«THE FACT THAT I SURVIVED IS THE MERIT OF MY MOTHER. AND MY FATHER PRAYED TO GOD...»: ABOUT THE PROBLEM OF THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN THE LIFE OF JEWS IN SOVIET UKRAINE

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to determine the role of the religious factor in the life of a Jewish family during the fateful changes of the 20th century – Holocaust, Soviet sociopolitical transformations. The methodology of the research. The article was written using the methods of micro historical research and oral history. Reconstructive and narrative methods of analysis of an oral history source were chosen – a video interview of the Institute of Visual History and Education of the Shoah Foundation of the University of Southern California. The combination of microand macro-historical approaches made it possible to show the history of the family in the context of sociopolitical and spiritual changes experienced by the life of the Jewish people in the 20th century. Scientific novelty. The article examines the problem of the role of the religious factor in the life of the Jewish Titievsky family in Odesa in the 1930s–1980s. The micro-historical approach of the study allows us to question the superficial judgment about Jews in the Soviet era, as those who lost their identity and got rid of religious traditions. Conclusions. It was observed that the history of the family reflected the history of the Jews of the 1930s–1980s, and the religious factor played a role at all stages of the family's life. The processes of the family's adaptation to the new system in the 1930s were considered. C. Titievsky was persecuted because of his father, rabbi N. Titievsky. Neither discrimination nor the closing of synagogues, nor the death of the rabbi father changed the religious beliefs of C. Titievsky. It is significant that he, having found a place in Soviet society and worked as an accountant of the enterprise, secretly prayed in the 1930s and remained faithful to his convictions until death. The wife and children of C. Titievsky were subjected to the trials of the Holocaust. It belonged to the family of the famous rabbi N. Titievsky that saved the mother and the girls from inevitable death during the Holocaust. The next generation of the family became representatives of the movement for Jewish national and religious revival in the 1970s and 1980s and became involved in emigration processes. The desire to adhere to ancient Jewish national and religious traditions was the reason for the young family’s move to the USA in the 1980s. The family’s history confirms the ambiguous relations between Jews and their neighbors – representatives of other nations during the Holocaust.