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Letwin, Bessie (audio interview #1 of 4)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the first interview of four interviews with Bessie Letwin conducted in her home in Westwood for as part of a student project in a women's oral history class at CSULB. Although Letwin was frank and honest, her unprepossessing manner meant that she did not speak at length on any particular subject. Letwin and the interviewer had known eachother for several years and there references to close friends and relatives are not fully explained. Note: it is sometimes difficult to understand Letwin because of her thick accent. TOPICS - youth in Russia; family background; family history; socioeconomic status; family life; religion; gender roles; commerce in Russian village; anti-Semitism and pogroms; conditions in czarist Russia; education; Jewish culture and values; childhood; household chores; housing and living conditions; and social activities; NOTE: it is sometimes difficult to understand Letwin because of her thick accent;family socioeconomic status in Russia; anti-Semitism; relations with gentiles; religion; family life; family history; clothing styles; health care in Russia; puberty and menstruation; early work experiences; wages and hours; educational aspirations; and schooling and education; Note: it is sometimes difficult to understand Letwin because of her thick accent; 1978-10
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- 2020-04-23
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- SUBJECT BIO - Bessie Letwin's radicalism developed during her younger days in Russia before the revolution and continued even after she left the Communist party during the height of McCarthyism in the 1950s. Born in the Ukraine, Letwin had to leave school after two years to help support the family and went to work in a shop selling dress trims. She learned to read and write Yiddish from three students who roomed in her home, and later convinced a cousin to support her attending school in Odessa. While attending a gymnasium there, she was a witness to and participated in some of the activities leading up to the Russian revolution. She met her fiance during WWI and emigrated to the US with him and his family. In Milwaukee, where they joined other members of his family, she went to work in a garment shop, and after her son was born did home work. Some time during this period, she joined the Communist party. Letwin and her husband opened a grocery store and shared responsibility for running the store. Because of the long hours she kept there, she was not active in the CP, but did carry party literature in the store, which earned her the enmity and loss of some customers. In the 1950s, during the height of McCarthyism, Letwin left the CP and notes that she suddenly regained friends who had kept their distance from her. She moved to California in the 1960s after her husband's death, and although she is not very specific about her activities, did remain involved in radical politics. The interview with Bessie Letwin was conducted as a project in a women's oral history class by Susie Bright, who had been involved with one of Letwin's grandchildren in high school radical politics, publishing the University High School alternative paper, The Red Tide. INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the first interview of four interviews with Bessie Letwin conducted in her home in Westwood for as part of a student project in a women's oral history class at CSULB. Although Letwin was frank and honest, her unprepossessing manner meant that she did not speak at length on any particular subject. Letwin and the interviewer had known eachother for several years and there references to close friends and relatives are not fully explained. Note: it is sometimes difficult to understand Letwin because of her thick accent. TOPICS - youth in Russia; family background; family history; socioeconomic status; family life; religion; gender roles; commerce in Russian village; anti-Semitism and pogroms; conditions in czarist Russia; education; Jewish culture and values; childhood; household chores; housing and living conditions; and social activities; NOTE: it is sometimes difficult to understand Letwin because of her thick accent;family socioeconomic status in Russia; anti-Semitism; relations with gentiles; religion; family life; family history; clothing styles; health care in Russia; puberty and menstruation; early work experiences; wages and hours; educational aspirations; and schooling and education; Note: it is sometimes difficult to understand Letwin because of her thick accent;
- *** File: refbletwin1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:05)... Letwin was born in a small city in the Ukraine located near the mountains. The city also bordered a river that was used by locals for recreation and served as a route for boats carrying products to the larger port cities. (2:05-6:43)... Letwin did not spend a lot of time with her paternal grandparents, but recalls that they were very poor. Unlike most Jewish families in the community, her grandparents did not reside with them. Her grandfather taught Yiddish to the Jewish children in the community and continued this endeavor from his bed when he became ill. She never knew her maternal grandparents. In order to save money, her mother baked bread for the family. She also made her own tea from leaves packaged in a tin container. (6:43-9:05)... Letwin does not remember much about her father because he died of typhus when she was very young. While he was alive, he supported the family by selling prayers and Yiddish books, which required that he travel. He had been married