I have mixed feelings about perestroika [28] and the downfall of the Soviet Union. I like it that we got an opportunity to know more about the history and read books. I was greatly impressed by Solzhenitsyn [29], Mandelshtam [30], Akhmatova [31] and Tsvetayeva.[32] When I heard their life stories I thought that we knew so little about life. We only knew what we were allowed to know. The reality was different and hard. It’s hard to imagine all those hardships and deaths. On the other hand, after the downfall of the USSR it became difficult to communicate with friends and relatives and many contacts have been lost.
- Traditions 11756
- Language spoken 3019
- Identity 7808
- Description of town 2440
- Education, school 8506
- Economics 8772
- Work 11672
- Love & romance 4929
- Leisure/Social life 4159
- Antisemitism 4822
-
Major events (political and historical)
4256
- Armenian genocide 2
- Doctor's Plot (1953) 178
- Soviet invasion of Poland 31
- Siege of Leningrad 86
- The Six Day War 4
- Yom Kippur War 2
- Ataturk's death 5
- Balkan Wars (1912-1913) 35
- First Soviet-Finnish War 37
- Occupation of Czechoslovakia 1938 83
- Invasion of France 9
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 65
- Varlik Vergisi (Wealth Tax) 36
- First World War (1914-1918) 216
- Spanish flu (1918-1920) 14
- Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920) 4
- The Great Depression (1929-1933) 20
- Hitler comes to power (1933) 127
- 151 Hospital 1
- Fire of Thessaloniki (1917) 9
- Greek Civil War (1946-49) 12
- Thessaloniki International Trade Fair 5
- Annexation of Bukovina to Romania (1918) 7
- Annexation of Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union (1940) 19
- The German invasion of Poland (1939) 94
- Kishinev Pogrom (1903) 7
- Romanian Annexation of Bessarabia (1918) 25
- Returning of the Hungarian rule in Transylvania (1940-1944) 43
- Soviet Occupation of Bessarabia (1940) 59
- Second Vienna Dictate 27
- Estonian war of independence 3
- Warsaw Uprising 2
- Soviet occupation of the Balitc states (1940) 147
- Austrian Civil War (1934) 9
- Anschluss (1938) 71
- Collapse of Habsburg empire 3
- Dollfuß Regime 3
- Emigration to Vienna before WWII 36
- Kolkhoz 131
- KuK - Königlich und Kaiserlich 40
- Mineriade 1
- Post War Allied occupation 7
- Waldheim affair 5
- Trianon Peace Treaty 12
- NEP 56
- Russian Revolution 351
- Ukrainian Famine 199
- The Great Terror 283
- Perestroika 233
- 22nd June 1941 468
- Molotov's radio speech 115
- Victory Day 147
- Stalin's death 365
- Khrushchev's speech at 20th Congress 148
- KGB 62
- NKVD 153
- German occupation of Hungary (18-19 March 1944) 45
- Józef Pilsudski (until 1935) 33
- 1956 revolution 84
- Prague Spring (1968) 73
- 1989 change of regime 174
- Gomulka campaign (1968) 81
-
Holocaust
9685
- Holocaust (in general) 2789
- Concentration camp / Work camp 1235
- Mass shooting operations 337
- Ghetto 1183
- Death / extermination camp 647
- Deportation 1063
- Forced labor 791
- Flight 1410
- Hiding 594
- Resistance 121
- 1941 evacuations 866
- Novemberpogrom / Kristallnacht 34
- Eleftherias Square 10
- Kasztner group 1
- Pogrom in Iasi and the Death Train 21
- Sammelwohnungen 9
- Strohmann system 11
- Struma ship 17
- Life under occupation 803
- Yellow star house 72
- Protected house 15
- Arrow Cross ("nyilasok") 42
- Danube bank shots 6
- Kindertransport 26
- Schutzpass / false papers 95
- Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) 24
- Warsaw Uprising (1944) 23
- Helpers 521
- Righteous Gentiles 269
- Returning home 1090
- Holocaust compensation 112
- Restitution 109
- Property (loss of property) 595
- Loss of loved ones 1724
- Trauma 1029
- Talking about what happened 1807
- Liberation 558
- Military 3322
- Politics 2640
-
Communism
4468
- Life in the Soviet Union/under Communism (in general) 2592
- Anti-communist resistance in general 63
- Nationalization under Communism 221
- Illegal communist movements 98
- Systematic demolitions under communism 45
- Communist holidays 311
- Sentiments about the communist rule 930
- Collectivization 94
- Experiences with state police 349
- Prison/Forced labor under communist/socialist rule 449
- Lack or violation of human and citizen rights 483
- Life after the change of the regime (1989) 493
- Israel / Palestine 2190
- Zionism 847
- Jewish Organizations 1200
Displaying 38761 - 38790 of 50826 results
Maria Zabozlaeva
My children have a Russian nationality indicated in their documents. Sophia finished music and secondary schools and entered the College of Cinema Engineers that she finished in 1974.
