Tag #146755 - Interview #83417 (Genrikh Len )

From 1952 to 1956 I was a student of the Technical School of Communications in Leningrad specializing in ‘governmental communication.’ I was only 18 years old, and according to legislation of those times I had to wait until I turned 19 in order to enter a higher educational institution. I worked at a factory for one year, and then, due to excellent graduation marks from the technical school I was to be admitted to the Military Academy of Communications. But in 1957 the leader of our state, Nikita Khrushchev [22] announced the reduction of the armed forces, and plenty of reservists were written off, and all the first-year students of the Academy were transferred to the Leningrad Electro-Technical Institute of Communications named after Bonch-Bruevich, and to other educational institutions as well.

So from 1957 to 1963 I studied and graduated from the Institute of Communications, evening department. I combined my studies with working at the factory ‘Mezon’ as a technician. After graduation from the institute I received the specialty ‘engineer/ officer of communications’, and started to work in the same institute as an engineer, later entering a post-graduate course.