Tag #150049 - Interview #78161 (roman reznikov)

I graduated from university in 1953. My specialty was the history of philosophy. I was sent to Zhytomyr. There I had an interview at the regional party committee. My profession was related to ideology and I wasn't a party member. I was a Komsomol member and I had to obtain approval of the regional party committee to get a job. For the first time there I heard how they were discussing my documents behind closed doors. The head of the propaganda department was yelling how it was possible to approve a Jew for this kind of work. I couldn't get a job for a few weeks and then finally I was appointed as a lecturer with the Znaniye [Knowledge] association. [Editor's note: an organization that was arranging lectures on various subjects at schools, factories, enterprises, etc.] I was to give lectures to workers advocating communism and the Soviet way of life, the most progressive in the world. I lived in Zhytomyr for four years. I was an active Komsomol member. I was even elected as a member of the Komsomol district committee bureau. I submitted my documents to become a party member but I was refused for some ridiculous reasons. There was only one real reason - that I was a Jew.