Sophia Vollerner

This is a picture of me as a first-year student at Kiev Institute of Trade and Economy. The photo was taken in Kiev in 1929 after I passed my semester exams successfully. I finished trade school in 1928, and in the same year I entered the Faculty of Economics of Kiev Trade Economic Institute. My parents insisted that I went to study at the Medical Institute, but I didn't have the slightest intention of doing that. I was sick and tired of listening to medical discussions at home. I wanted to study at the philology department, which was called Faculty of History and Philology, but many people were telling me that they studied works by Stalin for the most part and that was true. There were about five students in my group from trade school who entered the Faculty of Economy, section of Trade and Economy, of Kiev University; the rest of the students entered the institute after working for several years to get work experience. They had admission privileges. Most of them were from villages, and we, city girls, were more refined in manners, culture and behavior, but we got along well with them. During my studies at the institute, I didn't feel any anti-Semitism. I don't mean to say that there was no anti-Semitism at all at that time. It has always been there and it always will be as long as there are Jews and non-Jews on Earth, but I personally never faced any. I met my future husband, Alexandr Andrievskiy, during my studies at the institute. We studied in the same group.