Tag #145498 - Interview #92161 (Sofia Furman)

I didn’t experience any oppression on the basis of anti-Semitism, though sometimes unpleasant feelings related to my nationality arose. Sometimes I even felt uneasy at work. For example, when I sat at the meeting of political informers at the Party District Committee, devoted to the newspapers overview, and the instructor explained to us, what one was allowed to say about Jews and what had to be held back. I sat in front of him and avoided his stare. It was certainly awful. I also faced problems when looking for a job. My patronymic is Ayzikovna. My father’s name was Ayzik and it was in his documents too. But when I worked at school, everybody called me Arkadyevna [19]. Even the Head of the District National Education advised me, ‘If people distort your patronymic, say that it is Arkadyevna.’ When I returned to Leningrad and was looking for a job, I also had problems. My real patronymic – Ayzikovna – is written in all my documents.