. We have to pay our education. We have pay for any documents, diploma, and everything that we wanted to take. Every little thing we have to pay.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1155.0,1182.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e In order to come here.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1182.0,1184.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/56","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Yes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1184.0,1186.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/57","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Yes, in order to live. I want to add that we couldn't take the original of the documents. It had to be only copy. One copy, we even couldn't even take all the documents with us, even the copy. We had to send it to Israel, and then from Israel, we got it here.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1186.0,1209.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/58","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Did you have any reassurance that once you left Russia that you were going to be safe and taken care of? Did they promise you anything or just to let you leave?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1209.0,1226.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/59","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Nobody promised anything. They just said if you leave Russia, you are not going to survive.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1226.0,1236.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/60","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e What do they mean by that? Was that a scare tactic?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1236.0,1240.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/61","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Yes. They didn't want us to leave and I didn't want to leave because I had two small children and I didn't know what is waiting for me over there.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1240.0,1250.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/62","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Over there being?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1250.0,1251.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/63","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Over there being in foreign country without language, without any roof up over our heads. It was very scary.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1251.0,1266.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/64","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Matilda, did you know where your final destination would be? Or did they just say you're next going to Rome, Italy? Matilda?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1266.0,1278.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/65","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e We left Russia and then we stayed in Italy. They gave us a choice, HIAS. They gave us a choice, the countries where we can go.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1278.0,1292.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/66","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e What were the choices?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1292.0,1294.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/67","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e We could go, actually the main choice was the United States. Holland, I think, or Switzerland, were taking people like our mother to their country with everything paid for and all that. But of course, Mama didn't want to go because they wouldn't take young people, they would take only older people. We had the choice to go to Israel, and that choice we had to make in Austria. As soon as we came from Russia. It was another organization, [indistinct: 22:44] that met us at the station. They asked. They were going through the compartments of the train, asking people where they want to go or where they [are] planning to go. Whoever wanted to go to Israel right away, they would take them off the train, and the rest were past us by.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1294.0,1377.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/68","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Once you knew that you were coming to America, did you have a choice of region? Or you knew nothing anyway, right?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1377.0,1387.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/69","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e We did not know anything, and we did not know where we're going to go. But because a lot of people were immigrated at that time, I don't remember the number.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1387.0,1398.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/70","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e 3000.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1398.0,1399.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/71","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e All the Jewish communities in big cities were overflowed with immigrants whom [they're] helping. The HIAS told us that a small Jewish community in the city of Savannah would accept us, and we were so glad that somebody will accept us.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1399.0,1421.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/72","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e It is remarkable because in a small city there were not many jobs to be had. Now I'd like to find out what life was like in Russia. Religious life, cultural, economics, everything. What were the conditions that we as Americans don't know?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1421.0,1442.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/73","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e There was no religion. They would not allow people to practice any religions. No matter whether you are Jew or Christian or whoever. Officially there was no religion, and they would not allow people, and especially Jewish people, so that's about that. As far as the culture, there was a culture, as far as the theaters and symphonies and movies, of course. This is the culture we only known. You were free to go if you had money to pay for the tickets. As far as the jobs, it was a different story, because if you were Jewish, you had restrictions where you can go and who [was] going to take you. Unless you lied who you are, and they would not check that who you were, because in the passport, and they always ask for your passport, over there was what nationality you are. In this respect, yes, we have a very limited amount of places where we could work.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1442.0,1534.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/74","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Do you, Matilda, do you have anything to add to that so far?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1534.0,1542.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/75","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e In a passport, instead of religion, it was your nationality, Jewish. Jewish was in the passport. Even though you apply for the job and you don't say anything in the application, but when they see your passport and see that you are Jewish, they said, \"We already took somebody. We already don't have a need to.\" Also, when you apply for the college or everywhere, they had like, restrictions like five percent of Jews or maybe one percent of the Jews. Even that was too much. Some colleges they didn't accept Jews at all and so it was very hard to get into college.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1542.0,1590.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/76","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Alisa, do you want to comment?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1590.0,1591.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/77","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Yes, I want to comment because it was three percent quota for the Jews. Like Matilda addressed, she's correct. Yes, sometimes even some of the colleges didn't take even this three percent.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1591.0,1608.