Bella Galbmillion
This audio interview was translated by Dima Dashevsky using the Russian transcription done by Edgar and Sophia Karpovich. Volunteers who assisted in earlier translations of the interview taped by Bella Galbmillion included Rita Neymotin, Yana Vasutina, Fred Magaziner, Uriy Kushnir and Victoria Kushnir.
Interviewer: This is the interview for the Jewish Historical Society of Columbus. We are recording this interview on July 13th, 1999 as a part of a project creating an audio history of Jews of the city of Columbus. My name is Galina Dashevsky, and today I will interview Bella Galbmillion. Let’s begin with the questions that we wanted to ask Bella.
When and where were you born?
Bella Galbmillion: I was born in the year 1908 in the city of Kiev.
Interviewer: Please talk about who your parents and grandparents were.
Bella Galbmillion: I did not know my grandfather on my father’s side because he passed away before I came into this world. Grandma was left a young widow with six children. She had six sons. They lived in a suburb of Kiev in a Jewish settlement. I don’t know if anybody aided my grandmother, but, in some way, her children educated themselves. I don’t know how to say this, but they left home. Her eldest son apparently fell into the first stream (of immigration). He was not part of an evacuation; I do not know how to call it. In any case, he went to America.
Interviewer: He emigrated?
Bella Galbmillion: Yes. See? I have begun to forget Russian words. He went to America. I did not know him. I knew nothing about him. As for the rest of the children… I think… The eldest brother of my father drew fantastically. His penmanship was beautiful. He had calligraphic handwriting. From this I drew the conclusion that he somehow studied somewhere. My father’s youngest brother excellently sculpted. Why do I know about this? Because when I was a little child, he sculpted me, such a youthful head I had. I posed for him. He was working, serving…. In Kiev there was this antique store by the name of Zolotnitsky. He worked for the owner. Therefore he had some connection to art. We had many of my uncle’s paintings with his messages on them, but when World War II broke out, and we evacuated with my mother, these paintings were stolen. Only one was saved that we were able to transport here to Columbus. These relatives – my uncles on my father’s side – all left after the revolution. Some left for Paris and some went to Poland. My youngest uncle, the one whom I called "sculptor", died with his family in the Warsaw Ghetto. About this and the rest of my relatives on my father’s side I learned from my son when I came to Columbus.
Interviewer: Bella, pardon me please, what was the name of the uncle who died in the ghetto?
Bella Galbmillion: Ilya. The one who drew later ended up in Israel. Somehow he got to Israel from Poland. But all of this my son found out later.
In my time, when I was obligated to answer questions in documents concerning whether or not I had any relatives abroad, I answered that I did not. I was obligated to answer these questions because I worked in a laboratory of the special medical department number four, and getting a job there was very difficult, especially for Jews.
Interviewer: Was this a medical department that served the government?
Bella Galbmillion: Yes, the Government of Ukraine. That was my family on my father’s
side. My mother’s side is very different. They all stayed. It was the Soviet Union then.
In any case, they all remained there. They did not leave. My mother was also born in
Kiev. I think my grandfather could have also been born in Kiev. He owned a vinegar factory. The factory by the name of "Macron’s Vinegar Factory" was renowned. It was considered to be a very good factory, and my grandfather was doing rather well. I am telling all of this from the words of my aunts and mother. But all of this was while he was alive. He had many children, twelve, and he had two wives. His first wife left him, went to another man, and left him with two daughters. My grandmother was his second wife, and they had ten children. In total, he had ten daughters and two sons. Still, he was able to give an education to all of his children. But they were not all fit for bargaining and commerce. They graduated gymnasia (secondary school of highest grades preparing for universities in pre-Revolutionary Russia). Afterward, one of my aunts graduated from Frebelevsky’s course. Another became a doctor. The others got married. In any case, in the beginning they were well off and very religious. They held all of the holidays according to Jewish custom. At their grandmother’s ate two yeshiva buhers (boys). Then my grandfather fell ill, and a competitor appeared. His last name was Ravicovich, and he also owned a vinegar factory, and apparently he was a better businessman. And so it happened that my family underwent a bankruptcy. This was all before the revolution. My grandmothers passed away, first one and then the other.
And now I will talk about my parents. My mother was a homemaker.
Interviewer: Please tell us their names.
Bella Galbmillion: My father’s name was Naum. His full name was Naum Marcovich. He died very young as well. I was a child when he passed away. He died after the revolution. More specifically, he died after 1918 in Kiev. Later the Soviet Government was established there. My father served at a mill. It was a big mill in Kiev. It was called "Brindera", I think. After his death, my mother was left completely unprepared for life, so to say. She received welfare for us children, and we, of course, lived a difficult life.
Interviewer: What was your mother’s name?
Bella Galbmillion: Rosa, Rosalia Moiseyevna.
Interviewer: Bella, may I ask you about the stories of you grandmother when the family was at the dacha (summer house)?