previously before meeting her mother and was much older than her mother. Letwin claims that it was viewed as "a merit for a woman to marry somebody older than she was." When he died, Letwin's mother inherited his home and business. (9:05-11:19)... Letwin's mother came from a rabbinical family, which meant they "lived better than others because they are supported by society and the people who believe in religion." She grew up in a small city and her life was very limited. However, she was a self-made woman who was interested in education. Although she could not obtain a formal education because she was a Jew, she learned how to read Yiddish and picked up whatever Russian she could through her visits to the market. (11:19-12:52)... Most of the businesses and stores in her city were owned by Jews because they were not allowed to be farmers. It usually cost five rubles to open a small store that sold basic food products like potatoes and sugar. Typically, people bartered rather than purchase things for set prices. (12:52-14:33)... Letwin's mother was not allowed to socialize with boys and had to be in the house by dark. She married Letwin's father when she was quite young. Letwin's grandfather earned $1/year to teach children how to read and write Yiddish and Hebrew. He taught both boys and girls, but the girls were taught separately for half an hour while the boys went to school from morning until night. (14:33-18:56)... A matchmaker arranged the union between Letwin's parents, for which he was paid about fifty cents. The vast majority of matchmakers were men because "all women did was prepare a meal and bake the bread or take care of the children...." The matchmaker thought her parents would be a good match because of their family backgrounds. Although couples were not suppose to meet before they married, an exception was made for her parents because her father had already been married and had two children. Letwin's father was better educated than her mother. Because he sold books, he was well-read in both Yiddish and Russian. He joined the army when he was twenty-one to fulfill the mandatory conscription requirement in Russia. Unlike the other Jews in the service who filled lower rank positions, he became an officer. (18:56-22:20)... For some Jewish families, marriage festivities lasted for two or three days. This was not the case for her parents because her father had already been married and was bringing two children into the marriage. Brides from Orthodox families, like her mother's, had to cut their hair and wear a wig after they married to make them less attractive to men. (22:20-22:58)... Letwin's mother had a daughter before Letwin was born. Letwin's sister and her sister's son were both killed during the Holocaust. (22:58-24:59)... A typical day for Letwin involved eating her bread and tea upon waking and then cleaning the house. After her father died, Letwin and her siblings handled the domestic chores because their mother was busy running her father's business. When the boys went off to school, Letwin and her girlfriends played in the street. During the winter, they played in the house. She started reading books when she was about eight years old, which "were very hard to get.... Whoever was born in my time, it was a miracle that they read anything." (24:59-34:51)... Their home had two bedrooms, a living room, dining room, and a kitchen. They rented out their living room and a bedroom to another family in order to make some extra money. The kitchen was equipped with a built-in, wood-burning stove that was used to cook meals and to heat the house. There was no running water or electricity in the home; they used kerosene lamps and fetched water from a nearby lake where people swam and bathed. They did not have an outhouse and went to the bathroom near the lake. The bedrooms accommodated two people each; the rest of the family slept in the other rooms on wooden benches covered with feather beds. Plucking chicken and geese feathers to make these beds was a nightly ritual in her home. (34:51-36:00)... Letwin's mother rented out the other half of their home to three boys studying to be teachers. They were approximately eight to ten years older than Letwin at that time. When they started teaching classes, they began giving reading and writing lessons to Letwin and her siblings. (36:00-39:56)... Although they did not discuss politics in Letwin's home, her mother prayed for a better czar. There were no newspapers printed in her city and by the time newspapers reached the city, the news was old. During the 1905 revolution, people came to her city to inform the Jews that pogroms were sweeping the larger cities and to prepare themselves. These people were typically arrested or killed for preaching to the public. During one of these warnings, her mother took all the children and left them in a secluded location for the night while she went back to their city to protect their home. When nothing happened that evening, she returned the next morning to pick them up. (39:56-43:40)... The policemen in her city were corrupt and could not be trusted. Jews were not permitted to work as police officers. Most of the arrests in the city were related to alcohol and prostitution, but "the police drank and used prostitutes themselves." Vodka was the drink of choice and it was shipped to her city from the larger cities. There were no drinking establishments and people usually drank in their homes. Women did not drink to excess. Her mother served vodka when she had company, but "Jewish people would drink it as a treat," not to get drunk. End of tape. *** File: refbletwin2.mp3 (0:00-4:05)... Letwin grew up in a city solely populated by Jews. Although they