מאגר סיפורי מורשת

My grandmother, Elena Shirkova (maiden name: Elena Weisberg), was born on March 10, 1948 in the town of Chesnokovka (now the city of Novoaltaysk), in the central part of Russia.

My grandmother's family settled in Novoaltaysk as a result of evacuation from the city of Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine) during the Nazi army offensive in 1941.

My grandmother's mother, my great-grandmother, Mira Mordukhovna Weisberg (maiden name Rosenblum), was born in Dnepropetrovsk on February 24, 1919. In 1941 she worked at the Dneprodzerzhinsk car-building plant. In the autumn of 1941, when German troops were approaching Ukraine, the whole factory was evacuated from Ukraine to Althai Territory, Chesnokovka (now Novoaltaisk). At the same time my great-grandmother with her parents were also evacuated to Chesnokovka, where the family stayed after the war. During the war, my great-grandmother continued to work at the car-building plant, which for the period of the war became one of the most important producers of weapons and machines for the army. My grandmother's father, great-grandfather Weisberg Borukh Moshkovich, was born in Ukraine in the city of Lvov, where his parents and sister lived with their family. Borukh was a professional aircraft mechanic and served in the squadron throughout the war, was wounded, and got a disability. After the end of the war and until the end of his career, he worked as a watchmaker.

From childhood in Novoaltaysk, my grandmother remembers that she often spent time with her grandmother Elizabeth Rosenblum. She was a professional seamstress and made very beautiful dresses for respectful women of the city. My grandmother was very impressed by the work of Elizabeth and wanted to learn these skills.

One of my grandmother Elena’s favorite activities in Novoaltaisk was ice-skating. She often recalls how much fun it was!

In 1960, at the age of 11, my grandmother and her parents moved to Uzbekistan to the city of Andijan. She remembers that her class at school was very friendly and united. Besides school, she used to attend cooking, patternmaking and sewing classes. My grandmother also remembers how her father took her to the trips from Andijan to L’vov and Odessa – beautiful cities of his childhood located in Ukraine.

Elena graduated from high school with a gold medal. Afterwards, she moved to Moscow and entered the Plekhanov Institute at the Faculty of Mechanics with a degree in Machinery and Apparatus for Food Production. In 1971 she graduated from the institute and started to work as an engineer. In February 1971, my grandmother married her classmate Valery Vladimirovich Shirkov, my grandfather, and stayed in Moscow. Great-grandmother Mira and Borukh then moved several times and lived in different cities in Russia and Ukraine, such as Essentuki and Dnepropetrovsk. When Borukh passed away, great-grandmother Mira moved to the city of Zheleznodorozhny, Moscow Region, where Elena’s family lived at that time. At present, grandmother Elena and grandfather Valery live in the city of Zheleznodorozhny, not far from Moscow.

The most important thing that I realized is, that in such difficult life circumstances as war and evacuation, the family should be together to support and help each other.

הזוית האישית

Ksenia: The story of my family helps me to understand that it’s valuable to have a profession that allows you to find a job in different places, for example, great-grandfather, Borukh, could repair watches in any city, and great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth, could sew amazing dresses at any place.