My son Fyodor finished a music school and Saratov Medical College in 1980. He finished a post-graduate course in 1983 and was awarded the title of candidate of medical sciences. He works at the department of morbid anatomy at the Medical College and is head of the department of morbid anatomy of town hospital #8. He is also chief morbid anatomy doctor of Saratov region.
Dobrina Rivkind
They lived near Vitebsk before in Smolyany shtetl. According to the family, they had a small house there, with a small garden full of flowers, because they had three daughters, who loved flowers very much. Certainly, there were no servants in the household and they had to do everything on their own.
Grandmother’s name was Tsylya Khodek, nee Rukhman. She was not tall, with gray, beautifully set hair. She did not work as many women did in those days, and took care of the family. Tsylya had a small store downstairs in the same house where they lived, which worked around the clock. It was not a store in today's meaning; it was really a very small shop. It was possible to buy bagels and cakes there and various other small things. People could knock on the door at any time and ask for her. She would open up and give them what they asked for. However, the profit was small. It is difficult to tell, what she did in it, as she devoted the largest part of her life to the family, children and household, and the shop was simply an extra earning.
Grandfather Vulf Khodek worked for a container seller. His obligation was to mend the sacks and fix other containers. He earned about three rubles per month, which was very little.
Everybody calls me Inna at home and in everyday life. All my relatives, whom I know, come from the so-called Jewish Pale (1) in Belorussia.
Most of our friends from Gomel left for Israel. We have never been there with my husband, not even for a visit. I have no more relatives there. Some of my husband’s nieces left for Israel and some remain in St.Petersburg. We find out about those who live in Israel through those, who stayed here. Some relations are kept with relatives on my father’s side, who live in Samara.
Life changed both to the better and to the worse. On the one hand, we received more freedom, especially, more speech freedom. Something one might have been imprisoned for before was easily discussed. People’s psychology changed a lot: people stopped hoping for the state and began to rely on their own capabilities. It became easier for the Jews to find a job, to enter an Institute and to live in general, as there was less oppression. The society became clearly separated in two parts: poor people and very rich people. All in all, the society became pure capitalistic out of a semi-built socialistic one. However, it became more difficult for people to live, for instance, for pensioners.
I did not raise my children in any specific manner, nor did I accustom them to any traditions or nationalistic ideas. They already understood and saw, what kind of problems they might face in their lives. Volodya and Raya were raised like all Russian children
Life changed both to the better and to the worse.
Life changed both to the better and to the worse.
Neither of my children felt anti-Semitism, we tried with my husband not to let them feel it, though we knew that it existed. However, it should be mentioned, that Raya was the only Jewess at her faculty. Jews were not accepted, that’s it! But she managed to enter because she was a wonderful pupil and was very well prepared. She was admitted, in spite of the fact that she was a Jewess, simply because she was a perfect student and was very well prepared.
