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Maya Sherbakovskaya.
Photo taken in 2009.

ARKADY RAIKIN’S RELATIVES

A few years ago, with the assistance of Maya Sherbakovskaya, we published an essay written by Arkady Raikin’s daughter Yekaterina. The essay is about the Raikins. I found out that Maya Naumovna is a relative of the family and now decided to continue our conversation.

- What is your relation to Arkady Raikin?

Stera Raikina-Sagalovich.

Mikhail Raikin.

Lisa Raikina.

- My grandfather Zalman Raikin was either a brother or a cousin of Arkady Raikin’s father.

- Tell me about your grandfather. What was he like?

- As my mother told me he was a very sociable person, very musical. He learnt to play the violin and even performed on the radio.

- And how did he earn his living?

- Grandmother used to bake bread and he sold it in a shop – they had one in Shumilino. He also dyed fabric.

- What was Shumilino of those times like?

- It was a small town with wooden houses. The people were very friendly. No one ever mentioned anti-Semitism. Our family was neither poor nor rich. There was enough money to buy bread and clothing.

- Were any of your relatives killed in the ghetto in Shumilino?

Photograph of the parents.
Inscription on the back:
“Naum Grigorievich Sherbakovsky
and Rahil Zalmanovna Raikina.
Photo taken in 1931.”

- Yes. I don’t know whether it can be called a ghetto. On the very first days, when the Nazis occupied Shumilino, they gathered all the Jews, including my relatives: grandfather, daughter Stera with two small children, and other people and made them walk to Sirotino, which is about ten kilometers away. There they were shot. Stera’s husband saw them walking towards the execution site – he was working on the railroad. So, he was the only one who survived from his family. He wanted to run towards his wife and the kids but his colleagues held him. He spent the rest of the war with the partisans.

I went to live in Vitebsk after the war…

Arkady Shulman

Maya Sherbakovskaya’s video interview

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