Bella Galbmillion: Oh, yes. Well, my grandmother had many children, and it was necessary to take the children to nature, fresh air, and the dacha. Annually my grandmother rented a dacha in the suburbs of Kiev. So for some time she lived in the dacha in Boyarka. Nearby lived Shalom Aleichem. A Jewish milkman delivered milk to both my grandmother and Shalom Aleichem. Some wealthy people also lived nearby. They were also a Jewish family. I think that their last name was Zaitzev. So one time a daughter and Zaitzev’s daughter-in-law took a walk in the woods to pick mushrooms, and they got lost. This milkman was returning home to his village. He led these two women out of the woods. This incident served as an inspiration for Shalom Aleichem to create Tevye the Milkman (from Fiddler on the Roof). Of course, as a wonderful writer, he embellished everything possible.
Interviewer: May I ask you a little about the home you lived in? It is very interesting. It was apparently a typical Jewish family, and a way of life that was typical for a Jewish family of that time. Can you tell a little about your childhood home?
Bella Galbmillion: We resided on a street called Pushkin Street in Kiev. It was parallel to Kreshatnik. It was a rather prestigious street.
Interviewer: Kreshatnik was the main street of Kiev.
Bella Galbmillion: One of the most important. It was called the uptown. Below was the Jewish settlement. They were permitted to live there when there were "Pales of Settlement" where Jews could live. Few Jewish families lived in our complex. My grandmother and grandfather had an apartment that was not far from their factory. The factory was on Horivaya Street. What else can I say? We had, of course, not a one or two room apartment, but we had an office for Father, a living room, a nursery, a bedroom, and a room for the maid.
Interviewer: Only your father worked?
Bella Galbmillion: My father worked.
Interviewer: This was enough to support the family?
Bella Galbmillion: Yes.
Interviewer: Do you remember the revolution of 1917, or any events of the family tied to the revolution?
Bella Galbmillion: What can I tell you? The revolution…. Of course I do not remember it all very well. About the revolution… I remember this about the revolution. In Kiev the government was changing. Some were Germans, some were Guidamacks (the name of one of the rebellious groups), and some were Polish. Every time the government changed. I remembered very well that they blocked the gates and blocked the front entrances because thieves roamed around and robbed. They robbed especially the Jewish families. Even though we lived on Pushkin Street, we still all had to use back doors. When Cossacks and other bandits came and began to knock at the metal gates of our court, we all had to go down, even the children, and scream in order to catch the attention of policemen so that they would come to help us. This I remembered about the revolution: we all shook, and we were scared. But then the Soviet Government established itself. It became, in this regard, quieter. But then searches began. They looked for gold, and they looked for valuables. I also remembered that they came, and they came to us. Father was a member of the trade union so they didn’t come to really look for gold at our home.
Interviewer: What became of the family’s property?
Bella Galbmillion: My grandfather’s factory, of course, became the government’s. They took it away from him. My father soon passed away. Times were very difficult for us. I remember, even though I was a child, how Mother would always take out our things to sell. I really loved my mother’s outfits. She owned a wedding dress, and she also had a formal dress that went with a fan and these special gloves. I really liked this fan. I was terribly disappointed when my mother took all of this to sell. Times were very difficult for us, of course. My aunt began something like a daycare. Mothers brought five or six children to her. I would say that she graduated from Frebelevsky’s course, and she worked with these children. They would cut out some pictures. This is how she made a living.
Interviewer: Bella, excuse me, I do not know about Frebelevsky’s course. Could you explain it?
Bella Galbmillion: They were these courses for the purpose of educating future teachers. Those who were allowed to work with children were called "Frebelichky" (a name derived from "Frevelevsky").
Interviewer: Do you remember the famine of the 1930s?
Bella Galbmillion: I remember the famine of the 1930s very well because our family experienced it. It was an awful time. I was more or less of an adult. I was fifteen or sixteen at the time, maybe older. I was born in 1908. How old was I in 1930?
Interviewer: Twenty-two.
Bella Galbmillion: Twenty-two, yes. I even worked then. My sister and I worked and studied at the same time. My sister began to work at age thirteen (after my father’s death). Mother asked her to. In Kiev, there was at one time a sewing shop by the name of Timukina. My mother had her dresses done there that she later sold. My mother begged Timukina to hire her my sister, and she accepted her because finding a job was difficult. My sister was thirteen years old then, and she became Timukina’s apprentice and received a salary. I also worked and studied then. I worked already. It was approximately 1932. I worked. Then, my cousin’s husband referred me. He later became a member of the Academy of Science, but then he worked in a polytechnic institute. He helped me to get a job as a laboratory assistant in the department of painting materials in the chemical division. I fell in love with chemistry.
Interviewer: Do you remember anything about the events of those years when there was a famine in Ukraine? That was a very difficult time in Soviet history. Do you remember anything from that time?
