Хараим / Жигалова

Question

Im asking on behalf of my Russian/Ukrainian extended family.

My husband father side of his dad side seem to be a mystery. His Grandmother really stuck out as her surname translated in English didn't look very Russian = Lov or Ukrainian= chuk ,enko,yuk,yak.

Her surname is Хараим which is confusing me because it could be translated to a K or H . My husband did find out what her father was named. But I can't find him within the region in which my husband grandmother was born.

The details for my husband grandmother on his father side is below in Russian;

Антонина ( maiden name Хараим) Жигалова

Born :Circa Oct 26, 1929  с. Лесниче, Бершадский р-н,
 Винницкая обл.

г. Дзержинск Донецкой обл

Her father's name : Ефрем (Efrem) Хараим (Kharaim)
Wife ( unknown) place of birth (unknown)

Comments

Good day! 

Zhigalov - is typical Russian surname! 

Kharaim - is tatarian name! Kharaims are Crimean natives! 

So, your husbands relatives are Russians and Crimean tatarians (kharaims)! 

Answer 1

Good day! 

Zhigalov - is typical Russian surname! 

Kharaim - is tatarian name! Kharaims are Crimean natives! 

So, your husbands relatives are Russians and Crimean tatarians (kharaims)! 

Answer 2

I'm a bit confused. What exactly is the question?

Kharaim sounds Jewish to me, as does her father's first name. Efrem is definitely not a Russian name. 

Жигалова (Zhigalova) is a Ukrainian or Russian name. 

It is possible that the family moved around a lot and that's why you can't find him within the region where Antonina was born. Antonina was born in 1929, which was a few years before the Great Famine ("Holodomor"). There were also conflicts between the Ukraine and the Soviet Union, the Ukraine was split between Poland and the Soviet Union at some point. The first half of the 20th century was very chaotic and a lot of church books/documents got destroyed. 

Comments

To see if her name was actually a Jewish surname as my husband said that his dad said they had no history of any Jewish family history as they are from the Russian Orthodox church. I didn't know about the famine. So that could be why she ended up in Donesk. But no history of her parents or family. I did say to my husband that he looks very middle Eastern Jew. But he says am "reaching".

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Well, my mother lived in the Soviet Union and her ancestors came from the Ukraine. She said Efrem and Kharaim are definitely not Russian or Ukraininan names. Efrem is Hebrew. However, the surname Kharaim has its highest density in the Ukraine.

There is a long history of Jews in the Ukraine. Most of them lived in Cherson or on the Crimean Peninsula. There were also some Jewish colonies near Volodymyr-Volhynsk in Volhynia. In the 1940s, there were antisemitic campaigns and a genocide in the Ukraine (German occupation). After the war, Jews were still hated because of rising antizionism in the Ukraine. Even in the 1990s they were still fleeing to the US, Isreal and West Europe. All these events might have led your husband's family to convert or lie about their religion/heritage.

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Totally agree with you... That's what I told my husband May be they converted to Christianity. But thanks you that information. Just wanted to see if I wasn't alone in thinking that my husband grandmother could of been / had Jewish heritage. I'm trying to convince my husband to take a DNA test to see if he could get any information on his father's side. I'm not even sure if Zhigalov is surname is Biological as he had said his great grandfather was in a orphanage.

I don't know if he was adopted as his own father knows nothing of the family history. Thank you for filling in a few historical gaps for me.