Tag #152480 - Interview #97158 (Efim Kadanskiy)

However, I can remember an incident in the early 1970s. Somebody brought a lighter made in Israel: when you lit it magendovid and the lighter played the anthem of Israel. I showed it to a couple of people -- we had a Jewish collective at the factory. Many employees were Jews and we had a friendly atmosphere at work. On the other hand, we were a typical Soviet work collective. We read Soviet newspapers, celebrated Soviet holidays and took part in the socialist competition -- and then gave it back to the owner. In two or 3 months I got a subpoena to the KGB office. I didn’t have a hint what it might be about. I was paying monthly fees for a new apartment and I thought that they might want to check where I got the money. When I came to the office there were two investigation officers. Tthey began interrogation asking me whether I had relatives abroad and where my parents were. They directed the light in my eyes and asked questions in turn. ”Why are you involved in the Zionist propaganda?” I could see their point. “You showed a lighter playing the anthem of Israel. Where did you get it?” I told them that some Jews that had arrived from Israel showed it to my father-in-law at the synagogue -- in fact, none of us went to the synagogue, but I couldn’t say that I had friends among foreigners, especially from Israel, that was not on friendly terms with the USSR. I might have had problems and even be arrested -- and I borrowed it to show my colleagues at the factory. I had to sign the paper that I repented and would stop my Zionist activities. So it turned out that there were reporters in our work family.