Bella Galbmillion: I remember. At the corner of Pushkin Street and Tolstoy Square was a bakery. By that store lay two corpses. Farmers came to buy bread. They were hungry. They would fill up on bread and fall, and then they would die. I saw a corpse there; that was a terrible experience. This was during the time of collectivization of agriculture.
Interviewer: Please tell me a little about where you received your education. Where and how?
Bella Galbmillion: In Kiev. I immediately enrolled in the Pharmaceutical Institute. Afterwards there were many changes. In the end, for some reason, they gave us temporary diplomas upon graduation, and then, I think this was after the war, they gave them to us in medical school. Then there was some confusion. They transferred us, and combined us. The Medical Institute merged with the Dental Institute, and the Dental Institute was made a department. There was a….
Interviewer: Reorganization?
Bella Galbmillion: Yes, yes.
Interviewer: Approximately when did you go to college?
Bella Galbmillion: I think I went in 1928.
Interviewer: Tell me please, were there difficulties at this time for Jews to be accepted into a university or where there not? What do you think?
Bella Galbmillion: There were not so many difficulties for Jews, but blue-collar workers with a recommendation were first in line to be accepted. First they accepted blue-collar workers, and then white-collar workers. I earned very good grades on the entrance exams, though. It later turned out that my grades were the third highest of those who took these exams. I had very good grades, but I studied very much. I also worked and taught at the same time. How did I do this? I began to do this at a young age. When I was in the seventh grade, I tutored children in the second grade. After all, somehow we needed to feed ourselves.
Interviewer: When did you make your husband’s acquaintance, and what was his name? Was this while you were studying, or was it afterward? Can you tell us about him?
Bella Galbmillion: I met my husband in this way. I told you that an aunt of mine could not find a job in Kiev. Well, she worked in a different town or village as a doctor. She met and became friends with a family who owned a pharmacy there. The owner of the pharmacy had a daughter who was my age. She studied in an agricultural school in the city of Kaminetz-Podolsky. I already told you that institutes were merging. There was some reorganization, and her institute was moved to Kiev. This institute then made a foundation for the Kiev Institute of Mikoyan. My daughter later graduated from this university.
Interviewer: Was it a university of the food industry?
Bella Galbmillion: The food industry, yes. The father of this girl, her name was Sonya Bikovitzkaya, asked my aunt to find a place to live in Kiev for her until they found a place for her in the dormitory. This Sonya Bikovitzkaya lived with us for about half a year. When she came to Kiev (my husband was from Kaminetz-Podolsky), my future husband was returning to Kiev also, and he knew Sonya. He helped her bring her belongings into our apartment. This is how we met.
Interviewer: Did he fall in love with you at first sight?
Bella Galbmillion: No, not at first sight. We dated for a rather long time. What was interesting was that while Sonya was living with us, the process of the liquidation of illiteracy was going on. Students were appointed to aid in this task later. When Sonya was going to class, it was slippery in the winter, she slipped, took a spill, and broke her leg. She was taken to the hospital. I went to visit her, and I met a familiar student. He was fulfilling his internship there. He was in his fifth year of college, and he fell in love with Sonya at first sight. Afterward, he married Sonya, this Moses "Mosya" Frankfurt. He became an important professor and the head of the therapeutic department. What? What is this?
Interviewer: This is an interesting photograph that you daughter just brought. Who is in it?
Bella Galbmillion: (Laughing) This is my husband with me.
Interviewer: This is a fabulous photograph. It would be good to get a copy.
Bella Galbmillion: Yes. (Chuckling) So Sonya married my friend, and I married her acquaintance.
Interviewer: Very interesting. Tell us about when you got married.
Bella Galbmillion: I think… Oh my gosh, I don’t remember off of the top of my head… Oh, I’ll tell you now. 1934.
Interviewer: Please tell us about your life with your husband.
Bella Galbmillion: With my husband? I can say that my happiest, dearest memories
are those in which I am with my husband.
Interviewer: Just a little about your life with him.
Bella Galbmillion: Well, firstly, my husband was an architect. There were not too many people in his group. He graduated from the department of architecture of the Engineering-Construction Institute of Kiev. The public there was very interesting, even amongst the students. His closest friend, the friend dearest to him, with whom he was friends, was the writer Necrassov. He was also an architect. During my first year of marriage, his architect friends would visit us. One of them was, for example, Sergey Damansky. He was the son of a famous bridge builder who built the bridge crossing the river Dnepr. It was destroyed in the war. Famous bridge-building engineer. Bob Krichevsky also visited us. He was the nephew of a famous Ukrainian artist and art critic. It was an interesting, intellectual public. The family of Necrassov was also interesting. This was a family of revolutionists, a noble family, a warm family. I wrote, afterward, a tribute for Victor Nekrasov on the anniversary of his death. You might have read it, they were printed.
