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6. I'm half Ukrainian but never felt any connection

Sun Feb 27, 2022, 08:21 PM

Feb 2022

My grandfather grew up near Kyiv, but left for America to fight in ww1 because he didn't want to fight for the Russians even though he considered himself Russian ethnically.

My grandmother's parents were from around Kyiv also, but she was born in America, so I never got any insight about Ukraine from her.

Maybe because I'm Jewish, and Jewish history is more nomadic than others', I don't feel much connection to places my ancestry lived temporarily.

I mean, my mother's side is Austrian, and they treated that whole side of the family quite rudely, so why should I care for them.

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I always thought I was a Russian Jew. [View all] Grumpy Old Guy Feb 2022 OP

Journalist (and old time DUer) Larisa Alexandrova is from Odessa. blm Feb 2022 #1

Same with my MIL. She always told her children she was Russian MaryMagdaline Feb 2022 #2

I don't recall specific geography being discussed; elleng Feb 2022 #3

That clip says it all, doesn't it? Grumpy Old Guy Feb 2022 #10

Oh my GOODNESS, how lucky, you knew your great grandmother! elleng Feb 2022 #13

I was very fortunate. Grumpy Old Guy Feb 2022 #14

What a beautiful story. JudyM Mar 2022 #16

That is also a beautiful story. Grumpy Old Guy Mar 2022 #19

I'm sure it has affected you, my dear Grumpy Old Guy... CaliforniaPeggy Feb 2022 #4

My great grandfather RockCreek Feb 2022 #5

I'm half Ukrainian but never felt any connection unblock Feb 2022 #6

The pogroms didn't help build any connection, for sure. JudyM Mar 2022 #17

Thanks! unblock Mar 2022 #18

I think of myself as Ashkenazi because when my grandparents left Europe around WWI they were mucifer Feb 2022 #7

That's true. Grumpy Old Guy Feb 2022 #11

Russia had an area called the Pale of Settlement where modern Ukraine exists. Lots of Jews Karadeniz Feb 2022 #8

I, too, learned yesterday from my older sister that cilla4progress Feb 2022 #9

It's strange that several of us had similar experiences. Grumpy Old Guy Feb 2022 #12

Well, so much so in my family, cilla4progress Feb 2022 #15

Many Jews were brought up thinking this because they were. Behind the Aegis Mar 2022 #20