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/78","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Matilda, was there a problem with you marrying a non-Jewish man and who married you?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1608.0,1619.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/79","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e It was not a problem to get married to anybody because there was no religion at all. Nobody . . . could freely practice any religion, and it was like no problems. But my husband, he came from Republic of Georgia. He was, even though he was Russian, but he lived all his life in Republic of Georgia . . .","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1619.0,1651.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/80","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e . . . Please explain what that means.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1651.0,1655.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/81","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e The Soviet Union had 15 states . . . so each state has their own [indistinct: 27:44: possibly: flag], each state represented a nation like Georgians or Ukrainians or Byelorussian, this is . . .","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1655.0,1679.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/82","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e . . .Byelorussia.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1679.0,1682.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/83","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Byelorussia. Each state represented some sort of nation. But we all had, it was one Soviet Union . . . Each state has their own language, even though the one language was Russian language. The documents and everything was in Russian. However, each state had its own language and some people who lived in small places, somewhere like Baltic or two places with the ten houses, they spoke their own language and sometimes they [spoke] no Russian.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1682.0,1725.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/84","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Since we did not belong to any church or synagogue or anything, it was not a big deal to have a mixed marriage, and there was a lot of mixed marriages there.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1725.0,1742.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/85","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Both of you, did you grow up knowing you were Jewish? Did you have any Jewish life? Matilda?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1742.0,1751.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/86","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Our grandmother, praise God, she was very religious, and her husband was a goyim.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1751.0,1762.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/87","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Was what?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1762.0,1763.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/88","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Goyim. She was a very religious person until the last day of her life.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1763.0,1771.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/89","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Which grandmother?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1771.0,1772.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/90","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBOTH:\u003c/strong\u003e My mother's mother.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1772.0,1774.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/91","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Your maternal grandmother. You understood that you were Jewish, but you really could not do anything except . . . Did you have any kind of practice in your house?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1774.0,1789.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/92","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e No, we did not have any practice. However, our grandmother for the past like 10 years she was living with us because she was kind of old and our mother was taking care of her so she was practicing in her own way like she would never do anything on Shabbos, ever. If she needed to eat, my mother would go and warm up something and give her tea, but she wouldn't do anything. I don't know how, but she always knew when the holidays are coming, whether it's Yom Kippur or Rosh HaShanah, she knew. I don't know how she knew it, but she did know. She always fasted on the Yom Kippur. She spoke beautiful Yiddish.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1789.0,1855.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/93","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e How did . . . she eat with the little availability of kosher food?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1855.0,1864.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/94","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e We had a shochet there on the market. She was always there in the bazaar . . .","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1864.0,1896.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/95","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Side two, testing, one, two, three. We were talking about your grandmother and her keeping kosher. You want to continue, Matilda?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1896.0,1907.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/96","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Yes. Before she ate, for instance, chicken, she went to a market and there was a man called shochet, who cut the chicken, usually, and she ate the chicken. She knew what fish to buy.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1907.0,1925.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/97","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e I think you also told me that she . . . knew exactly when the holidays would come and she would fast. That's what it . . .","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1925.0,1934.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/98","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e We [didn't] know where it come from, but she always knew Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Passover, all Jewish holidays she knew.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1934.0,1944.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/99","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Can you tell me briefly so that we might have a better understanding of . . . some of the Russian leaders. America was so afraid of Khrushchev in the 1960's, but yet earlier you told me that Stalin was even worse. For historical data, just briefly explain that. Alisa?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1944.0,1970.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/100","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Stalin, as we all know, was a monster. But at that time, people in Soviet Union, they were scared to say anything during the Stalin era because they knew that they're going to end up in jail . . . This going to be the easy punishment. Otherwise, you could be executed. When Khrushchev came, it was a little bit later, like maybe six months later, a year later. It was like a fresh air after this oppression under the Stalin rule. For us, he was very liberal because we could compare what we had during the Stalin era and what happened when Khrushchev came. We knew . . . how he behaved outside Russia, in the United Nations, but . . . we were not grown up to judge. But we all knew that he was much better for us to compare with what we had in comparison.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1970.0,2052.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/101","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Matilda?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2052.0,2055.