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I met my future wife in Cherchik when I was still a student. In 1947 there was a big parade on Victory Day in Tashkent. They invited cadets and young people from Cherchik to take part in this parade. My distant relative Fiera (she was of the same age with me) lived in Tashkent. She had her birthday on 9 May. She invited me to her birthday party where I met her friend Zhenia Zats. I gave her the address of my school and we wrote letters for some time. Then at some time she came to visit me. That was how we got to know each other. Zhenia finished pharmaceutics school at the Tashkent Medical Institute. We got married in 1949. She was born in 1927 and both of us had birthdays in January. Zhenia was Jewish, Sheso they was born in the village of Miastkivka, Kryzhopolskiy district, Vinnitsa region, Ukraine. In the early 1930s her parents left for Tashkent running away from the famine. They rented a clay hut in the Old Town. Zhenia’s 3 brothers and 2 sisters were born there. Now they live all around the world: in Israel, the US and Germany. Zhenia’s father was a driver. But his salary in Tashkent was not enough to make ends meet and he got a job in commerce. Her mother was a housewife. Zhenia’s parents sometimes communicated in Yiddish. But their children didn’t know Yiddish. They spoke Russian and Uzbek. But they all celebrated Purim, Roshso they Hashanah and Pesah. They ate matsa, but they didn’t go to the synagogue. We didn’t have a wedding party. It was a civil registration ceremony and Zhenia’s mother cooked a family dinner.
I attended a course of officers and received the lieutenant’s rank in April 1951. I was also the Battalion Komsomol unit leader and had the privilege to choose the location of my assignment. I selected Kiev regiment. But I was told that there were no vacancies in Kiev. However, later I found out that they sent few people to Kiev. I got an assignment in the town of Bendery, Odessa regiment. How I became the Battalion Komsomol unit leader was as follows. Rybkin, a 1st sergeant arrived at our school from the front. And he was outraged that a platoon was under the command of a Jew. I was blamed of abuse, of ill performance of my duties, etc. None of it was true, but I was dismissed from my position. But I was immediately elected the Komsomol unit leader. Of course, never again did I speak to that man Rybkin. This was the 1st time when I understood that I was discriminated because I was a Jew, and that they could blame of the things that were not true. In1952 I went to take a course of political officers in Lvov.
On 1 October 1951 Our son was born. We called him Emmanuil in honor of my father’s brother.
I kept in touch with my parents. We often talked on the phone, wrote them letters and spent few days with them during our vacation.
I attended a course of officers and received the lieutenant’s rank in April 1951. I was also the Battalion Komsomol unit leader and had the privilege to choose the location of my assignment. I selected Kiev regiment. But I was told that there were no vacancies in Kiev. However, later I found out that they sent few people to Kiev. I got an assignment in the town of Bendery, Odessa regiment. How I became the Battalion Komsomol unit leader was as follows. Rybkin, a 1st sergeant arrived at our school from the front. And he was outraged that a platoon was under the command of a Jew. I was blamed of abuse, of ill performance of my duties, etc. None of it was true, but I was dismissed from my position. But I was immediately elected the Komsomol unit leader. Of course, never again did I speak to that man Rybkin. This was the 1st time when I understood that I was discriminated because I was a Jew, and that they could blame of the things that were not true. In1952 I went to take a course of political officers in Lvov.
On 1 October 1951 Our son was born. We called him Emmanuil in honor of my father’s brother.
I kept in touch with my parents. We often talked on the phone, wrote them letters and spent few days with them during our vacation.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Naum Baru