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My brother entered the Academy and lived in a hostel. He had to live his own life and I had to take care of mine.
I made friends in Kiev with teenagers of my age. During the period of famine everybody tried to survive as best as he could. There were 6 of us. We moved into an abandoned house on the outskirt of Kiev. One of us worked at the confectionery. He had a coat that he stuffed with sweets going back home after work. We used to sell these sweets. Another friend went to study at the vocational school at the ‘Lenkuznia’ shipyard. He had a worker’s card and also received a stipend. We had meals in the canteen of this vocational school. We bought 15-20 dinner rations. Why? Because we poured the soup into one plate to make a more or less sufficient meal for one person. Those rations were too small. There were soy beans given for the second course. We also took 15 rations to make one meal. There was a slice of bread going with each dinner ration. Anyway, we had to pay for these meals and to make some additional money we were selling the bread we got with our meals at the canteen. One slice of bread cost as much as we had to pay for a whole meal and we used to sell few slices at the market. There was a stove in the house where we dwelled. We used to break fences at night to stoke it. Neighbors were scared to go outside at night. We cooked mamaliga, a bucket full, for example. That’s how we lived. Of course, anything might have come out of this way of life, but that I had to continue studies was something that I was sure of. Where was I to go? There was no Jewish school or higher secondary school in Kiev. I went to a rabfak [15] school and to work. My uncle Horatsiy, who was an engineer at the plant, used his connections to have me employed by the plant. There was no other way to get a job there: there were numbers of people coming to Kiev from surrounding villages searching for a job and food. I was 15 years old and I worked at the storage office. I received a worker’s food card. [The card system was introduced in the Soviet Union to directly regulate food supplies to the population. There were different cards for physical workers, non-manual employees and dependents. There was nothing in stores to buy for money. Food cards were issued at work or in colleges.
I made friends in Kiev with teenagers of my age. During the period of famine everybody tried to survive as best as he could. There were 6 of us. We moved into an abandoned house on the outskirt of Kiev. One of us worked at the confectionery. He had a coat that he stuffed with sweets going back home after work. We used to sell these sweets. Another friend went to study at the vocational school at the ‘Lenkuznia’ shipyard. He had a worker’s card and also received a stipend. We had meals in the canteen of this vocational school. We bought 15-20 dinner rations. Why? Because we poured the soup into one plate to make a more or less sufficient meal for one person. Those rations were too small. There were soy beans given for the second course. We also took 15 rations to make one meal. There was a slice of bread going with each dinner ration. Anyway, we had to pay for these meals and to make some additional money we were selling the bread we got with our meals at the canteen. One slice of bread cost as much as we had to pay for a whole meal and we used to sell few slices at the market. There was a stove in the house where we dwelled. We used to break fences at night to stoke it. Neighbors were scared to go outside at night. We cooked mamaliga, a bucket full, for example. That’s how we lived. Of course, anything might have come out of this way of life, but that I had to continue studies was something that I was sure of. Where was I to go? There was no Jewish school or higher secondary school in Kiev. I went to a rabfak [15] school and to work. My uncle Horatsiy, who was an engineer at the plant, used his connections to have me employed by the plant. There was no other way to get a job there: there were numbers of people coming to Kiev from surrounding villages searching for a job and food. I was 15 years old and I worked at the storage office. I received a worker’s food card. [The card system was introduced in the Soviet Union to directly regulate food supplies to the population. There were different cards for physical workers, non-manual employees and dependents. There was nothing in stores to buy for money. Food cards were issued at work or in colleges.
Period
Location
Kiev
Misto Kyiv
Ukraine
Interview
Yefim Volodarskiy