Grigoriy Husid’s father Yakov Husid, and his niece, Zhanna Shapiro

This is my father Yakov Yerukhimovich Husid, born in 1900 and his niece, my cousin Zhanna Shapiro, Klara's daughter, born in 1932. This picture was taken in 1952 in Kiev. My father Yakov Yerukhimovich Husid was born in 1900. He was a printer and later he worked on official positions in the Soviet authorities. He didn't have any education. He was a self-educated person. Later he took classes, studied in the Institute of Red Professorship. He came from the family of small manufacturers. At first my father worked in the printing house in Kirovograd. Then he joined the Party and got promoted - he became director of the biggest bookstore. The bookstore was located downtown. Later he got further promotion and became a Party official. I remember in 1937 when my father was Chairman of the Radio Broadcast Committee he packed his suitcase and was awaiting arrest. He had been fired from work and expelled from the Party. What happened was that they read the verdict of Trotskiy fellow-comrades on the radio, and after they finished they started broadcasting some funeral march. And my father was on business trip then. My father's deputy was arrested immediately. But my father wasn't arrested. But still - he wasn't in the Party and he lost his job. These were troubled times, and he expected arrest. Later, when it all settled down he went to work again, but he was put on a lower position. He worked at the consumer association. He wasn't involved in policy or culture any more. However, they returned his Party membership card to him, and it was good that he had not been arrested or convicted. He was happy about it, as at that time they were arresting people for nothing. In 1962 my mother died from cancer, and my father died in 1970 from a stroke. He was paralyzed for seen years. I was taking care of him. Later I hired a woman to take care of him. Well, their life story is rather sad.