,
After WW2
See text in interview
I could not find a job because of wars in Israel, though I was a complete physician with a category and wonderful recommendations. But I was not accepted to any hospital department because of state anti-Semitism. I was told into my face, „Your „fifth clause” helped you, the nationality, with a plus.” The plus was – wars in Israel. [Fifth clause in all documents questionnaires mostly was “Nationality”]. In 1973 [Editor’s note: the year of the Yom Kippur war in Israel] I could not find a job because of the nationality factor either. I mean, I could find a job but it was impossible to get a raise. At first I had been working in a policlinic for four years, later as a consultant at a hospital, where I was finally ”enticed” to work as a neuro-ophthalmologist.. Or, for instance, entering an Institute. We had to CHOSE an Institute for my son. Yes, because not all Institutes accepted Jews. Though Volodya finished the best mathematical school in the city and was a good pupil, we knew that, for example, it was no use to even try entering the University. We would not be allowed within firing range to LIAP [Leningrad Aerospace Equipment Construction Institute] The Polytechnic was a loyal one and it was possible to enter it. It was the only reason why my son entered it, though he was a good pupil, finished a mathematical school and was able to study at the University. But the University did not accept him. I began to work at first at the policlinic and later I was offered a position at the neurosurgery at the hospital where I had worked simultaneously (I combined jobs). They persuaded me and in 1973 I came to work there as a neuro-ophthalmologist.
,
After WW2
See text in interview
When we came to Leningrad in 1969 my husband worked in trust # 32 [a construction trust combination of firms or corporations formed by a legal agreement] as a manager.
Later in 1960 I changed my qualification and became ophthalmologist and I wanted to operate. We set up a small department, I bought instruments and got engaged into ophthalmosurgery. I obtained a qualification certificate soon after several attestations, which was not easy at that time.
,
1960
See text in interview
His childhood passed in Gomel, he studied at the Belorussian Construction Institute there. My husband was not religious. He graduated from the Belorussian Railroad Transport Institute in Gomel. After graduation he came to the North, to Kirovsk and we got married. He worked there in a big „Apatite-stroy” trust “Apatite” was a large industrial enterprise at that time. It consisted of mines and factories, where ore was processed into apatites. In 1992 he retired because of his health condition and passed away in 1997.
,
After WW2
See text in interview
In 1959 I got married to my half-relative, so to say: he was son of my father’s half-brother. We got acquainted in our childhood and knew each other all our lives. Later we developed some relationship and got married.
After the Institute I was assigned to work in the North, in the town of Kirovsk. I asked them to send me there. I worked there as a therapist for the first three years (1956-1960).
,
After WW2
See text in interview
There was a lot of repressions until 1953 when Stalin died. Anti-Semitism was around when I was a schoolgirl. Some teachers were open anti-Semites. But at that time, one could say that state anti-Semitism existed. Stalin did not like Jews, it was evident. Later when I studied at the Institute, a case began, known as the „Cosmopolite” case, all Jews were labeled Cosmopolitans, that is, without a Motherland. This happened right after the State of Israel had been created. Stalin was ready to exterminate all Jews, but it did not touch us us personally at that time. And in 1953 when I was a 3rd year student, he made up this case with physicians – the Doctors’ Case (4). There were mostly all Jews, famous Professors, who also treated him and his company. He suddenly branded them as national enemies. I remember that not only Jews but also Russian physicians got caught up in this case. I do not know, why Russian physicians got caught up in the case too. Maybe they tried to defend the Jewish physicians. I remember only that Professor Zakusov, who later became an Academician, also got caught up in the Doctors’ Case, though he was a Russian. Professor Zakusov from our Institute was arrested. He taught pharmacology. A wonderful Professor, who was suddenly a national enemy. There was also Professor Dembol, who had to hide. We, young students, began to think about what was going on. Before that we believed everything. We were members of Komsomol (5) and knew little about what was going on, all ideas were stuffed into us. And after that we began to reflect on it. It was the very first striking impression. I had a very good friend, when I was a student. He told me, „You know, I would not throw myself under tanks in such a situation.” And suddenly everybody as if regained sight. All of a sudden! Later in 1953 Stalin died, thank God. His secret letter was read out to Khrushchev (6) at the 20th Congress (7) and life became better, we graduated from the Institute and left for different locations.
Dora worked as a District physician for some time, and later got into a group of physicians who were engaged in the medical genetics field. She defended a thesis and continued to work as a specialist in the field of medical genetics.
In 1951 she got married and stayed in Leningrad. Her husband Iosif was an engineer, he graduated from the Aircraft Tool-production Institute.
My sister Dora also started to go to school in Leningrad; she later studied for some time in Kirovsk. As a primary schoolgirl she lived with father in Kirovsk and went to school there for one year. Spent some time in evacuation in Solikamsk and finished her 10th grade in Leningrad. She entered the First Medical Institute.