Interviewer: With your permission we will make a copy of that. We will make a copy with pleasure.
Bella Galbmillion: I’ll give you one; you won’t need to make one. Tomorrow an acquaintance of mine will bring me one. She took one to read.
Interviewer: Thank you. Tell us in a little more detail please, if possible, about your friendship with Victor Nekrasov (a very famous and distinguished Russian writer whose most famous book is The Trenches of Stalingrad) and the circle of friends that was connected with you and him during that time. And if possible, about his role in the memorial in Babiy Yar. About this side of your life, if possible.
Bella Galbmillion: You know, the Nekrasov family was very interesting. He was a dissident, Nekrasov. They, even though they were a noble family, had a revolution-set mind. Victor Nekrasov’s father I did not know. Perhaps his wife divorced him, I do not know. Victor’s father was a professional revolutionary. Victor was born in Kiev, and he lived in Kiev, but his early years were spent in Paris. Zinaida Nikolaivna studied there. She was a doctor, his mother. They were friends with the Lunacharskies. All in all, their family was very interesting. When you read the tribute, you will understand. You understand we never detected any bad feelings towards Jews there, or that they considered them to be people beneath their dignity even though the family was of nobility. Zinaida Nikolaivna once told me, "Did you know that my family name is written in the blue book?" What kind of book this was I do not know, but it was apparently very important for nobles. For example, a friend of theirs was… We were often at the Nekrasovs’. Almost, I wouldn’t say daily, but very often we would meet during the evenings at their home. We met for tea, as they say. She was also a doctor. Brodsky, Doctor Brodsky, a Jew. She studied with Zinaida Nikolaivna and was a friend of an aunt of Victor’s: Sophie Nikolaivna. This family was exclusively interesting, very intellectual, and wonderful.
Interviewer: With such a story… Victor Nekrasov, as I remember, later played a role in the creation of a monument in Kiev on the location Babiy Yar.
Bella Galbmillion: You know, Victor took this very close to his heart. It saddened him very much. Firstly, it is possible that people whom they knew perished. My aunt and uncle, for example, died at Babiy Yar, and another aunt died in a gas chamber. She was disabled and couldn’t go with her sister and her husband to Babiy Yar. Consequently, they came for her and took her. She died in a gas chamber. Victor took this very close to his heart. It upset him that there was no memorial. Annually, on the 29th of September, he organized a meeting there.
Interviewer: On the day of the anniversary of Babiy Yar…
Bella Galbmillion: Yes. And when Yevtushenko came, a young poet then he was and was probably not too well known, asked Victor, and they went to the place of Babiy Yar. Yevtushenka told him, "I will show you." As the began to talk, Nekrasov said, "Why do you write all of these other things? Write about this." Yevtushenka then said, "I will let you read this. I will show you."
Interviewer: The famous poem "Babiy Yar" that begins with the words, "There is no monument on Babiy Yar," a poem by Yevtushenka.
Bella Galbmillion: Yes, yes.
Interviewer: And Victor Nekrasov rallied for the creation of this monument, yes?
Bella Galbmillion: Yes. You know, I have a magazine. When the Union of Architects in Kiev presented the possible prototypes for the monument in Babiy Yar, Victor wrote an article about it. I have this article; I will lend it to you to read. I cannot say that they were my friends, but many people I knew thanks to Victor Nekrasov. Firstly, he had a habit. You know, at first he had a lot of fame. They spoke a lot about him that he was the founder of war literature. He was the first the write the truth about the war (World War II). They would say that like Russian literature was born from Gogol’s The Overcoat, war literature was from The Trenches of Stalingrad by Nekrasov. So he had this habit. Many people, interesting people, would arrive, writers, journalists, actors, etc. He often took with him to his friends many of the people, and in particular to us. He would suddenly show up with somebody for tea. Like this he brought (I remembered of course this very interesting person) Igor Alexandrovich Satz. He was the brother of Ilya Alexandrovich Satz. He worked with Stanislavsky and Nemerovich-Danchenko (I think he was a musical director). He was the father of Natalie Satz.
Interviewer: The one who was the founder of the Children’s Musical Theater?
Bella Galbmillion: Yes, yes, yes. Igor Alexandrovich was a very interesting man.
Interviewer: His brother worked with them. He was a composer.
Bella Galbmillion: Yes. Igor Alexandrovich an apprentice to Lunacharsky. Afterwards, he worked for the magazine New World. From there is the acquaintance. He came to Victor about some writings of Victor’s.
Interviewer: You have in mind the magazine "New World"?
Bella Galbmillion: Yes. He was Tvardovsky’s right hand man in the magazine. He was the editor, and I think he headed the department of prose. He came to us then and talked to us a lot. I don’t remember what about, but it was a very interesting evening with him. Then, one time Victor brought to us a journalist by the name of Olga Chaikovsky. Afterward he brought an architect from Belgium. Pretty much like that… Not only to us, he also probably took people to others. He was an all around very interesting person.
