In 1936, something terrible was going on in Leningrad - the destruction of people. When Kirov was killed in 1934, all Leningrad knew that Stalin had killed him. You can't imagine what was going there. All the students came out to see how Kirov's body was carried to Moscow on a carriage, and Stalin himself was standing behind it. Then the Stalinist terror started. Today you could meet your friend, but tomorrow he could be arrested and executed. I wanted to get as far away from that place as possible. My manager at work was a Swedish man named Vigman. He understood what was going on. He sent me on a business trip to the Far East for one year. I had planned to join the Communist Party, but on his advice, I cancelled my registration with the Party in Leningrad. I did not register in the Far East either.
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Displaying 6391 - 6420 of 50826 results
samuel sukhenko
I spent one year there, in Khabarovsk, designing one of the districts of that city.
I was afraid to go back to Leningrad, so I found some connections in Kiev in the post-graduate course I was taking. I came to Kiev in 1938.
Very quickly I found a job in the Military Designs Institute. We designed the defense line that was built in 1940; we designed military aerodromes, as well. We built dozens of them. Our business trips were carried out in the following way: you were sent there for a month, did a certain portion of the work, returned, and another person was sent. Everything was encoded.
Very quickly I found a job in the Military Designs Institute. We designed the defense line that was built in 1940; we designed military aerodromes, as well. We built dozens of them. Our business trips were carried out in the following way: you were sent there for a month, did a certain portion of the work, returned, and another person was sent. Everything was encoded.
I also saw many Jews at the sites building aerodromes, and my heart cried out for them. They wore black plush caps, beards. I thought a lot about them - they most likely all perished there.
I designed two aerodromes on our western border.
, Russia
On the eve of World War II, I was at an aerodrome in Peremyshl. On June 21, 1941, a small plane landed there; I was standing with General Ivanov. The plane brought a commander who said, "War broke out with Germany.
I was sent to Lvov on June 22. In the afternoon, German planes began to bomb the city. As soon as they finished bombing, our planes appeared, but the bird had flown. Our planes flew away, while those appeared again - it was the same for some days. At our headquarters, nobody paid attention at me. "You are free," they said. "You can go anywhere you like." All railways were already cut off, so I had to make 30-kilometer rush to the East.
On June 27, I left Lvov and with great difficulties arrived in Kiev a few days later. When we were moving eastward from Lvov, there was a unit that picked up only those it wanted. I saw a lot of Jews who were sent back with the words, "Go back to defend Lvov." At the river crossing - you can't imagine what was going on that bridge! People tried to cross it by car, with cows, while planes flew above their heads.
In Kiev I lived in Proreznyaya Street with my two sisters. While I was away, my sister Lena Nagornaya, who had lived in Trans-Carpathians with two children - 1 and 5 five years old - raced to Kiev. A few days later, Tanya sent her, her children and our younger sister deeper into the country. On July 8, Tanya and I gathered our belongings and went to our offices. On July 9, we were put on a train for the East.
We came to the city of Ulyanovsk, and our Military Designs Institute became part of the Volga military command. Three Kiev residents - three Jews - were put in charge of three groups.
I was sent to Buzluk to continue to build an aerodrome there; then I was transferred to Chkalov. I did not wear any uniform, I was considered a civilian, but I could not leave that place because of the war-time laws. I designed many aerodromes and roads near the front line.
On November 6, 1943, Kiev was liberated. On November 12, 1943, I was sent to Kiev. The city was bombed every day. Kiev was ruined...
Once I ran into a pre-war colleague. He was an engineer. He showed me a narrow green paper with the words of the sadly known instruction: "For all kikes of the city of Kiev..." He was a Ukrainian, and his wife was a Jew. Not far from the street leading directly to Babi Yar, he sensed something, and they turned to the nearest lane. The same day they left Kiev for a village; after some time, they came back. He had a two-room flat, so he hid his wife in the second room, bricked up a door, leaving a narrow hole near the floor. The hole was covered with a carpet. When his neighbors asked, he said his wife had been at Babi Yar. For almost two years, she lived this way, and lost her mind. Moreover, her sister came. She was in the military and escaped. He hid her in the same place. My colleague fed them both, cooking in small portions, for neighbors could suspect nothing. The most dangerous time was when Germans turned out people from Kiev and burned houses. But he decided, "Come what may" - and didn't go anywhere. All of them survived, and later, his wife recovered. That was the first time I heard the words "Babi Yar.
During the war, I was awarded with many medals. The Special Military Command was set up in Kiev, and I worked there until the year 1949.
, Ukraine
My house was taken for an official use. I was given another flat, in Vorovsky Street. Tanya, Lena and her children, and Inna moved there, as well. In 1946 I invited my parents to live with us. So, we had eight people living in that one flat; it was a room in a communal flat, and we were cramped.
