"I want to kiss America": the story of a woman who fled from the Nazis and the USSR - ForumDaily
The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.
Переклад цього матеріалу українською мовою з російської було автоматично здійснено сервісом Google Translate, без подальшого редагування тексту.
Bu məqalə Google Translate servisi vasitəsi ilə avtomatik olaraq rus dilindən azərbaycan dilinə tərcümə olunmuşdur. Bundan sonra mətn redaktə edilməmişdir.

"I want to kiss America": the story of a woman who fled from the Nazis and the USSR

Under cover of night, the family crowded the cattle trucks to escape from the Nazi army heading towards their hometown of Nalchik. It was 1942 year. Due to his injury, Polina Davydova’s father returned from the war and could only walk on crutches. The family planned to get to Derbent, a city on the shores of the Caspian Sea.

The run had to be 15 family members. But after the journey began, it turned out that 3-year-old girl Polina disappeared.

The danger of returning was so great that grandmother offered to continue to flee without her. But Polina's father refused.

He got out of the car, begging the Soviet soldiers in trucks to take him back to Nalchik. There he found his daughter sleeping on a suitcase.

“I was my father’s favorite,” recalls Davydova. Now 77 years old, she often tells the story of her family's unification.

In her modest apartment in Brooklyn, only a few things remind us of her native country. Mezuzah hangs at the door, giving everyone the blessings of the world. The walls are lined with Hamesh stone from Israel.

Sitting at a table in her living room, Davydova examines family photos and Jewish history books, one of which has a picture of her father. She does not talk about the atrocities that fell to his lot.

Relatives who refused to leave the city were tortured by the Nazis in their homes. The soldiers were forced to walk their bare feet on broken glasses.

“If we hadn’t left, maybe this would have happened to us,” Davydova said. “My father saved our lives.”

In January, 1943, the Soviet Army came to Nalchik and liberated the city, which allowed her family to return home. All the furniture from the house was stolen, and personal belongings were destroyed.

“But it doesn’t matter,” Davydova said. “We returned to our own home.”

However, anti-Jewish sentiment persisted. When factory workers began digging up a Russian-Jewish cemetery in 1969, Father Davydova gathered with other members of the synagogue to raise money and build a fence.

Outraged by the fence, the factory workers beat her father, injuring her lung, which caused him to die 2 a month later.

“We lived in fear for many years,” she said. “You can’t imagine such fear.”

Davydova worked as a teacher in Russia for 31 years. Fear for their only 18-year-old son Boris, who could be sent to fight in Afghanistan, pushed the family to emigrate - they fled with only 2 suitcases, $25 and their tourist visas.

Having stopped at first with her brother, who already lived in America, Davydova settled in Brooklyn, but could not work legally. She had to wait 5 for years to get political asylum, which she applied for in 1992. In 2002 she received citizenship.

Even after she received her long-awaited citizenship, Davydova, who does not speak English, tried her best to find a job, but failed her health. In 2008, she underwent heart surgery. A woman suffers from low blood pressure and often faints.

She pays $ 900 per month for rental housing, but receives $ 820 social benefits and food stamps for $ 194 per month. The family helps her pay bills if they succeed.

Help came from the Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst. They covered the rent and the cost of utilities.

“I gave my life to this country,” she said of Russia. “But I want to kiss America because everything I have in this life comes from the people in this country.”

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