Interviewer: Bella, may I ask you… I know that you passed some materials concerning Victor Nekrasov to Yad Vashem (a holocust remembrance museum) in Israel.
Bella Galbmillion: Yes.
Interviewer: What kinds of materials? What materials?
Bella Galbmillion: I will tell you. I gave them letters and postcards written by Victor Nekrasov to my husband and me. I gave them photographs, also. They did not answer me for a long time because they were checking whether or not they were originals, and when they became sure that all of this was actually true and that these were authentic handwritten letters by Victor Nekrasov, they accepted them and send me a letter that said that they would keep them and the archive numbers assigned to them, and that they would be open for reference.
Interviewer: I think that we ought to take a break and move on to the next side of the tape.
Interviewer: We have reached a very important, saddening period of Russian history. What memories do you have connected to the Great Patriotic War (World War II)?
Bella Galbmillion: Oh, how heavy and difficult they are, and so many losses. You understand, during the dawning of the war, the family and I, my husband and I, were in Kishenov while my husband was serving with our border troops. He was an architect in the headquarters of the border troops. I remember the day and eve of the war. It was a Saturday, the 21st. The war began on the 22nd… On Saturday the 21st, I was lecturing for the pharmaceutical nurses, and they accompanied me on the way home. It was a wonderful evening. At night, at four o’clock in the morning we heard a ring. My husband was called to the border troops. The war had begun. The very next day, the women and children were put on a truck, and they began to evacuate us from there because already…. I was working in a laboratory then. The head of the laboratory, my friend, called me on the telephone to say that a bomb was dropped near our laboratory. She was spending the night in the laboratory. Luckily, the bomb did not hit the laboratory, or else she would not have been among the living. We were being evacuated in trucks. We were also lucky to not have been on a train because a train was also bombed. The driver managed to get us out through some forest trails. We were brought into Kiev. Well, Kiev is my home. That is where my mother was. My mother, my brother, and I later left. That was my first evacuation. Kiev. I did not stay there for long. We lived there for sometime near a month, and we were able to go to the Northern Caucasus, the city Nalchik. That was my second evacuation with two children, my mother, and my brother. My sister passed at a young age of 21. In Nalchek, to my great luck, I was able to find a job. The head of the laboratory there was drafted into the army; he was young. I was accepted immediately because they needed people like me. There I lived… Yes, I knew nothing of my husband because we parted, and that was all.
Interviewer: He was left with the border troops?
Bella Galbmillion: Yes, he stayed there.
Interviewer: Bella, forgive me, what was his name?
Bella Galbmillion: Miron Mikhailovich.
Interviewer: Thank you.
Bella Galbmillion: I also wish to recall… Yes, I worked there. Afterwards the Germans came there. When we were in Kiev, my husband’s parents also went with us to Nalchek. My husband’s father also served in the border troops headquarters. They consequently evacuated us to Central Asia. That was the third evacuation. Oh, I forgot to say that my mother died in Nalchek. So I was with my children, my in-laws, and my brother, and we went to Central Asia. In Central Asia, I could not find a job. It was such a horror because many people were evacuated and all of the positions were filled. I recall that I was standing at a bazaar, and I was selling my son’s slacks. I showed you his photograph.
Interview: Boris?
Bella Galbmillion: Boris.
Interviewer: The two children were Boris and Anna, yes?
Bella Galbmillion: Yes. So, unexpectedly, a woman approached. She turned out to be my doctor co-worker, who was also the head of a laboratory in Kiev. Her name was Doctor Soloviola. She was shopping. She had a son the same age as my Boris, and she was looking for items to buy for him. We began to talk, and I told her that I could not find a job. I did not have my diploma or any other credentials with me, and I was only receiving pension for my children. The wives of soldiers received two hundred fifty rubles then, I think. I don’t remember. She told me, "You know, we need a laboratory worker. Come tomorrow, and I will speak with a professor. Perhaps you will join us for work." And thus I started to work there, and worked in the Hospital Therapeutic Clinic of the Samarcand Medical Institute for nearly two years. During this time the war was nearing its end. There died my brother, in the same clinic in which I worked. We starved terribly. Near the end of my residence in Samarcand, my husband found us and sent me my diploma. Then things became easier. You can say that my brother died from starvation because we were very impoverished and famished. As for the children… My son was in daycare for toddlers, and my daughter Anna was in preschool. Truthfully I cannot say…. Well, I was treated very well. Professor Cornetov tried in every possible way to help. When vouchers were being distributed, he secured some for me as family of a soldier. I recall some boots that I received and sold for cash. There was an epidemic of malaria, and he sent me to give vaccinations. We also took medicine there. For this, later, I received rice. The hunger was terrible, and we suffered a lot. The world was not without kind people. I remember that when I went to the laboratory, I entered one laboratory (this was before I found a job at the institute). So I entered a laboratory and a Natasha Paltaratzkaya worked there. I remembered the last names of good, kind people. She headed the laboratory.