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/102","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e We still were afraid to talk. For an anecdote, just a simple anecdote or joke a person can get in a jail. But at least it was not as many killings, as many executions. We decided this is the blessing for Russia to have such a leader, even though he was uneducated, and very rude.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2055.0,2088.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/103","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e The people were making fun of him among friends who knew that [they were] not going to pass that on to the government or secret police. People were making jokes. But it was . . .","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2088.0,2106.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/104","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Matilda, what did you hear about America? What was your interpretation of or imagination of America . . . living there before you ever came here?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2106.0,2121.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/105","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e I thought of America as like Mars. I did not know this country. I know that everybody in America are rich, and if you ever come to America, we will serve those American people. We will be like a servant to them, because we don't have anything, and all of them are very rich people.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2121.0,2146.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/106","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Now wait, that is what you were told or that was what you thought?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2146.0,2148.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/107","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e That's what my thought was.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2148.0,2155.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/108","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e . . . Alisa, were you told anything negative about America?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2155.0,2161.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/109","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e We were, yes, they always were saying negative things about United States. We knew that this is the racist country, that they kill black people . . . Everything that possibly could be wrong, it was United States, and . . . that became comparison, Russia and United States. Russia is like day, and the United States is like night. This is the comparison that we got . . . Soviet Union is the best country to live. Everybody happy. A lot of people would love to come and live in Soviet Union, but nobody wants to live in the United States. That's what the propaganda was.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2161.0,2215.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/110","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Matilda, what conditions are there now and what do you think of Putin?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2215.0,2228.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/111","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e As you probably know that Putin was former KGB [Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti] agent, and stuff. I expect something different, like a fresh air for . . . Russia when he came to power, but I'm very disappointed and see that he wants to lead the country to the former regime. I'm very afraid it will happen.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2228.0,2262.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/112","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Is life any easier, Alisa, for people living there, or is it still difficult?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2262.0,2269.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/113","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e It's not easy. I would say it's worse for a lot of people. Because right now, see, you have to understand, the time when we left, people had money, some money. They could buy something, like let's say food, but there was nothing much in the stores to buy. Whatever you would buy it would be, you had to bribe somebody under the table that they would get whatever you want. Right now, they have supermarkets, similar [to] what we here have, maybe even more stuff in the supermarket than in the United States. However, a lot of people got so poor that they cannot afford to buy anything, especially like senior citizens, and they don't make much money. Even [those] who work, a lot of people lost their jobs, didn't have jobs, and senior citizens. Like I said, about six, seven years ago, this was the first time that we went back to our hometown. [We] went to Odesa [Ukraine] and visited it. I was heartbroken when I left. It was very sad, very sad. Because I thought it became a little better since the regime changed, some changes. No, a lot of people, I saw homeless people in the street, which I didn't see that before. I saw people begging on the street for the food, with the woman, with a child. Like I said, it was very sad, and I was upset.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2269.0,2399.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/114","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Getting back to the present time in Savannah now. Matilda, you have two wonderful boys. Tell me their names and their ages.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2399.0,2411.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/115","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Older son, my son is Lenny Shkirenko, he's 42 now and he lives in Atlanta [Georgia]. He is working. He has his own small business. He is in a computer business and he has few doctors offices where he create the computer programming for them and adjust their system. Other little thing he does, he's put together computers for people. On the side . . . he's working in H\u0026R Block doing taxes for people. It's like a seasonal. Mainly what he does right now. Alexander, he is, Alexander Shkirenko is a younger. He is 33 years old. He was working in California for almost three years doing contracting work. Since his contract expired, he moved to Atlanta a few weeks ago. He's about to find something there.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2411.0,2522.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/116","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e I do want to say that your family is hard-working. You have been successful, all of you, and I think that you should be admired by everyone.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2522.0,2533.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/117","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e Thank you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2533.0,2534.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/118","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Alisa, tell me what it's like now. Again, you've been here so many years. You're all American. I bet you eat at McDonald's. You dress contemporary. Tell me what life is like.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2534.0,2553.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/119","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Right now, I'm retired from the city working, after 26 years working for the city. I'm trying to do volunteer work. But after over 31 years in Savannah, I can tell you only one thing. I had a hard time, had good times. Not everything smelled like roses. It was rough. However, never, ever, I thought that I did the wrong move. I'm grateful that I'm here. I'm grateful to the Jewish community that helped us at the beginning when we came with nothing. We had only $240 in our pockets and that was it. I never ever regretted what we've done.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2553.0,2614.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/120","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Matilda, do you have any comments?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2614.0,2618.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/121","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e I think Alisa said [it] all, I'm very grateful for Jewish community to help us with our first steps on American ground and I think we have a lot of help from all the members. I even don't remember a lot [of] names. Everybody helped us.