Selected text
At school I made many friends: I was a very sociable girl. At school we did not care who of us was Jewish and who not. But in our court yard everything was different. Once Maruska, a neighbor (a little girl of my age) heard me singing a romance Cornflowers, Cornflowers. [Cornflowers, Cornflowers was a popular petty-bourgeois romance in the middle of the 19th century.]
She shouted ‘Cornflowers, Cornflowers - and you are a dirty Jew!’ I heard this word for the first time in my life; I was surprised and answered ‘You are wrong, I am Sonina.’ I went home to ask my Mum about that new surname. Mum said that she would explain the details later, when I grew older. She also said that there were different nationalities and that noses like mine were typical only for Jews, but it was not a shame. Mum advised me to say Maruska that she behaved like a swine. For my mild Mum that word was the most abusive she could ever say. After that when we were playing lapta, Maruska was jealous of my adroitness and I recalled that I was Jewish. According to my Mum’s advice I said ‘The dirty Jew catches ball very well, and the swine is not able to do it.
She shouted ‘Cornflowers, Cornflowers - and you are a dirty Jew!’ I heard this word for the first time in my life; I was surprised and answered ‘You are wrong, I am Sonina.’ I went home to ask my Mum about that new surname. Mum said that she would explain the details later, when I grew older. She also said that there were different nationalities and that noses like mine were typical only for Jews, but it was not a shame. Mum advised me to say Maruska that she behaved like a swine. For my mild Mum that word was the most abusive she could ever say. After that when we were playing lapta, Maruska was jealous of my adroitness and I recalled that I was Jewish. According to my Mum’s advice I said ‘The dirty Jew catches ball very well, and the swine is not able to do it.
Period
Location
Saint Petersburg
Russia
Interview
Vera Sonina