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I started Russian secondary school in 1927. My father took me to school on 1st September. He didn't give me any pre-school education. He thought I would get bored at school if I learned to read and write before school. There were two first classes at school: one for more intelligent children, who could write and read already, and one for those who started from zero. I happened to be in the class for less intelligent children. There were a few handicapped children in this class. My teacher didn't like me from the start. She was our teacher for four years, and I came to hating school. In the 2nd grade my parents arranged for me to go to a private dancing school. My teacher wrote an irate letter to my parents telling them that they weren't raising their daughter properly. I hated her for that. The school I went to was for the children of party officials. The children of commanders Yakir [10] and Kossior [11] studied at this school.
New Director Pavel Tutovskiy was the former director of the grammar school. He always wore a black suit to school, and he had a notebook with all our names in it. He was a geography teacher. Whenever he called my name to answer something I almost fainted from fear. When I was finishing the 8th grade I had a nervous exhaustion. My father arranged for my transfer to another school. The discipline in my former school was very strict, but in my new school we were allowed to be ourselves. We were naughty and missed classes, but we liked our teachers and school. Our teachers treated us very nicely. There were several Jewish children in my class, but at that time this wasn't important to us. There was no anti-Semitism. I remember Mikhail Zeldovich, one of our teachers - he was a Jew. The teacher of mathematics, Mikhail Gerasimovich, also a Jew, became a doctor of mathematics and professor at Kharkov University. His son lectures on mathematics at this university now.
At school I became a Young Octobrist [12] and a pioneer. I don't have any memories about these years. But I remember one terrible and shameful episode. When I was a pioneer a newcomer came to our class. Her name was Inga Zegel. I shall never forget her. At that time it wasn't recommended to have Christmas trees at home. It was believed to be a bourgeois tradition and a disgrace for a pioneer. We found out that she had a tree at home, and had an all-school meeting to condemn her and expel her from the pioneer organization. It was a terrible shock to her. An ambulance took her to hospital right after this meeting. She stayed in hospital for a few weeks with a nervous breakdown. Later her parents took her to another school, and I never saw her again. We didn't have a Christmas tree in our family before. It was forbidden by Soviet authorities as a vestige of the past, but it was allowed again in 1937. But since then I've never had a Christmas tree at home. When I see a Christmas tree I feel awful because I remember that terrible incident many years before.
My favorite subject at school was Russian literature. I always liked to read. But I never liked performances in public. Once I was to recite a poem at the schoolchildren's concert. My parents were in the audience. I came onstage, announced the title of the poem and left. My parents didn't scold me for this failure, but ever since then I hated any public performances.
New Director Pavel Tutovskiy was the former director of the grammar school. He always wore a black suit to school, and he had a notebook with all our names in it. He was a geography teacher. Whenever he called my name to answer something I almost fainted from fear. When I was finishing the 8th grade I had a nervous exhaustion. My father arranged for my transfer to another school. The discipline in my former school was very strict, but in my new school we were allowed to be ourselves. We were naughty and missed classes, but we liked our teachers and school. Our teachers treated us very nicely. There were several Jewish children in my class, but at that time this wasn't important to us. There was no anti-Semitism. I remember Mikhail Zeldovich, one of our teachers - he was a Jew. The teacher of mathematics, Mikhail Gerasimovich, also a Jew, became a doctor of mathematics and professor at Kharkov University. His son lectures on mathematics at this university now.
At school I became a Young Octobrist [12] and a pioneer. I don't have any memories about these years. But I remember one terrible and shameful episode. When I was a pioneer a newcomer came to our class. Her name was Inga Zegel. I shall never forget her. At that time it wasn't recommended to have Christmas trees at home. It was believed to be a bourgeois tradition and a disgrace for a pioneer. We found out that she had a tree at home, and had an all-school meeting to condemn her and expel her from the pioneer organization. It was a terrible shock to her. An ambulance took her to hospital right after this meeting. She stayed in hospital for a few weeks with a nervous breakdown. Later her parents took her to another school, and I never saw her again. We didn't have a Christmas tree in our family before. It was forbidden by Soviet authorities as a vestige of the past, but it was allowed again in 1937. But since then I've never had a Christmas tree at home. When I see a Christmas tree I feel awful because I remember that terrible incident many years before.
My favorite subject at school was Russian literature. I always liked to read. But I never liked performances in public. Once I was to recite a poem at the schoolchildren's concert. My parents were in the audience. I came onstage, announced the title of the poem and left. My parents didn't scold me for this failure, but ever since then I hated any public performances.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
izolda rubinshtein