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My father returned to Odessa in September 1945. He arranged it through our residential department that we got our second room back and we began to live in our two rooms in the communal apartment. After the war my father became chief of the Electric Engineering Department in the Communications College. My mother finished the College of Foreign languages after the war and worked as an English teacher in the Technological College named after Lomonosov and later she went to work at the Department of Foreign languages in Communications College. My brother went to the 6th grade in Odessa. He finished school in 1950. In those years Yuri and I had wonderfully warm and friendly relationships. We understood and respected each other. When a student I was not interested in politics, but the murder of Mikhoels [25] was a big shock for me. I understood that it had to do with anti-Semitism.
I met my future husband Yefim Kogan during the celebration of New Year at our home in Odessa in 1948. Yefim was our guest. We saw each other for a year. In 1949 I finished my college and got an assignment to Krasnodon Voroshilovgrad region [Mandatory Job Assignment] [26] where I worked as a registrar in hospital for 205 patients. Besides, I worked as a part-time therapist in a polyclinic. There was a young Jewish family working in the polyclinic: Leonid was a radiologist and his wife Sophia was a traumatologist. They were my friends. When in 1950 I came to Odessa on vacation Yefim and I decided to get married. We registered our marriage in a registry office. Our wedding party lasted three days as our parents wished. On the first day our relatives, on the second day our parents’ colleagues and on the third day our friends came to the party. When my vacation was over I returned to work in Krasnodon. My husband obtained a release from my job assignment and I returned to Odessa by late 1950.
My husband Yefim was born to a Jewish family in Odessa in 1920. His father Yefim Kogan died two months before he was born and his mother named him after his father. His mother Rosalia Kogan was director of a kindergarten. She spent all her time at work and her only son was all by himself. Yefim’s family wasn’t religious. They didn’t celebrate holidays and neither he nor his mother went to the synagogue. Yefim was fond of playing chess and attended a chess club in the house of pioneers and later he became a professional chess player. Yefim studied at the Faculty of History in Odessa University. He had finished four years [out of five] at the University before the war began. According to Stalin’s direction senior students had to finish their studies in evacuation. Odessa University evacuated to Maikop. Yefim graduated from the University in Maikop and then he was sent to an artillery school and after finishing it he went to the front. Yefim was commanding officer of an artillery battery and after the war he returned home.
I met my future husband Yefim Kogan during the celebration of New Year at our home in Odessa in 1948. Yefim was our guest. We saw each other for a year. In 1949 I finished my college and got an assignment to Krasnodon Voroshilovgrad region [Mandatory Job Assignment] [26] where I worked as a registrar in hospital for 205 patients. Besides, I worked as a part-time therapist in a polyclinic. There was a young Jewish family working in the polyclinic: Leonid was a radiologist and his wife Sophia was a traumatologist. They were my friends. When in 1950 I came to Odessa on vacation Yefim and I decided to get married. We registered our marriage in a registry office. Our wedding party lasted three days as our parents wished. On the first day our relatives, on the second day our parents’ colleagues and on the third day our friends came to the party. When my vacation was over I returned to work in Krasnodon. My husband obtained a release from my job assignment and I returned to Odessa by late 1950.
My husband Yefim was born to a Jewish family in Odessa in 1920. His father Yefim Kogan died two months before he was born and his mother named him after his father. His mother Rosalia Kogan was director of a kindergarten. She spent all her time at work and her only son was all by himself. Yefim’s family wasn’t religious. They didn’t celebrate holidays and neither he nor his mother went to the synagogue. Yefim was fond of playing chess and attended a chess club in the house of pioneers and later he became a professional chess player. Yefim studied at the Faculty of History in Odessa University. He had finished four years [out of five] at the University before the war began. According to Stalin’s direction senior students had to finish their studies in evacuation. Odessa University evacuated to Maikop. Yefim graduated from the University in Maikop and then he was sent to an artillery school and after finishing it he went to the front. Yefim was commanding officer of an artillery battery and after the war he returned home.
Period
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Remma Kogan