Tag #140303 - Interview #78021 (sima medved)

I got a job at a factory that manufactured matches. I filled frames with matches that were dipped in sulfur and then packed. It was a private factory owned by a Jew. I was 14 at the time, and first they didn't want to employ me, but an acquaintance of ours pulled strings for me, and I got the job. There were three Jewish girls at the factory. They became my friends. I went to the cinema for the first time in my life. It was a mute film, and I didn't understand a thing. My friends asked me how I liked it. I couldn't understand how a boy could turn into a man in an instant, but I was ashamed to tell the truth, so I lied and said, 'I liked it a lot'. We went to a club for the proletariat youth in a small one-storied wooden building where we sang Jewish songs. I also attended a drama club. We staged plays in Yiddish and I played the parts of old ladies. I don't remember exactly what plays we staged, though.

Within some time the factory was closed, and I lost my job. I received a 10- ruble monthly allowance. The unemployment committee opened up a sewing school where we learned how to sew and make straw hats and walking sticks. I spoke Russian with my friends. I had a few Russian friends, but most of my friends were young Jewish men and women.

In January 1924 I came to a rehearsal. Our tutor told me that Lenin had died and that our rehearsal was cancelled. We had a meeting. Older people made speeches and cried and we, younger people, cried, too. We were told that we were responsible for the future of our country now and believed it. We were so enthusiastic! We joined the Komsomol [9] league in our strive to be the architects of communism, the bright future of mankind.