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Shortly afterward struggle against cosmopolitans 27 began. In 1950 I was thrown out of the Academy of Sciences under the aegis of reduction of staff. 15 other Jews were fired at the same time. When the list of employees to be fired was submitted to Alexandr Brodski, our director, at the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences he said ‘Please include my name into this list. If you fire my staff I won’t be able to continue to be director of the Institute’. He was not fired and managed to convince the administration to have all key personnel keep their job. Only younger employees were fired. Actually this was such an open campaign, you know, that no explanation was necessary. I stayed out of work for a year. Back in 1947 I fell ill with tuberculosis and when I lost my job I, obtained a certificate that I was an invalid to receive allowances and have justification for my jobless status. I was an invalid of category 2 and received a 30-ruble pension. In this year when I didn’t work I decided to write a dissertation. My father also fell under the category of cosmopolites and was fired from the attorney agency in 1949 or 1950. He didn’t go back to work. Alfred was the only breadwinner in our family. My father received a pension. Later in the early 1950s, he resumed his work at the attorney agency. He retired in 1959 since my mother was ill she had heart problems and father had to stay at home to take care of her.
In a year after I was fired from the Academy I received a phone call ‘Hallo, this is a scientific secretary of the Academy of Sciences. Could you come to see me at 11 am tomorrow?’ ‘Of course’. I went to his office with my passport and my labor record document. ‘We need to develop a unit to prevent emissions in mines. I would like to offer you a position of engineer for this work. Would you like to do this work?’ ‘I will, but please take a look at my documents’. He said winking at me ‘I don’t need to. I asked Alexandr Brodski to recommend a person to do this job and he said you are the best person he could think of’. So, this was Brodski that helped me to get a job. I was a free-lance employee of the Mining Institute.
In 1952 the ‘doctors’ plot’ began 28, but after the cosmopolitism campaign we didn’t believe mass media any longer. We didn’t believe Stalin was involved in these processes, we rather thought NKVD 29 played the main role. Stalin didn’t publicize his involvement in the processes like this. When Stalin died on 5 March 1953 I didn’t cry for him. We had a clear picture of what was going on. When I heard that he died I got scared a little: ‘What is going to happen now?’
In 1953 our son Georgi went to a Russian school in the center of Kiev. My son was doing well in all subjects, though he preferred exact sciences like Albert. He wasn’t raised Jewish, but always identified himself as Jew. He never faced anti-Semitism. He had friends of various nationalities and people treated him well.
I worked at the Mining Institute for four years until an order was issued to transfer it to Dnepropetrovsk. I went to work at the Road Transport Institute. Anti-Semitism mitigated, but I still got this job with the help of an acquaintance of mine. We had a great collective and management in the laboratory. I faced no anti-Semitism.
In a year after I was fired from the Academy I received a phone call ‘Hallo, this is a scientific secretary of the Academy of Sciences. Could you come to see me at 11 am tomorrow?’ ‘Of course’. I went to his office with my passport and my labor record document. ‘We need to develop a unit to prevent emissions in mines. I would like to offer you a position of engineer for this work. Would you like to do this work?’ ‘I will, but please take a look at my documents’. He said winking at me ‘I don’t need to. I asked Alexandr Brodski to recommend a person to do this job and he said you are the best person he could think of’. So, this was Brodski that helped me to get a job. I was a free-lance employee of the Mining Institute.
In 1952 the ‘doctors’ plot’ began 28, but after the cosmopolitism campaign we didn’t believe mass media any longer. We didn’t believe Stalin was involved in these processes, we rather thought NKVD 29 played the main role. Stalin didn’t publicize his involvement in the processes like this. When Stalin died on 5 March 1953 I didn’t cry for him. We had a clear picture of what was going on. When I heard that he died I got scared a little: ‘What is going to happen now?’
In 1953 our son Georgi went to a Russian school in the center of Kiev. My son was doing well in all subjects, though he preferred exact sciences like Albert. He wasn’t raised Jewish, but always identified himself as Jew. He never faced anti-Semitism. He had friends of various nationalities and people treated him well.
I worked at the Mining Institute for four years until an order was issued to transfer it to Dnepropetrovsk. I went to work at the Road Transport Institute. Anti-Semitism mitigated, but I still got this job with the help of an acquaintance of mine. We had a great collective and management in the laboratory. I faced no anti-Semitism.
Period
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Frida Khatset