Tag #148883 - Interview #91383 (Raya Teytelbaumene )

That is why when the Soviet Army [7] came to Lithuania in 1940 we were happy to be annexed to the USSR [8]. Crowds of people threw flowers to them. Since that time our life changed slightly. My husband, who wasn’t drafted into the army due to his lame leg, became an activist. He was appointed director of the plant, where he had been a common worker. I finished typing courses and found a job in the regional committee of the trade unions. There were some changes in our Vilkaviskis. Mother’s store was nationalized. She didn’t work anymore. Father kept working at the factory, which was also nationalized. We were lucky. Our house wasn’t touched and nobody else was accommodated in it. Our land wasn’t taken over and father kept on working in his favorite garden. Mother was happy that my brother, who became a rather famous Zionist in town, managed to leave for Palestine. Otherwise, the Soviets would have exiled him like many other Zionist activists. The town synagogue was still open and Father went there. I think he did it out of the habit, to stick to the traditions.