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Makeevka was liberated at the end of 1943 and we began to pack to go home. I couldn’t get my documents – my examination record book and my certificate of secondary education – from the college since they didn’t want to let me go. I left with my parents and brother after finishing my 1st year without waiting for the permit for my departure or other documents.
Our house in Makeevka was half ruined. There was a hole in the ceiling and some walls had fallen down. There were no pieces of furniture and bed sheets left. Later, our neighbors returned some of our belongings. My friends also came back from evacuation. My older brother Nuchim was still in the army. Maria returned to our uncle in Lugansk. My brother and sister got to know our address through an evacuation agency. We corresponded throughout the war, but it took letters very long to reach us and sometimes they got lost. Our family was lucky to have survived the war.
I was a secretary at the town military registry office where I worked until summer when I went to Kiev to enter a college. I just wanted to study. I didn’t know what kind of colleges there were in Kiev or what exactly I wanted to study. I didn’t have any money or acquaintances in Kiev. I stayed with my mother’s distant relatives. I hadn’t known them before, but my mother wrote to them and they invited me to stay with them. I went to a few colleges, but they refused to accept my application since I didn’t have my certificate of secondary education and my examination record book wasn’t valid. I sent a request to Nizhniy Tagil and they sent me my documents. I was accepted for the 2nd year at the Faculty of Economics of the College of Light Industry. I also received a room in the hostel with five other girls.
Our house in Makeevka was half ruined. There was a hole in the ceiling and some walls had fallen down. There were no pieces of furniture and bed sheets left. Later, our neighbors returned some of our belongings. My friends also came back from evacuation. My older brother Nuchim was still in the army. Maria returned to our uncle in Lugansk. My brother and sister got to know our address through an evacuation agency. We corresponded throughout the war, but it took letters very long to reach us and sometimes they got lost. Our family was lucky to have survived the war.
I was a secretary at the town military registry office where I worked until summer when I went to Kiev to enter a college. I just wanted to study. I didn’t know what kind of colleges there were in Kiev or what exactly I wanted to study. I didn’t have any money or acquaintances in Kiev. I stayed with my mother’s distant relatives. I hadn’t known them before, but my mother wrote to them and they invited me to stay with them. I went to a few colleges, but they refused to accept my application since I didn’t have my certificate of secondary education and my examination record book wasn’t valid. I sent a request to Nizhniy Tagil and they sent me my documents. I was accepted for the 2nd year at the Faculty of Economics of the College of Light Industry. I also received a room in the hostel with five other girls.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Fira Usatinskaya Biography