Selected text
We were very poor and starved. My brother was just a boy of 11. There was anti-Semitism and it was very hard for him. He was often called: ‘zhyd – running on a rope’. I didn’t face any anti-Semitism. I was older and others didn’t dare to abuse me. I worked at the motor repair plant. I was a turner apprentice. The plant repaired vehicles from the front. When my management heard that I studied in college they transferred me to work in the quality assurance department (OTK). We rented a room in a house on the outskirts of Tokmak. We worked two shifts and in the evening I was afraid of going home in the dark. I took off my shoes and walked barefooted. My mother was a night watch in a watermelon plantation.
Period
Interview
Bertha Isayeva