Tag #147780 - Interview #78520 (Sophia Noginskaya)

When I was trying to enter the Leningrad Construction Institute, I passed all my examinations and received an average admissions mark. But when they published the lists of admitted students, my name was not there. At that time Uncle Evsei, the one who had rescued Mom during the siege of Leningrad, was on the faculty of the  Institute in the "Water supplies and water drainage" department. He was a senior lecturer. Mom called him up and asked, "Why isn’t Sophia in the lists of admitted students? The acceptance mark was 18, she scored 19.5, but she is not on the list. Is it because we are Jewish?" Uncle Evsei was a communist, and he was convicted that there was no anti-Semitism in our country. He told Mom, "Manechka, it is impossible. There is nothing of the kind in our institute!" But still, he went to the institute to see the dean, and heard, "Evsei Vladimirovich, why didn’t you tell us that she was your grandniece?" - "And why was I supposed to tell you?" he replied. The next day my name was inserted with a ballpoint pen in the general admissions list.