When she learned of my story, she said, "May I see you at home?" If you would have seen where I lived… I rented a little room. It was practically a barn. The owner who was an Uzbek kept her donkey there earlier. Later she installed some plank beds (don’t even mention what kind of horror it was), and installed a small stove. There I lived with my children. This Natasha came to me and brought with her a liter of cod liver oil. This cod liver oil possibly saved my children. I fed them cod liver oil, and they also got nutrition from preschool. Afterward, Professor Nikolai Ivanovich Cornetov gave a voucher for Anna. She attended a children’s camp. I suffered a great deal. Oh, I don’t wish to remember it. The most important was this: the death of my brother who was also taken into the labor army. He was already exhausted, enervated, and ill. There he completely swelled up. He died from an elementary dystrophy. So finally my diploma arrived from my husband who found out where we were, and things became easier. By then Kiev was liberated, and people feared the epidemic of typhus. So then doctors were called in, and they administered typhus vaccinations, and we were directed towards Kiev. I needed exactly that. I arrived in Kiev. I suffered greatly during the war. In Kiev, I was able to find a job in the laboratory of the government department number four. Why do I say that I was able to find a job there? You understand, the conditions there were better than in other laboratories. There they gave us food rations (then they had a stamp system). The conditions were better there. I began to work there as the head of the pharmaceutical department of the clinical laboratory. My supervisor (I had an excellent supervisor) was an old man of 70 or some age near that who was a former zemscoi (elective district council in pre-Revolutionary Russia) doctor. He was a man with a very kind soul. Now I can tell you about the "Case of the Doctors" if you want.
Interviewer: Yes, I wanted to ask you about the Case of the Doctors.
Bella Galbmillion: Do you understand what we had in the fourth department? We had excellent Jewish doctors. Doctor Avgustina Yakovlevna Glavatskaya was a wonderful theraputic doctor. Many people were like her. Eventually all of them were fired. When the Case of the Doctors began, you can imagine what kind of treatment we received.
Interviewer: That was February of 1953.
Bella Galbmillion: Yes, this was already after the war, yes. Back then, my supervisor, I have confused everything because I cannot not mention my supervisor without a kind word. He was Andrei Mironavich Litvinenko. When he was interviewing me for the position (I think he did this with everybody), he did not simply accept me. I brought him a reference from two professors: Professors Kornetov, for whom I worked during the evacuation, and Fialkov. My supervisor went to my place of work (my laboratory before the war). The same director worked there then who was there when I worked there. Litvinenko asked him about everything about me. Only then did he accept me for the job. Of course he didn’t accept me, but I passed. In order to be accepted into the fourth department, I had to go through a special committee that ran a background check. And imagine this: they checked me fairly quickly. I filled out an application, and within something like a week they told me that I could begin to work there. Usually the background check for my coworkers ran for three or four months. I don’t know why. Perhaps it was because they had all of the information about me. I was born in Kiev, and all of my relatives were in Kiev, so I suppose that everything was known about me.
Interviewer: When did you begin to work for the fourth department?
Bella Galbmillion: This was in 1944. Yes, in 1944, and I left in 1964. I think that three Jewish women worked in the laboratory then. Andrei Mironich fell terribly ill, and he was on his deathbed. He had cancer of the kidneys, and he knew that he was dying. He, however, was very respected. He was one of the first to receive the title of an Honored Doctor of the Republic. He said this, "I hired them. I ask you to not fire them while I live. When I die, do whatever you want, but while I live, please leave them alone." He passed when Stalin died, just after Stalin.
Interviewer: When the Case of the Doctors ended. Did any of the people that you knew suffer during the Case of the Doctors?
Bella Galbmillion: I would say no, but I don’t know. They just were no longer there, the Jewish doctors. Only in the laboratory were a few Jewish people left, but none were left there. They fired those doctors, and hired only entry-level graduates fresh from medical school. They had just finished medical school. Some were ministers’ daughters or someone like that.
Interviewer: So people were hired through connections?
Bella Galbmillion: Yes, yes.
Interviewer: To fill the places of the fired Jews?
Bella Galbmillion: Excellent Jewish doctors. I already mentioned those two. Jewish professors worked with us. For example, there was a Professor Izenberg and a Professor Louriye, to whom I was sent as an associate. We had then opened a hormonal department of the laboratory and I was sent to him. He was a Jewish professor. Well, they worked, but they were consultants and not permanent workers of the fourth department.
Interviewer: During these years, mainly 1953, were your family or friends affected? That was a very difficult period for Jews in the Soviet Union, so that is why I am asking this question.
Bella Galbmillion: Yes. You know, somehow it happened that nobody was arrested in my family. You know, there were 1937 and more… Somehow all of that went past my family.