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2618.0,2641.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/122","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Is there anything, any one thing that you can say was the most confusing to our culture as newcomers?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2641.0,2652.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/123","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Yes, it was confusing. One thing was I couldn't understand to begin with. First of all, I couldn't understand that nothing belongs to the government, that everything is private. Supermarkets, everything. I said . . . does the government . . .not own [it]? No, it's private. This I couldn't understand. Then, in Russia, whoever was in power, everything they wanted, everything was delivered to their front door. One time I was working in a supermarket, which was at that time was M\u0026M belongs to Melaver's family. I was shocked to see Millie Melaver with a cart, buying her stuff. I said, why in the world she should do that? This is her supermarket. Whatever she wanted, it could be delivered to her. That was my . . . I couldn't understand that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2652.0,2729.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/124","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e That's interesting. Now what about any women's roles here? Surely you must have noticed the role of the female in Savannah, or let's say America. Was that anything unusual to you?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2729.0,2746.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/125","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Yes. [Everyone laughs].","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2746.0,2750.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/126","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Okay, Alisa, continue.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2750.0,2753.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/127","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Because when we came and we said that we have our education, that we're engineers and all. In 1978, it was very, people were surprised that women had engineering degree. I remember when we first came, everybody thought that Matilda was going to stay home with children, raise children. When she said no, she's going to go to work, everybody was surprised because at that time not only Jewish women, but women in Savannah mainly stayed home with children and raised children.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2753.0,2803.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/128","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Matilda, do you have any comments?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2803.0,2806.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/129","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e The only, I was comment here that by coming to America, I became a really free person, which I even did not know what means free. I'm so glad that I have this freedom. This is the most important thing in my life.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2806.0,2828.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/130","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Alisa, tell me, you were telling me earlier about jobs, equality in Russia. Please repeat that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2828.0,2841.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/131","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e What I'm trying to say is that even a woman would have the same job as a man in Russia. Unfortunately, they were always paid less than men. Even though we were considered equal as far as education, and they always say that women are liberated in Russia, and we are equal. But however, they always were paid less for the same [job]. I don't know, it's unfortunate that this was the facts of life. I can only add to Matilda that, yes, it didn't happen right away, as far as the freedom goes. But as longer I lived in the states the more I realized how lucky I am that we are free, that you can express your opinion, you can say what you think, and do what you want, as long as you're a law-abiding citizen.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2841.0,2920.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/132","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e It's very hard to realize that they're taking away our freedom here too.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2920.0,2930.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/133","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Thank you. Politically, we only have a few minutes left. Alisa and Matilda, tell me what your comments about the government and what is happening now with Obama. Your comment.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2930.0,2941.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/134","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e When 30 years ago, we came to this country, we ran from oppression and came to the free country. We really got that feeling, great feeling to be free. However, little by little, our freedom is taken away. It's sad to see, to feel that and see that especially lately when they would like to make this socialized medicine that it does not work. From the first, I know that from like firsthand that we've been there, we've done that. It does not work. We could not be treated as we wanted to be treated. Our mother had to lie when our . . . grandmother had to have a surgery. She had reduced her age 10 years, make her younger, in order for her to have a surgery. Unfortunately, this is what is proposed right now by . . . Obama, and you had to bribe the doctor to have the surgery. He would pay a little bit more attention to you. We were assigned to a doctor. We could not go to another doctor, unless you knew somebody, a friend who had a doctor, he knew, and you would go to the doctor and pay from your own pocket. [The] doctor was afraid to take this money because he could be charged for bribery. It was like, nobody would know, just you [and the] doctor.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2941.0,3053.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/135","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e In your opinion, what you're saying is, our country, America, is now regressing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=3053.0,3059.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/136","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Moving to the socialism, slowly but surely, and it's very sad.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=3059.0,3065.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/137","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eSHKIRENKO:\u003c/strong\u003e It's not as much as this health care reform. What scares me [is] that little by little, everything was covered by the government. Everything could start to [be] control[led] by the government. This is scary. That was scary.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=3065.0,3085.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/138","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eBALAKHASVILI:\u003c/strong\u003e Little by little they take our freedom away, especially lately.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=3085.0,3095.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/transcript/80678/annotation/139","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eMEYERHOFF:\u003c/strong\u003e Thank you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=3095.0,3263.81333"}]},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Annotations [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/140","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eHarriet Cranman Meyerhoff (b. 1946) is a Savannah, Georgia native. She graduated from Georgia State University, and she worked as a schoolteacher in Savannah. She later became a licensed tour guide and started her own company, Personalized Tours of Savannah. She and her husband, Eric Meyerhoff married in 1973 at B’nai B’rith Jacob Synagogue. They have two children, Mark and Margot. Eric passed away in 2020.