Mira Murovanaia was born in 1926 in Mykolaiv. Her father, a colonel, was born in Kublich. He was positioned in Moscow and taught at the Army Technical School (NVD) in Babushkin. Her mother was born in Haysyn and, as a devoted Communist, worked as president of a tailors’ collective. She had a half-sister from her father’s second marriage. She attended a Russian school and finished seven grades in Haysyn. During the war, she evacuated to Central Asia. After the war, she was trained at a pharmacy and then worked as a pharmacist technician for forty-five years. She has two daughters; they live in Moscow and in Haysyn.
Other Interviews:
Revolutionary Celebrations and Jewish Holy DaysVarenikes
Haysyn, Ukraine
While AHEYM was interviewing Mira Murovanaia from Haysyn, Ukraine, she was busy making varenikes - dumplings. In the video clip, you can see her rolling out circles of dough, sprinkling the dough with sugar, adding a few sour cherries, and pinching the dumplings closed. Her daughter, meantime, is boiling some water on the stove to cook the dumplings.
While they cook, Mira and her daughter discuss Jewish life in Haysyn. Although Mira herself attended a Russian school, she recalls that there was a Jewish school in town before the war. There were also three synagogues, all of which were destroyed in World War II. Even after the war, however, Mira remembers there being a shoykhet - kosher butcher - in town.