Interviewer: It is very good that it went past you.
Bella Galbmillion: Yes that was very fortunate. I was called in a number of times, and my husband almost one time… He worried very much. I was called in. You understand, there were occasions there when… I turned out… I did medical analyses and tests. I was called to do these analyses. There were these different cases when there were troubles with Khrushchev. He had troubles when he was in Ukraine. And then Sherbitsky, I was called in with Sherbitsky. There were these troubles.
Interviewer: Can you say what these cases were?
Bella Galbmillion: Now I think I probably can tell you, but I once signed an agreement dictating that I would not speak of them. The first time that I was called… I’m not sure whether or not this should be recorded.
Interviewer: Bella, it’s not necessary, it’s not necessary. If you do not feel comfortable, then you do not have to tell me about them.
Bella Galbmillion: Well, pretty much I was a consultant or something… I’m not sure.
Interviewer: I want to return to your husband. When he returned from the front, how did you reunite? How was that?
Bella Galbmillion: How was it? My husband returned, and he went to the hospital. He was in the Hospital of Kiev. He was there for four months, and then he was honorably dismissed from the army. This was in the beginning of 1946. It was the end of 1945 or the beginning of 1946.
Interviewer: He continued to work as an architect after the war?
Bella Galbmillion: Yes, he was an architect. After the war he always worked as architect.
Interviewer: May I ask you about your children and their educations? Where did they receive them, were there any difficulties with receiving then?
Bella Galbmillion: Of course there were difficulties, of course. It was difficult. My daughter graduated school with an academic medal, and she enrolled in the Institute Mikoyana. She wanted to enroll into the mechanical department, but she was accepted into the economy department. Thank goodness for even that. Even so, it was very difficult for her to enroll. My son was not able to enroll into a regular university, so he studied in a night college or he took remote courses.
Interviewer: Were these difficulties with enrolling associated with their being Jewish?
Bella Galbmillion: Of course, of course, of course. My granddaughter also found difficulties, but she… They really wanted to throw, manipulate, and falsify her exams and results.
Interviewer: What was your granddaughter’s name?
Bella Galbmillion: Alina. We named her after Victor Nekrasov’s grandmother, Alina Antonavna.
Interviewer: Very interesting. If you don’t mind, we are approaching the time in which your family made the decision to leave Ukraine and immigrate to the United States. May I ask you why your family made that decision?
Bella Galbmillion: Why was that decision made? You understand, my son already lived here, and so did my granddaughter. Many of our friends and most of our relatives passed away. All of our friends scattered about different places, and very few friends and relatives remained. Almost nobody was left. My son and the family were here; my granddaughter was here. Because of this, we came here.
Interviewer: In order to be with your relatives?
Bella Galbmillion: Yes, yes.
Interviewer: And so your family decided to move to Columbus, and first your granddaughter Alina came here.
Bella Galbmillion: My granddaughter, yes, and my son, yes.
Interviewer: When did you arrive in the United States?
Bella Galbmillion: We came in 1993.
Interviewer: I apologize Bella. I need to repeat the question.
Bella Galbmillion: Sure.
Interviewer: So your family decided to move to America, and first came your granddaughter Alina. When did you family come to America?
Bella Galbmillion: In April of 1993.
Interviewer: Who from the family?
Bella Galbmillion: My daughter, her husband, their son, and I.
Interviewer: You came straight to Columbus?
Bella Galbmillion: We came to, yes, Columbus. We came through New York to Columbus.
Interviewer: What were your first impressions when you arrived here? I’m talking about the very beginning of your new life in this new country.
Bella Galbmillion: I liked very much the people here. An American family welcomed us. Now they are our closest, best friends. They treated us very well.
Interviewer: Can you name them?
Bella Galbmillion: Debbie. She is an American, and I of course could not speak with her, but my granddaughter served as an interpreter. And her husband Benny.
Voice from aside: Schwartz, Debbie Schwartz, yes?
Interviewer: Do you remember he last name?
Bella Galbmillion: Anna (Bella’s granddaughter) knows. Debbie was a volunteer (an anchor family) for my son and my granddaughter. They are very well-wishing people. They helped us so much that I cannot express it. When we settled here, in this house, nearby lived an elderly married couple. He was a disabled veteran of a war. Vietnam, Korea, I don’t know which war. They also welcomed us warmly. She once emigrated from Germany. Her husband was a professor in Torah Academy. She was an American also. She greeted me with a bouquet of flowers. They welcomed us very warmly. I was awestruck at how these people were strangers and accepted us so warmly. I liked this very much. Then it was interesting. I wished to know Americans and their customs closer. As you know, every society has its uniqueness, meaning what is not common for us. I wanted to know them closer. I liked this society very much, very much.
Interviewer: Were you able to get better acquainted with the culture and customs of Americans?
Bella Galbmillion: Not everything, not all, of course. Here, you see, my age served as an obstacle.
