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Parallel Circumstances but Different Levels of Assistance, Three Elderly in Russia
If you are an elderly Jew living in the former Soviet Union (FSU), your fate is largely determined by one key question: where did you live during World War II?
This is because, within the FSU, a two-tiered system of social assistance exists. Those who originate from areas occupied by the Nazis and meet specified criteria are entitled to Holocaust restitution funds earmarked for victims of Nazi persecution. They are assured of receiving such vital assistance as food, medicine, and money for heating fuel. Those who do not explicitly meet that criteria — perhaps only because the SS did not reach their block or some other logistical nuance — are categorized as non-Nazi victims and do not qualify for these funds. Monies to support services to them must come from private donors and other less assured sources. Take the case of Roza Jeltkov, 81 — who receives restitution fund monies — and sisters deemed ineligible for these funds, Tekla and Anja Piskun, ages 79 and 67, respectively. Both Roza and the Piskun sisters are homebound. They live in similarly destitute conditions — small, cramped flats that lack proper heating during brutal Russian winters. The health of all three women is rapidly deteriorating and they are, effectively, alone in the world. They also share threads of a tragic past — a past that continues to haunt. 
For Roza, there are her memories; memories of all the Jews in her small village of Ulyanovka being herded by the Nazis into stables without food for two weeks. She remembers her mother dying of hunger during that time. She remembers when she and one hundred other Jews were thrown into a pit and were shot. She recalls being left for dead for three days, lying under the bodies of her former neighbors and friends. She can never forget the nights on the run through the forest, finally reaching safety in Russia where she worked for years doing heavy construction. For the Piskuns, the war years were hard years as well. "There was barely ever enough to eat," says Tekla, who recounts the many family members who died on the front: her brother, her uncle and several cousins. The suffering for their family continued after the war as well; during Stalin’s regime another uncle was exiled to the Gulag for seven years. The hardships of yesterday continue today as all must get by on pensions that average about $100. While each lives under similar circumstances and JDC-sponsored Hesed Menorah of Yekaterinburg provides them with assistance including food packages, medicines, and a home care worker, the Piskun sisters live in peril of having their assistance either reduced or cut. This is assistance they so desperately need. "We could never imagine getting by without this help," says Anja. "The only things we have left in this world are each other and Hesed." May 2006 |