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=4.0,40.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/141","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Jewish Educational Alliance (JEA) is the name of Savannah, Georgia's Jewish Community Center. It was founded on August 2, 1912. The original charter, objectives were outlined for promoting the English language and for providing a building for programs such as kindergarten, a library, classes and recreation. They built their first building in 1916 at Barnard Street and their second building in spring 1950. The alliance continues to serve the Jewish and general communities in Savannah today.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=4.0,40.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/142","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eSavannah is the oldest city in the state of Georgia. It is a coastal city, separated from Charleston, South Carolina by the Savannah River. The city and the colony of Georgia was founded in 1733 when General James Oglethorpe and settlers arrived. During the Revolutionary War the city was the southernmost commercial port and during the Civil War it was the sixth most populous city in the Confederacy. City officials negotiated a peaceful surrender of the city in 1864, saving the city from destruction by General Sherman’s army. The city is known for its historic district with its 22 parklike squares, which was based on a design known as the Oglethorpe Plan.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=4.0,40.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/143","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eNew York City is located in New York state. It is also known by the nicknames the Big Apple or NYC. It is the largest city by population and metropolitan area in the United States. It is made up of five boroughs sitting where the Hudson River meets the Atlantic Ocean. The city was settled in 1624 and in 1664 it was named for the Duke of York, later King James II of England. The city is a global center for everything from finance to arts and fashion to international diplomacy as the home of the United Nations.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=40.0,70.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/144","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eVladimir Shkirenko (1941-1986) was born in Tlilisi, USSR. In 1978, he immigrated to the United States with his wife, Matilda, two sons and extended family. They settled in Savannah, Georgia. He became a U.S. citizen in 1984. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=81.0,147.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/145","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eLawrence Balakhashvili (b. 1939) was born in the USSR. In 1978, he immigrated to the United States with his wife, Alisa and extended family. They settled in Savannah, Georgia. He became a U.S. citizen in 1985.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=81.0,147.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/146","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eKlara Chernyak (1915-2010) was born in Odesa, Ukraine and worked as an industrial engineer. She was married to Iona Elberg. In 1978, she immigrated to the United States with her two daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren. She and the family settled in Savannah, Georgia. After immigrating, she worked as a seamstress for John B. Rourke Clothiers. She attended Congregation B’nai B’rith Jacob.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=81.0,147.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/147","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eJanet Mallis Lipsitz (1925-2005) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but moved to Savannah, Georgia in 1950. She was very active in Savannah’s Jewish community. She was a member of Congregation B’nai B’rith Jacob, the Jewish Educational Alliance, Hadassah, and the Hebrew Women’s Aid Society. She and her husband Herbert had two sons.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=81.0,147.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/148","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eDoris Goldin Lukin (1924-2011) was a Savannah, Georgia native and daughter of Simon and Bertha Goldin. She graduated law school at the University of Georgia in 1945 and worked as an attorney. She was a former president of the Jewish Federation in Savannah and attended Congregation B’nai B’rith Jacob. She was married to Basil Lukin, and they had a daughter and a son.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=81.0,147.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/149","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eStanley Ramati (1937-2020) was born in London, England to Philip and Tilly Hyman Ramati. He grew up in England during World War II and served in the British Royal Air Force. In 1961, he immigrated to Israel, where he lived on the Kibbutz, Beit HaEmek and served in the Israeli Defense Forces. He met his wife, Dorothy in Israel and they moved to Birmingham, Alabama in 1970. Stan graduated from the University of Alabama. He and Dorothy and their two sons moved to Savannah, Georgia in 1976. He worked as the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Education Alliance in Savannah. He helped various Soviet Jews resettle in Savannah during the late 1970’s-1980’s. He later held similar positions in San Antonio, Texas and Reading, Pennsylvania. Stan and Dorothy moved to Austin, Texas in 2018.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=81.0,147.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/150","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eDorothy Toppel Ramati (b. 1946) was born in New York City, but grew up in Miami, Florida. In 1970 while living in Israel, she met her future husband, Stan. They married on August 27, 1970 in Herzliya, Israel. They moved to Birmingham, Alabama later in 1970. While living in Birmingham, they had two sons, Phillip and Alex. In 1976, the family moved to Savannah, Georgia where Stan was Executive Director of the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Education Alliance. She and Stan helped Soviet Jews resettle in Savannah during the late 1970’s-1980’s. In 2018, she and Stan moved to Austin, Texas to be closer to their two grandchildren.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=81.0,147.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/151","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eDr. Jacob Engelhardt (1930-2022) was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. He was the son of Sam and Rose Menkes Engelhardt. He attended New York University where he earned a Ph.D. in mathematics. He taught at Savannah State University. Additionally, he spoke multiple languages including Russian, French, Hebrew, and Yiddish. Jacob and his wife Zinnia Schonhaut had two daughters and five grandchildren.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=81.0,147.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/152","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eSamuel I. Rosenberg (1906-1996) was born in Lithuania and later immigrated to the United States. He was the principal at Hebrew Community School in Savannah, Georgia. He and his wife, Frieda had a son and daughter.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=149.0,172.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/153","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eBritish English refers to the English language spoken in Great Britain. The main difference between British English and American English is the pronunciation and certain difference in grammar.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=292.0,328.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/154","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eElaine Schwartzman Radetsky (b. 1935) was born in Pennsylvania, but grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the daughter of Cantor Joseph and Sarah Schwartzman. She attended Hoke Smith High School in Atlanta. She worked for the Cleveland Public School in Cleveland, Ohio prior to her marriage. In 1961, she married Sam Radetsky, and they made lived in Savannah, Georgia. She was active with the Savannah Jewish Federation and other Jewish organizations in Savannah.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=352.0,395.