It was very happy time, especially the spring holidays, November 7th (3), when we went to demonstrations, had parties afterwards and sang songs during the breaks between lectures at the Institute. We went to the theater in our free time. The tickets were not expensive at that time. We also went to the philharmonic society and sometimes to the skating-rink. After our 1st or 2nd year pigpens or cowsheds were constructed in the Leningrad region and we joined the construction groups. But I did not spend my free time only with my friends. I remember that after the 3rd year we went to the South with aunt Anya (Khana), to the Black Sea and had a wonderful vacation somewhere near Adler. I also visited Belorussia. All in all, I traveled around the Soviet Union during my student holidays. It was not expensive at that time. People traveled a lot to different cities. No special permits were required to travel inside the country, only the ticket.
When I finished school (in 1951), I entered the First Medical Institute. My sister had entered it before me, and persuaded me to do the same. At first I attended psychiatric lectures as an outside observer, it was interesting to listen. Later I entered the Institute. Student life was very cheerful. We celebrated all holidays together, Soviet holidays presumably, attended demonstrations and student parties. We had a totally different life. Different as compared to the one at school. At school everything was very strict: girls’ gymnasia, uniform, discipline, a lot of homework and studies. Our teachers had been proud that they had not given us too high marks. However, such training really favored us when we entered Institutes after school, as it appeared to be very easy for us. We also studied together and attended the Public Library.
Aunt Anya (Khana) encouraged me and my sister to go to the philharmonic society, even if there were the only the cheapest seats. We went to the theaters and to the Opera.
,
After WW2
See text in interview
Besides standard school, I studied musicI had been studying for a very short time, only for one year in a musical school. There were various public works at school, editorial board etc. I am a very industrious person and took part in it all. We issued wall newspapers for holidays and spent a lot of time on that. Everything was very strict in those days, not like now: we wore uniforms, black aprons and brown dresses. It was a girls’ school, so we communicated with boys but once a year. I remember, we had a party in the 8th grade and we went to the boys’ school. We danced there for the first time in our lives.
When we returned I went to a regular girls’ school. We returned in 1944. I liked biology at school and all natural sciences in general. I was most interested in natural science, though I had good marks in all subjects.
I remember how cheerful and delighted everybody was when we came back. It was war time, and then the victory, we had big hopes for the future and we believed in Communism.
,
After WW2
See text in interview
My grandmother had relatives in Poland, who all perished in Holocaust.
We left with one but the last train. The last one was destroyed by bombing. No person had left Leningrad since. Father worked and we went to school with my sister. I went to school there up to the fourth grade.
We were provided with a room, when we were evacuated. All our family lived in that room: mother, father, me and sister. Later we also sheltered Lilya, who escaped from the Germans with two small children from Ukraine, where she had lived before the war. Everybody worked in Solikamsk. Father worked as an engineer at a local potassium extraction and processing plant; mother was assigned to work at a sovkhoz and Lilya, who already did not feel well at that time, stayed at home, raised the four children and kept the household. We led a very poor and hungry life during the first year. I remember how we, children, were fed according to time schedule. We were hungry, standing under the clock, watching the clock hands moving, waiting for food. By the second year we started to plant potatoes, cabbages and some other vegetables, thus our life became a little more satisfied. Second and third years in evacuation were much better than the first one.
We were provided with a room, when we were evacuated. All our family lived in that room: mother, father, me and sister. Later we also sheltered Lilya, who escaped from the Germans with two small children from Ukraine, where she had lived before the war. Everybody worked in Solikamsk. Father worked as an engineer at a local potassium extraction and processing plant; mother was assigned to work at a sovkhoz and Lilya, who already did not feel well at that time, stayed at home, raised the four children and kept the household. We led a very poor and hungry life during the first year. I remember how we, children, were fed according to time schedule. We were hungry, standing under the clock, watching the clock hands moving, waiting for food. By the second year we started to plant potatoes, cabbages and some other vegetables, thus our life became a little more satisfied. Second and third years in evacuation were much better than the first one.
Later we left for the Urals when the war broke out. We were evacuated in August 1941.