Tag #155703 - Interview #94745 (Tsyliya Spivak)

My father wasn’t a member of the Communist Party, but like all Soviet people felt delighted reading about achievements of the Soviet regime: about the first 5-year periods 11, construction of socialism and communism and was a real patriot.  We celebrated 1 May and 7 November 12 at home. I looked forward to parades. I was dressed up, had ribbons in my little plaits and my father took me to the central square. There was often a common table set under the lime trees in the yard. There was a record player on a stool and adults and children danced to the music and sang songs: old romances and Ukrainian songs and new Soviet songs. Generally speaking, we had an absolutely Soviet family. Our parents spoke Russian in our presence and only occasionally they exchanged a few Jewish phrases when they wanted to keep the subject of discussion a secret from us.  However, I understood many words in Yiddish since my grandmother spoke Yiddish to my mother and her sisters and the sisters also talked in Yiddish.