Selected text
In our family only Isaak, Broha's husband, could read and write in Yiddish. There was no radio or TV and he used to read the books of Sholem Aleichem [19] to us in Yiddish in the evenings. We knew the language. But I wanted to learn how to read. I began to learn from the books of Sholem Aleichem. It took me two years and I had to learn each and every letter, but I managed. Later on I had no problems with reading in Yiddish.
At that time anti-Semitism on the state level was at its height in Chernovtsy. I tried to enter the university in Chernovtsy, although I knew what rector Leutskiy had said, 'There will be as many Jews at university as on the virgin lands'. [Editor's note: The rector was referring to the virgin lands in Kazakhstan, where historically there were no Jews.] At that time the Soviet power started another utopian project - the development of the virgin lands of Kazakhstan, although this was saline land and nothing could grow there if there was no irrigation. At my entrance exams I got a '5' for composition, but a '3' in history, although history was my favorite subject and this was evidently a prejudiced attitude. I failed to enter university, and I couldn't depend on my mother any longer, so and I went to the virgin lands. I worked there for a year. Then I decided to try again in Vologda. In 1955 my brother Abram lived there. Anti-Semitism in the far- away land wasn't as pronouncedexpressed as in Ukraine, probably because there were fewer Jews there. I entered the Department of Physics at Vologda University. I didn't face any anti-Semitism in my daily life. I studied well. Money was always a problem. I always passed my exams in winter in advance so that I'd be able to work at the wood cutting site. It was hard but well-paid work. My earnings for a month or a month and a half lasted me until summer. I went to Chernovtsy in summer. I worked at the children's summer camp where I had meals and earned some money. And I could see my mother, my father and my friends.
TThere were expressions of anti-Semitism in the pioneer camp. I remember one Sunday, the day when parents could visit their children. The family of one of my pupils called me. His father was an actor at the former Jewish theater. They complained thatto one of the children called their son 'zhyd' [kike] and asked me what I could do to punish this child. And I, a 20 year old20-year-old young man at the time, said to his father, 'Do you want me to send that boy home from the camp? That's impossible. Or beat him? I can't. You are the father and it's all up to you. I don't know who you are, but you must help your son. He will be facing this kind of thing in the future, too. He must learn how to deal with it. He was called zhyd and that means Jew. He is a Jew, and he must be proud of it. You must tell him about Jews and their history and traditions.'. The boy's father liked my response very much.
After university I got a job assignment in a Moldavian village and worked there for two years as a teacher of physics. Afterwards I and returned to Chernovtsy. It was hard to get a job there - my Jewish nationality was a problem. I got a part-time job first and then became a full-time teacher of physics. I worked for 36 years. I was also was a class tutor, a hiking club chief and a producer of school performances. Besides, I also acted in performances of the theatrical studio at the House of Teachers. There was a lot of work at school that took up my spare time - political information hours, meetings, etc. All children had to go to parades on Soviet holidays. They were bored and didn't want to go there, but they all went if I promised that we would go to the woods afterwards and bake potatoes. Hiking was our favorite hobby. We traveled all over Bukovina. My former pupils still visit me, and we recall our evenings by the fire. I liked children and they liked me in return.
At that time anti-Semitism on the state level was at its height in Chernovtsy. I tried to enter the university in Chernovtsy, although I knew what rector Leutskiy had said, 'There will be as many Jews at university as on the virgin lands'. [Editor's note: The rector was referring to the virgin lands in Kazakhstan, where historically there were no Jews.] At that time the Soviet power started another utopian project - the development of the virgin lands of Kazakhstan, although this was saline land and nothing could grow there if there was no irrigation. At my entrance exams I got a '5' for composition, but a '3' in history, although history was my favorite subject and this was evidently a prejudiced attitude. I failed to enter university, and I couldn't depend on my mother any longer, so and I went to the virgin lands. I worked there for a year. Then I decided to try again in Vologda. In 1955 my brother Abram lived there. Anti-Semitism in the far- away land wasn't as pronouncedexpressed as in Ukraine, probably because there were fewer Jews there. I entered the Department of Physics at Vologda University. I didn't face any anti-Semitism in my daily life. I studied well. Money was always a problem. I always passed my exams in winter in advance so that I'd be able to work at the wood cutting site. It was hard but well-paid work. My earnings for a month or a month and a half lasted me until summer. I went to Chernovtsy in summer. I worked at the children's summer camp where I had meals and earned some money. And I could see my mother, my father and my friends.
TThere were expressions of anti-Semitism in the pioneer camp. I remember one Sunday, the day when parents could visit their children. The family of one of my pupils called me. His father was an actor at the former Jewish theater. They complained thatto one of the children called their son 'zhyd' [kike] and asked me what I could do to punish this child. And I, a 20 year old20-year-old young man at the time, said to his father, 'Do you want me to send that boy home from the camp? That's impossible. Or beat him? I can't. You are the father and it's all up to you. I don't know who you are, but you must help your son. He will be facing this kind of thing in the future, too. He must learn how to deal with it. He was called zhyd and that means Jew. He is a Jew, and he must be proud of it. You must tell him about Jews and their history and traditions.'. The boy's father liked my response very much.
After university I got a job assignment in a Moldavian village and worked there for two years as a teacher of physics. Afterwards I and returned to Chernovtsy. It was hard to get a job there - my Jewish nationality was a problem. I got a part-time job first and then became a full-time teacher of physics. I worked for 36 years. I was also was a class tutor, a hiking club chief and a producer of school performances. Besides, I also acted in performances of the theatrical studio at the House of Teachers. There was a lot of work at school that took up my spare time - political information hours, meetings, etc. All children had to go to parades on Soviet holidays. They were bored and didn't want to go there, but they all went if I promised that we would go to the woods afterwards and bake potatoes. Hiking was our favorite hobby. We traveled all over Bukovina. My former pupils still visit me, and we recall our evenings by the fire. I liked children and they liked me in return.
Interview
efim pisarenko