struggled financially, most, if not all, of the Jews in the city owned a business of some sort. Gentiles resided on the outskirts of the city and worked as farmers. They came to the city to sell livestock and food at the market. While they were never abusive towards Jews, they were anti-Semitic. In turn, the Jews were also prejudiced towards gentiles and considered it "kosher" to allow gentiles to make foolish mistakes like giving them the incorrect amount of change. It was a common perception among gentiles that Jews were drunkards, when, in fact, gentiles were the ones who abused alcohol. (4:05-6:41)... Jews saved their money so that they could afford to buy the food necessary to celebrate the Sabbath every week. Her mother prepared meals on Friday night because they were not permitted to do anything industrious or laborious on Saturdays. Following their morning meal, they went to the synagogue and spent half the day praying. Letwin spent the other half of her day playing with friends or listening to her mother pray. (6:41-8:05)... Letwin's mother was consumed with domestic and childcare responsibilities. She was also responsible for running the book business that she took over after her husband's death. She had great respect for her husband when they married because he was educated. During that period, women did not marry men because they were in love but "looked for a man who would make a living for you and be good to you." Her mother could have remarried, but she did not want to take the chance of her new husband mistreating Letwin and her siblings. (8:05-13:29)... Letwin's mother purchased material by the yard and most of their clothes were made by a dressmaker although Letwin made her own clothes when they got a sewing machine. They had very few outfits and clothes were handed down in her family. When she was a child, her dresses went to her knees. When she got older, she had to wear longer dresses with long sleeves so that no flesh was exposed to the eyes of men. She wore knit stockings and high boots that went above her ankles. In the winter months, she kept warm by wearing a shawl. She was not allowed to wear makeup. She wore a corset under her dresses that accentuated her waist. (13:29-18:52)... There were no medical doctors in the city where she grew up. Instead, when they were sick, they sought treatment from men who practiced medicine but were not educated physicians. One of the most wildly used medicines to treat a fever was quinine. When Letwin contracted typhus, they cut her hair because they could not get an ice pack to penetrate her thick and wavy hair. When she was fourteen or fifteen, she had appendicitis and had to have her appendix removed at a hospital in Odessa. She was given ether to sedate her during the operation. (18:52-22:52)... Letwin's mother did not prepare her for puberty or menstruation. Letwin recalls reading about menstruation in a book and was looking forward to it because she thought it would make her a woman. She started her period when she was fourteen or fifteen. She used cotton batting to protect herself and was extremely embarrassed the first time she had to buy it because everyone at the store knew that she had started menstruating. She discussed these things with a girlfriend whose older brother sent them a book about the facts of life written by a Russian archbishop. (22:52-25:48)... When Letwin was twelve or thirteen years old, she decided to help her family out by getting a job at a shop that sold dress trimmings. She went to work at about 8:00 am and left when it got dark. She was paid ten rubles for the year. She did not like this job because she would have rather been in school. However, she could not afford to purchase the uniform that was required to attend school. (25:48-31:49)... Letwin learned how to read and write Yiddish from the three men who lived with her family while they were studying to be teachers. She eventually got the tuition to pay for her schooling in Odessa from a cousin who was in love with her. He agreed to give her the money after she told him that there was a possibility she would marry him when she graduated. This facade ended a couple of years later when he caught her dancing with a male student during a school dance. In 1936, she went to the Soviet Union to visit her cousin, at which time his wife thanked her for not marrying him. (31:49-36:20)... Letwin was hired at the dress trimming store because she came from a good family and was an attractive girl. The owner of the store was smart enough to know that her appearance would enhance his business. She handed her earnings over to her mother to be used for household expenses. Letwin notes that her older sister was much more capable and sophisticated than her. She attended a city school where only three percent of the Jewish population were admitted. While in school, she made money working as a seamstress for a wealthy family. Letwin's younger sister dropped out of school and spent most of her time doing chores around the house. (36:20-45:00)... Letwin worked at the dress shop for two years before leaving to go back to school. She applied to go to school in Odessa and took an entrance examination that consisted of both written and oral tests. She was admitted and attended the school for six years. There is some confusion regarding the schools Letwin attended. The school she attended in the city where she grew up consisted of one room where all grades were taught by one or two teachers. While going to this school, Letwin tutored wealthy children in math. Politics were not discussed in school and her teachers were very conservative and authoritative. End of tape.
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