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We returned to Odessa in early 1945. We couldn't get our apartment back. All I had from our prewar belongings was my fork with an ivory handle. My mother got a small eight square meter room in Ekaterininskaya Street in the center of the town where we lived together. Semyon always slept in the same bed as his grandmother since there was no space to have another bed in the room. She recited poems of Nekrasov to him before his bedtime. My mother worked until almost the last day of her life. She died in Odessa in 1963.
Odessa changed a lot after the war. With the Romanians in power some private businesses were allowed and there were some private stores left in town after the war. Local girls were dressed much better than those who returned from evacuation. Later a group of girls, former veterans of the war, entered colleges: they were called 'green overcoats'. After the war Great Britain provided some assistance and girls who had been at the front wore English uniforms and green overcoats made of very soft wool. Girls used to alter them to make dresses. Young people felt fewer restrictions in their relationships with girls - this was an aftereffect of the war. Jewish people were entering into mixed marriages.
After the war I began to work at the scientific library of Odessa University. I thought it wasn't to be a permanent job, but I saw there books from the library of Count Vorontsov [30], I got very fond of it and stayed. [Editor's note: Books from the library of Vorontsov are kept in the scientific library of Odessa University.] This collection of books was collected by three generations of the family. It contains books in 27 languages. In the course of years I prepared a fundamental work about the library of Count Vorontsov that was published in the almanac of a bibliophile. I became a bibliographer and some people say I'm a good one. Many students and lecturers had my assistance when preparing their thesis. A few years ago I sat on a bench in Palais Royal [editor's note: this is how Odessites call the garden near the Odessa Opera House] when two gentlemen who were in high spirits approached me and one said, 'Victor Semyonovich, you are still here?!' I replied, 'Yes, that's me, but I don't remember you'. That man said, 'You can't remember me, I was finishing Law Department 37 years ago and you helped me with my thesis'.
Anti-Semitism was strong in 1949-1953. From the very beginning my friends and I understood that the Doctors' Plot [31] was made up. We understood that Stalin was deliberately looking for scapegoats. The situation in the country was very hard and he was looking for someone to blame. My mother wasn't afraid of working as a doctor. She didn't make any comments in this regard, either. This process didn't have any impact on me. I was far from politics and wasn't a member of the Party. Hundreds of people visited me with their questions. I slept about four hours a night since I always came home with a pile of books to study. I was all involved in work.
Odessa changed a lot after the war. With the Romanians in power some private businesses were allowed and there were some private stores left in town after the war. Local girls were dressed much better than those who returned from evacuation. Later a group of girls, former veterans of the war, entered colleges: they were called 'green overcoats'. After the war Great Britain provided some assistance and girls who had been at the front wore English uniforms and green overcoats made of very soft wool. Girls used to alter them to make dresses. Young people felt fewer restrictions in their relationships with girls - this was an aftereffect of the war. Jewish people were entering into mixed marriages.
After the war I began to work at the scientific library of Odessa University. I thought it wasn't to be a permanent job, but I saw there books from the library of Count Vorontsov [30], I got very fond of it and stayed. [Editor's note: Books from the library of Vorontsov are kept in the scientific library of Odessa University.] This collection of books was collected by three generations of the family. It contains books in 27 languages. In the course of years I prepared a fundamental work about the library of Count Vorontsov that was published in the almanac of a bibliophile. I became a bibliographer and some people say I'm a good one. Many students and lecturers had my assistance when preparing their thesis. A few years ago I sat on a bench in Palais Royal [editor's note: this is how Odessites call the garden near the Odessa Opera House] when two gentlemen who were in high spirits approached me and one said, 'Victor Semyonovich, you are still here?!' I replied, 'Yes, that's me, but I don't remember you'. That man said, 'You can't remember me, I was finishing Law Department 37 years ago and you helped me with my thesis'.
Anti-Semitism was strong in 1949-1953. From the very beginning my friends and I understood that the Doctors' Plot [31] was made up. We understood that Stalin was deliberately looking for scapegoats. The situation in the country was very hard and he was looking for someone to blame. My mother wasn't afraid of working as a doctor. She didn't make any comments in this regard, either. This process didn't have any impact on me. I was far from politics and wasn't a member of the Party. Hundreds of people visited me with their questions. I slept about four hours a night since I always came home with a pile of books to study. I was all involved in work.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Victor Feldman