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/155","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eLeo Center (1918-2012) was a Savannah, Georgia native, and the son of Henry and Hannah Ehrenrich Center. He attended Savannah High School and then the Miami Military Academy on a football scholarship. He was an amateur and professional boxer. In 1971, he was inducted into the Greater Savannah Athletic Hall of Fame. He was later inducted into the Jewish Educational Alliance Athletic Hall of Fame. During World War II, he served in the navy in the Pacific Theater. He later purchased the Linoleum and Shade Shop, which became the Center Brothers, Inc, a multi-state interior and exterior systems contractor. He owned and operated the business with his brother Irvin and Henry Tuten. He was active in the community and various Jewish organizations including the Jewish Educational Alliance and B’nai B’rith Jacob Synagogue. In 1982, he was general chairman of Savannah’s Russian Resettlement Committee and founded Savannah’s AIPAC organization. He also served 23 years as alderman for the Savannah City Council. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=397.0,420.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/156","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eLee Meyer (1932-2008) was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Aaron and Mirella Meyer. He came to Savannah, Georgia in 1954 while serving as a Staff Sergeant with the US Air Force during the Korean War. He earned his associate degree from Armstrong Junior College and his degree in architecture from the University of Florida. In 1966, he started practicing as a licensed architect in Savannah. He co-authored the original Historic Zoning Ordinance for the City of Savannah and oversaw the conservation and restoration of many historic buildings in Savannah’s Victorian District. Lee won numerous awards for his architectural and preservation work. He was active in numerous community, state, and national organizations. He was a member of B’nai B’rith Jacob Synagogue and served as an officer for B’nai B’rith Jacob Brotherhood and board member of the Jewish Education Alliance. He was married to Barbara Portman, and they had one son and two daughters.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=455.0,565.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/157","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eJohn B. Rourke Gentlemen’s Clothier is a men’s clothing store in Savannah, Georgia. It was opened in 1949 and continues to operate as an independent, privately owned specialty store.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=581.0,630.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/158","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eVienna is the capital city of Austria and sits on the Danube River. The city has been called the “City of Music” because of its musical legacy with many famous classical musicians including Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, and Schubert living and working in the city. The city has a rich architectural history with Baroque palaces and gardens. Vienna hosts many major international organizations, including the United Nations, OPEC, and the OSCE. In 1945, Vienna was divided into sectors by the four powers: the US, the UK, France, and the Soviet Union and supervised by an Allied Commission. The four-power control of Vienna lasted until the Austrian State Treaty was signed in May 1955 and came into force on 27 July 1955. By October, all soldiers had left the country.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=881.0,965.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/159","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) is a Jewish American non-profit that provides assistance to refugees. Founded in 1881, its original purpose was the help the flow of Jewish immigrants from Russia in relocating. During and after World War II, they had offices throughout Europe, South and Central America and the Far East. They worked to get Jews out of Europe and to any country that would have them by providing tickets and information about visas. After World War II, they assisted 167,000 Jews to leave DP camps and emigrate elsewhere. In 1975, the US State Department asked the organization to assist the incoming Vietnam refugees. Today, the organization continues to provide support to refugees and immigrates of all nationalities, ethnicities, and religions. The organization also works with people whose lives and freedom are believed to be at risk due to war, persecution, or violence. HIAS has offices in the United States and across Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Since its inception, HIAS has helped resettle more than 4.5 million people.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=881.0,965.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/160","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eRome is the capital city of Italy and the Lazio region. It is the most populous municipality in Italy and the third most populous city in the European Union. It is located in the central-western part of the Italian Peninsula, along the shores of the Tiber River. Vatican City is an independent country inside the city of Rome, the center of the Catholic Church. Rome is one the oldest continuously occupied cities in Europe, Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome around 753 BC. However, the area has been inhabited even longer, almost three millennia. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=970.0,1004.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/161","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe communist government that came to power in the 1917 Russian Revolution followed an unofficial policy of state atheism. Officially, it did not outlaw religion in the Soviet Union. However, religion was seen as a threat to the socialist state and, especially after Joseph Stalin came to power, it began making efforts to eliminate religious institutions. Atheism was propagated in schools, religious institutions had their property confiscated, and believers were harassed. During the Great Purge of the 1930s, religious leaders were among the hundreds of thousands of people jailed and executed as political enemies. While the Russian Revolution had replaced the centuries-old official antisemitism of the Tzars, deeply ingrained antisemitic attitudes made Jews suspects of potential opposition. Communist ideology asked Jews to assimilate and not to identify as anything but loyal to the state.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1442.0,1534.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/162","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Republic of Georgia is a country in Eastern Europe and West Asia. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi. In 1921, it was invaded and annexed by the Red Army and became a republic of the Soviet Union. The country seceded from the Soviet Union in April 1991 and throughout the 1990’s the country suffered through a civil war. More turmoil and fighting followed with Russia in the 2000’s. As of 2025, the country is a representative democracy governed as a unitary parliamentary republic.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1619.0,1651.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/163","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republic/USSR was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. It was made up of fifteen national republics. It was a communist state with the capital in Moscow. The nation had it foundation in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks established the Russian Soviet Republic. In 1922, the Bolsheviks and Vladmir Lenin proved victorious in the Russian Civil War and formed the Soviet Union. After Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power. Under his rule the country saw rapid industrialization and forced collectivization, which resulted in economic growth but also famine that killed millions. Stalin also conducted the Great Purge, which removed actual and perceived opponents. After the World War II, the Cold War began with the Eastern Bloc of the Soviet Union confronting the Western Bloc, which was led by the United States and eventually NATO. In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union’s last leader Mikhail Gorbachev sought to implement various reforms. Additionally various Soviet satellite countries overthrew their Marxist-Leninist regimes. By 1991, a coup attempt against Gorbachev failed and the Soviet Union collapsed with various republics of the Soviet Union remerging as independent nations.