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I don't have much of a personal connection to the Ukraine, but here is such as I have. My great-great-grandfather Benjamin Krantz moved to Kherson around 1890 from Constantinople. (In 1897, Kherson had a Jewish population of 17,755, 30% of the total.)
According to one account, Benjamin and his wife Rosina had a young son, Aaron (born 1888), when they came to Kherson; according to another, Benjamin met his wife's family when he arrived there. He was befriended, and shown around the city, by two brothers, Chaim and Motty. He met their sister when iceskating, and went on to marry her.
Benjamin had aspirations to become a lawyer, and applied to study law at the University of Odessa, but was rejected since they only accepted a limited quota of Jews, which had already been reached. He managed, however, to get a job in a lawyer's office.
A generation later, Aaron (my great-grandfather) managed to get into Odessa University, but after two years of study, took a year off to travel around Europe. He had a good baritone voice, and when he reached Italy, decided he wanted to become an opera singer. His parents absolutely refused, insisting he came home and resumed his studies. Aaron declined. He had friends from London who recommended him to go to London; his parents told him that if he was not returning he should go to America. Aaron went to London, with his brother Harry (then 19), and ended up settling in Hull. His parents were livid, but when their business went badly wrong a few years later, they followed on to Hull.
I've never been to the Ukraine myself, though I have been close enough to see it once in the distance, from the hills above the Danube delta in Romania.
According to one account, Benjamin and his wife Rosina had a young son, Aaron (born 1888), when they came to Kherson; according to another, Benjamin met his wife's family when he arrived there. He was befriended, and shown around the city, by two brothers, Chaim and Motty. He met their sister when iceskating, and went on to marry her.
Benjamin had aspirations to become a lawyer, and applied to study law at the University of Odessa, but was rejected since they only accepted a limited quota of Jews, which had already been reached. He managed, however, to get a job in a lawyer's office.
A generation later, Aaron (my great-grandfather) managed to get into Odessa University, but after two years of study, took a year off to travel around Europe. He had a good baritone voice, and when he reached Italy, decided he wanted to become an opera singer. His parents absolutely refused, insisting he came home and resumed his studies. Aaron declined. He had friends from London who recommended him to go to London; his parents told him that if he was not returning he should go to America. Aaron went to London, with his brother Harry (then 19), and ended up settling in Hull. His parents were livid, but when their business went badly wrong a few years later, they followed on to Hull.
I've never been to the Ukraine myself, though I have been close enough to see it once in the distance, from the hills above the Danube delta in Romania.
