Tag #145762 - Interview #102250 (Zoya Shapochnik)

My father, Joseph Shapochnik, was born in 1902. He was the only one of the brothers who had thirst for knowledge and striving to get educated. Upon finishing cheder my father entered the nearest Realschule [8] in Leovo. Gagauz [9], Moldovans and Russians mostly studied there. Several Jewish boys made friends and decided to go on with their education. By that time Bessarabia had been annexed to Romania [see Annexation of Bessarabia to Romania] [10] and my father dreamt of studying in one of the European universities. Grandfather Haim scraped up some money for him to get to university with a lot of difficulty. That was the only thing he could help his son with. My father and three or four of his friends, I don’t remember their names, went to Prague [today Czech Republic], and entered the Prague Polytechnic Institute, electric and mechanic department.