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1655.0,1679.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/164","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eBelarus was known as Belorussia or White Russia until it gained its independence in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed. It is in Eastern Europe and was the smallest of the three Slavic republics include in Soviet Union (the other two were Russia and Ukraine). Belarus continues to maintain close ties with Russia. The capital city Minsk was almost entirely rebuilt after the destruction of World War II.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1679.0,1682.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/165","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eGoy (plural: goyim) is a Yiddish term meaning “people” or “nation.” In common usage, it designates a non-Jewish or Gentile person. The word \"goyishe\" would be used as an adjective to describe something non-Jewish. The word is sometimes used in a pejorative sense, but can also be neutral.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1751.0,1762.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/166","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eShabbat (Hebrew) or Shabbos/Shabbes (Yiddish) is the Jewish Sabbath and is observed on Saturdays. Shabbat observance entails refraining from work activities and engaging in restful activities to honor the day. Shabbat begins at sundown on Friday night and is ushered in by lighting candles and reciting a blessing. It is closed the following evening with the recitation of the havdalah blessing.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1789.0,1855.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/167","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eYom Kippur [Hebrew: “day of atonement”] The most sacred day of the Jewish year. Yom Kippur is a 25-hour fast day. Most of the day is spent in prayer, reciting yizkor for deceased relatives, confessing sins, requesting divine forgiveness, and listening to Torah readings and sermons. People greet each other with the wish that they may be sealed in the heavenly book for a good year ahead. The day ends with the blowing of the shofar (a ram’s horn).\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1789.0,1855.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/168","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eRosh HaShanah [Hebrew: head of the year] begins the cycle of High Holy Days. It introduces the Ten Days of Penitence, when Jews examine their souls and take stock of their actions. On the tenth day is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The tradition is that on Rosh HaShanah, G-d sits in judgment on humanity. Then the fate of every living creature is inscribed in the Book of Life or the Book of Death. Prayer and repentance before the sealing of the books on Yom Kippur may revoke these decisions.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1789.0,1855.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/169","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eYiddish is the common historical language of Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. It is heavily Germanic based but uses the Hebrew alphabet. The language was spoken or understood as a common tongue for many European Jews up until the middle of the twentieth century. Although the terms “Yiddish” and “Yid” are sometimes used to refer to Jews, Yiddish is a reference to a person's language and not necessarily their ethnicity, religion, or culture. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1789.0,1855.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/170","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eKashrut is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jews are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér, meaning \"fit\" (in this context, \"fit for consumption\"). In colloquial English, kosher often means \"legitimate,\" \"acceptable,\" \"permissible,\" \"genuine,\" or \"authentic.\"\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1855.0,1864.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/171","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eA shochet is an adult male Jew who is trained and accredited by a rabbinic authority in the Jewish dietary laws. Specifically, a shochet slaughters animals in a way prescribed by Jewish dietary laws to avoid pain to the animal as much as possible, and to safeguard the health of the consumer.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1864.0,1896.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/172","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003ePesach [Hebrew: Passover] is the celebration of Israel’s liberation from Egyptian bondage. The holiday lasts for eight days. Unleavened bread, matzo, is eaten in memory of the unleavened bread prepared by the Israelites during their hasty flight from Egypt, when they had not time to wait for the dough to rise. On the first two nights of Passover, the seder, the central event of the holiday, is celebrated.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1934.0,1944.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/173","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eNikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) was the leader or the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964. He came to power after Joseph Stalin’s death. While in power, he denounced Stalin’s crimes and established a policy of de-Stalinization. He pushed for the early Soviet space program and implemented moderate domestic policy reforms. In October 1962, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union rose when the Soviet Union sought to install medium-range nuclear weapons in Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis ended after the Soviet Union offered to withdraw the missiles in exchange for the United States promise not to invade Cuba and a secret promise of the U.S. to withdraw missiles near Turkey. Khrushchev’s terms were seen as a defeat for the Soviet Union and by 1964, party leaders had pushed Khrushchev from power. Just prior to his death in 1971, the secret terms regarding Turkey were made public.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1944.0,1970.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/174","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eJoseph Vissarionovich Stalin (b. Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, 1878-1953) was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920’s until his death. He is considered one of the most powerful and murderous dictators in history. His five-year plans, first launched in 1928, led to agricultural collectivization and rapid industrialization, thereby creating a centralized command economy. Resulting disruptions to food production contributed to a famine in 1932–1933 which killed millions, including in the Holodomor in Ukraine. Between 1936 and 1938, Stalin eradicated his political opponents and those deemed \"enemies of the working class\" in the Great Purge, after which he had absolute control of the party and government. Under his regime, an estimated 18 million people passed through the Gulag system of forced labor camps, and more than six million were deported to remote regions of the country, which together resulted in millions of deaths. In 1939, his government signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany, enabling the Soviet invasion of Poland. Germany broke the pact by invading the Soviet Union in 1941, leading Stalin to join the Allies of World War II. Despite huge losses, the Soviet Red Army repelled the German invasion and captured Berlin in 1945, ending the war in Europe. Following the War, the country experienced another famine and a state-sponsored antisemitic campaign culminating in the \"doctors' plot\". In 1953, Stalin died after suffering a stroke, and was succeeded as leader of the Soviet Union by Nikita Khrushchev, who in 1956 denounced Stalin's rule and initiated the \"de-Stalinization\" of Soviet society. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1944.0,1970.