Interviewer: So there is still more to learn.
Bella Galbmillion: Yes, yes.
Interviewer: Very interesting. How did the lives of your children and grandchildren develop?
Bella Galbmillion: How did their lives develop? Like this, I will tell you. My granddaughter immediately began to work. She worked as a maid in someone’s home, and worked in the kitchen of a restaurant. She also studied here; she studied in college. Then she, when we came here, still worked like that, but she finished college and found another job. She now works as a computer programmer. My grandson also, as we came, enrolled in a university. In Ukraine, he was in his second year of college, and enrolled in Ohio University. He also graduated and now works as a programmer.
Interviewer: What is your grandson’s name?
Bella Galbmillion: Mine? Michael.
Interviewer: How do you think the lives of Anna and Boris developed here in America?
Bella Galbmillion: Fine. I don’t think they’re completely satisfied because Boris is an Engineer, and is not currently working as one. Anna was a Ph.D. In Kiev, she also worked in the field of science, but here she at one time worked in Children’s Hospital, and then she changed occupations. I don’t know what her position is called. She has something to do with homes.
Interviewer: Realtor?
Bella Galbmillion: Yes. So I don’t think that they are satisfied. I know that when I retired and left my job, I was very anxious and missed it greatly.
Interviewer: Tell me please… In the beginning of the interview you mentioned relatives who immigrated long before you, long ago. Did you find anything out about them after you came to America?
Bella Galbmillion: Yes, we found out about them. I will tell you how it all began. Back in the Soviet Union, my elderly neighbor who was a high-ranking officer in the Navy told me about an acquaintance who in 1918 or 1920 immigrated to Paris and met somebody there. I told my neighbor that my relatives also immigrated, but I did not know anything of them, do not know anything of them, and I even wrote that I did not have any relatives abroad. He told me, "Write to the Red Cross". I wrote to them, and they answered me that they did not know anything (about my relatives). Victor Galbmillion was two months old, and I thought then that perhaps his children left and live in America. Maybe truthfully he is somewhere abroad and I can contact him.
Interviewer: Bella, I’m sorry, I did not understand who was two months old.
Bella Galbmillion: My cousin Victor was two months old in 1918 when the family immigrated with him.
Interviewer: Thank you.
Bella Galbmillion: You understand, I am older than he is. Therefore somewhere I have a cousin, I thought. I wrote (to the Red Cross), and they answered me that they do not know anything about that, but they suggested that I refer to the HIAS, but I did not ask them. My relatives here in America found our relatives, and when we came, we already knew that we in fact had a relative about whom we did not know for some reason. He was involved in classified work connected to going to the moon.
Interviewer: I heard that you found here some tracks of your family. Some burials in the Arlington Cemetery.
Bella Galbmillion: Yes, yes.
Interviewer: Who is buried there?
Bella Galbmillion: Victor Galbmillion is there, or maybe Halbmillion. On the signed picture by my uncle, the signature reads "Halbmillion". The records there show that Victor Galbmillion passed away in, I think, 1990 and is buried there.
Interviewer: What would you like to add for the conclusion of this interview? Do you want to contribute anything about which I did not ask you, and that is related to your very interesting life? Your life is a story.
Bella Galbmillion: (Laughing) I don’t think I can add anything. I am already very old, and have lived through much. I have seen a lot and have known many interesting people. My relatives were also interesting people. But all is in the past and has passed. They have died.
Interviewer: I think that we have all of the reasons to finish this interview on a very optimistic note because here in America, your family leads a good life. If you can please tell us a few words about your grandson, Boris’s son.
Bella Galbmillion: Yes, he is currently on vacation for nineteen days.
Interviewer: What is his name?
Bella Galbmillion: His name is Slavik, but here he goes by Steven, Steven Zilberman, Sokolov-Zilberman. I love him very much, perhaps because he is the youngest. He is a very good, kind boy. He wanted to join the military, and enlisted in the Navy. His first two months there were extremely difficult because of tremendous physical hardship, but he overcame it all. Afterwards there was school. He studied there very well, and they decided to continue his education in order for him to become a Navy officer. He was given a vacation of nineteen days. He is now in Columbus, and in a week he is leaving for Newport (where he studies).
Interviewer: Is he also studying in college?
Bella Galbmillion: No. He is studying in this school, and if he finishes it well, he will be able to move on to college. He wants to be in Ohio.
Interviewer: How wonderful. He got married here?
Bella Galbmillion: He married a very nice girl who was also from the former Soviet Union. Her name is Katie. I think that is it.
Interviewer: Thank you very much for a very interesting meeting and a very interesting story. Everything that you say is very fascinating. I think that this is very interesting for us. Thank you for contributing your time. I think that this will also be interesting for future generations who will grow up here and who will learn from these materials how their grandparents and great-grandparents lived. I wish your grandchildren great success. Thank you very much for this interview.
