Tag #148202 - Interview #95316 (Rahil Shabad)

Grandmother apprenticed my father to the wood-carver since early teens. Father had been an apprentice for 4 years, which was a hard and painstaking. It caused the myopia because eyes were strained. When father understood that he would not be able to use his potential, he went to the Russian city Saratov [800 km to the east from Moscow] and entered construction school. He did well at school and decided to go on with his education upon finishing school.  He went to Saint-Petersburg to take entrance exams at the Institute of Civil Engineering. Back in that time there was a 5-per cent admission quota for the Jews [percent of Jews admitted to higher educational institutions] [4]. Father passed several exams and flunked one. I do not know whether my father was not admitted because of his nationality or the lack of knowledge. Father went to the town Valuiki [about 630 km to the south from Moscow] and found a job as a construction/technician. Father liked to tell about his life in Valuiki. Both the workers and the management treated him very well and appreciated as a good specialist. Father learnt a lot in construction. He was supposed to tackle technical tasks independently and it was very useful for him. He did not feel anti-Semitism. Judging from his own experience father said that anti-Semitism was displayed in big cities and provincial people were much more tolerant.