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/175","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization established in 1945 to promote international cooperation. The organization was created following World War II to prevent another such conflict. Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict. The headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=1970.0,2052.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/176","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eVladimir Vladimirovich Putin (b. 1952) is a former KGB agent and has been the President of Russia since 2012. Putin served as prime minister from 1999 to 2000, as President from 2000 to 2008, and again as Prime Minister from 2008 to 2012. Under his leadership as President from 2000 to 2008, Russia was enjoying significant oil and gas income from skyrocketing energy prices and had amassed hard currency reserves estimated to be as high as $600 billion. He returned to the presidency in 2012 in an election marked by allegations of fraud and protests. Since his time in office, Russia has been transformed into an authoritarian dictatorship. He was reelected in 2018 and 2024. In April 2021, after a referendum, he signed a constitutional amendment that allowed him to run for reelection twice more. In February 2022, Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine, which prompted international condemnation and led to various sanctions again the country. As of 2025, the war with Ukraine continues with efforts towards a cease fire struggling to gain traction.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2215.0,2228.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/177","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe KGB was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954-1991. It was the chief government agency responsible for carrying out internal security, foreign intelligence, counter-intelligence and secret police functions. KGB is an acronym for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti [Russian: Committee for State Security].\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2228.0,2262.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/178","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eOdesa, also known by the Russian spelling Odessa, is the third largest city in Ukraine and is a major seaport and transportation hub located on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. In response to the bombing of Odesa during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the city center was declared a World Heritage Site and added to the List of World Heritage in Danger by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. During the 19th century, the city was the fourth largest in the Russian Empire and was part of the Soviet Union until its collapse and Independence of Ukraine in 1991. \u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2269.0,2399.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/179","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eAtlanta, Georgia is the capital and largest city in the state of Georgia. During the American Civil War it was a strategically important city for the Confederacy until it was captured in 1864. The city was almost entirely burnt to the ground during General William Sherman’s March to the Sea. After the war, the city rebounded and became a national industrial center.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2411.0,2522.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/180","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eH\u0026amp;R Block, Inc. is an American tax preparation company that operates in Canada, the United States, and Australia. The company was founded in 1955 in St. Louis, Missouri by two brothers, Henry and Richard Bloch.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2411.0,2522.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/181","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eMcDonald’s is an American multinational fast food chain that was founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California. The business started as a hamburger stand and soon became the company franchise as it is today. In 1955, businessman, Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent and in 1961, he purchased the company from the McDonald’s brothers. McDonald’s serves over 69 million customers daily in over 100 countries. The company has grown to the world’s second-largest fast food chain by number of locations.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2534.0,2553.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/182","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eThe M\u0026amp;M Supermarket chain was started in 1940 by Annie and Isidor Melaver. They operated a small grocery store at the corner of Mercer and Hall streets. Eventually, the Melaver’s children, Norton and Millicent, took over the business and the business grew into a regional chain. In 1985, the supermarket chain was sold to Kroger’s.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2652.0,2729.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/183","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eMillicent “Millie” Melaver (1930-2020) was born in Brooklyn, New York and moved with her family to Savannah, Georgia in 1940. She graduated from Savannah High School, attended Armstrong State College and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. After teaching for a period of time, she worked in the family business, M\u0026amp;M Supermarkets. She directed front end management and later ran the advertising department which helped the business to grow into a regional chain with 14 stores. She was also active with various civic and Jewish organizations including the Savannah Cultural Affairs Committee, the Jewish Educational Loan Fund, Savannah Jewish Council, Congregation Agudath Achim, the United Way, and the Melaver Family Scholarship at Armstrong State College.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2652.0,2729.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/184","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eAlisa is referring to the Affordable Care Act, informally known as Obamacare, is landmark U.S. federal statute that was passed by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. It represented the most significant regulatory overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system and expansion of coverage since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Most of the act remains in effect. By 2016, the uninsured share of the population had roughly halved, with estimates ranging from 20 to 24 million additional people covered.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2941.0,3053.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/185","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eBarack Hussein Obama II (1961- ) was the 44th President of the United States, serving two consecutive terms from 2009-2017. He is a member of the Democratic party. He also was the first African-American elected as president in United States history. Prior to being elected President, he served as a U.S. Senator representing Illinois and a Illinois state senator. Although Obama declared himself a Christian, rumors began that he was a Muslim. Whether the rumors were an effort to discredit him or to equate him with a faith some Americans perceive as negative, the rumors persisted throughout his presidency. During his first term, his administration had to respond to the 2008 financial crisis and included legislation like the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Additionally, he supported and pushed for passage of the Affordable Care Act, which became law in 2010; it’s often called Obamacare. In 2009, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts in international diplomacy.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=2941.0,3053.0"},{"id":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594/annotation_set/1905/annotation/186","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cp\u003eSocialism is a political philosophy and movement that encompasses a wide range of economic and social systems that are characterized by the social ownership of the means of production vs. private ownership. It calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources.\u003c/p\u003e","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://thebreman.aviaryplatform.com/collections/994/collection_resources/149729/file/274594#t=3059.0,3065.0"}]}]}]}