In 1944, the Military Liaison School moved to Kiev. Its deputy chief, a military man, had a daughter, Nina, who later became my wife. I fell in love with her. The city was empty, and we met one another. She was 15 years younger than me. She was a Russian girl.
, Ukraine
She had graduated from nine grades of school. Fifty to sixty percent of her friends from school were Jews. My dear Nina taught organization of industry at the Polytechnic Institute in Kiev. Every year, she was supposed to name two young people for the post- graduate course, and she always named Jews. Later she was summoned to the director, who told her, "Listen, we need to raise our national comrades," to which she said: "Right, but they need to have heads on their shoulders, too." They could do nothing with her.
My Nina was a better Jew than I was, and she worried a lot. The worst thing in our country was official anti-Semitism. Let me give you an example. I often visited Leningrad. Especially I liked to go to Kazansky Cathedral, which was turned into the Museum of Atheism. First, as a professional, I was interested in its interiors. And second, the exhibition was very interesting. Once I noticed the bust of Spinoza, which had a sign saying: "a famous Dutch scholar." I asked the museum specialists: "Excuse me, I have looked at your exhibition on Spinoza attentively, but still have no idea about his nationality. Who was he? A Dutchman? Or maybe...a Turk?" They were very confused and mumbled, "Don't you see? It is written here - 'a famous Dutch scholar.'" That was the time when a Jew couldn't be called a Jew. One more example: I organized exhibitions for our government. The system was that, first, the exhibition was visited by the government, led by the first or second secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine, then members of the Council of Ministers came, and so on, and only after that a small group of professionals was allowed to come. Once, an official came for a preliminary inspection. He was delighted with everything, but suddenly he stopped dead. "Comrade Sukhenko, what is this?" "A pedestal for a sculpture," I answered. "But look at its form! It is a hexahedron!" When I asked what was wrong, he said, "This is a Jewish sign." "What Jewish sign? Sorry, but it is a pedestal for a sculpture." "No, it is a Jewish sign," he began to shout. "You are either a cretin or idiot," I said. But he continued to yell, "You are a Jew, aren't you?!" "YES," I said. You won't believe me, but I got away with it, although consequences could be rather serious.
We felt cramped in our flat. I was offered another job, with higher salary and promises of a new flat. I rented a flat at the writers' house, 48 Lenin Street. Famous writers lived there. I rented a room from the widow of a Jewish poet, who had moved from Poland and was killed at the front. Every night, a car would come and take away this or that writer. Once I heard a knock on the door at 2:00 a.m.; somebody came in and said they needed a witness for the arrest of writer Itzik Fefer. I refused, claiming I had a terrible stomach ache. The next day Fefer's sister came to me and asked me to take a parcel to him. I took the parcel, spent eight hours in line and passed it to him. My friends scolded me, "What will happen to you?!" Later I learned that Fefer was executed.
How can one be a member of the Communist Party after the death of Mikhoels - a great man, a great humanist?
I remember the death of Stalin, how people behaved wildly, like idiots. He was a monster; I can't believe he was born of a woman.
In one year I increased the personnel of our design bureau from 10 to 120 people. A year later, I received a flat in Kreschatik, close to the cinema. We worked with interiors of theaters, cinemas and flats. I took part in many exhibitions and was awarded many medals there.
She studied at the same school her mother had studied at, and she graduated with honors. She was sent to one of the leading institutions, and now this institution is nothing.
When Nixon was about to come to Moscow I decided to show him the interior of the Yalta conference, the Levadia Palace. I examined the building, but there were no pictures, no descriptions - everything was top secret. Then I realized that there must be people who had seen it before. The one who used to be a lieutenant became a colonel. These people were brought to me and they told me everything they remembered about the building. The building was built in the modernist style. So, I ordered, "Find me chairs in the modernist style." And chairs were found, and I had them renovated. Then I found pictures in the modernist style. And then I called Moscow and reported that the task has been completed, for which gratitude was expressed.
In the most difficult times - in the 1960 and 1970s - when Jews could not find jobs, I used to tell my friends that nobody would touch me: such specialists could not be discharged.
My family never discussed emigration. I knew too little about Israel.
After graduating from the seven-year school, she married.
First, she worked as a theatre designer, then as a book designer in a children's publishing company.
Moldova
My brother, Fima, was born in 1925; he was killed at the front when he was 18.
,
1943
See text in interview
My parents lived a very good life. We rented a house with five rooms. My two grandmothers lived with us. We had two cows, goats and a large yard. Every Saturday we had a wonderful dinner at home. We always had some poor guest at the Shabbat table. When he left, my mother would give him a chicken and a loaf of bread that my grandmother had baked.