Anna Dremlug with her school friend

This photo was taken in 1930s in Bologoe. Here you see me and some of my school friend.

I started school, when I was eight. I studied at the school number eleven, which was called 'eleventh railways'. There were only three schools in town: ours, twelfth railways' and the ordinary one.

Our school was the State one, but railway supported it. For example, we traveled to Leningrad on holidays and vacations. Our school was the very good one, I think; it was the best one in whole town.

We had good teachers (the only one I could complain for was our literature teacher, she was very young, just graduated from the Institute) and got good education.

Our school was a wooden building, actually two buildings, connected with a corridor. It was situated in the very center of the town, on one of the main streets.

We had special hall for sport activities, school provided all kinds of faculties. During the labor lessons we made shelves and sewed things. We had wonderful New Years' Eves, had the Christmas tree, standing in the middle of the school hall.

I recall with pleasure both pioneers' camps and military games: we had to find a hidden flag and so on. At the pioneer's camps military games were popular, which had to prepare youth to defend their Motherland, usually children were separated into two teams, put on different uniforms and were 'fighting'.

Their goal was to find Staff of the enemies and to take their flag. I took part in amateur talent activities; we had a wonderful theatre studio, and our Physics teacher managed it. So I was the main star over there, played the main roles.

There were evenings of amateur talent activities in local Palace of culture [some kind of recreation centre], there was a good House of pioneers Also, when they organized evenings of amateur talent activities, I made some recitation of poetry to musical accompaniment.

I recall my childhood with great pleasure, not paying attention to all difficulties. We had always been in the very center of life, not looking to that fact that we were Jews. And we had friends, and were dating.

We were friends of Permit brothers, they were Jews; all three of them were murdered during the World War II. Brothers played different music instruments, first mandolins, and then violins. I had friends only among my schoolmates.

I participated in school Komsomol bureau [the ruling Komsomol organ], and once they decided to edit a statement about paying for studies, and I told everyone about my resentment. Then they called me up just to this bureau and gave us a dressing down, and said that it was no need to talk.

At school I had many friends, both among Russian girls and Jewish ones. None paid attention to my Nationality, except one case. We had no accidents about it. I always studied well, was an active pioneer, and Komsomol, participated in different school activities and spent a lo of time at school.