My son Horatsiy Volodarskiy. This photo was taken by our neighbor in our apartment in Kiev on the occasion of his birthday on 5 February 1946.
In 1934 I entered Agricultural College, present Agricultural Academy. I finished the Faculty of Mechanization at the Academy in 1939. I got a job assignment to Chernigov [regional center, about 150 km from Kiev], where I was a shop superintendent. We also studied military disciplines in college and after finishing it I became a reserve lieutenant of armored troops. I worked at the vehicle and tractor plant in Chernigov. I went to visit my father in Belaya Tserkov. On my way back on 22 June 1941 I heard about the war and that Kiev was bombed… I decided that I had to go to the military registry office for mobilization. I went to the plant to pick my documents from there, but they said: ‘Oh, no, you already have a release from military service and you are employed!’ The plant evacuated to Kuibyshev on 1 July. We were the first plant to evacuate and I got tickets in a nice train! I was seeing a girl, a nice Jewish girl, I liked her, but I was not thinking of marriage yet. So I offered her to evacuate with me. She agreed instantly. The girl’s name was Anes Dubinskaya. Her mother was a common woman and I was an all right guy, so they agreed. Her older daughter was smart, though. She said: ‘What do you mean go with him? No. Let him marry her first!’ This is how it was then: you want her - you marry her. I said: ‘Let’s get married!’ We went to a registry office where our marriage was registered. So I got married. So, this trip to the destination of our evacuation was our 'honey moon'.
Our son Horatsiy was born in evacuation in Kuibyshev in 1944. We named him after my uncle who died in evacuation. After the war my wife and I, our son, my wife's mother and my father returned to Kiev. Horatsiy grew up like other Soviet children; he went to kindergarten and then to a secondary school in Kiev. He finished school in 1962. Jews already were having problems with entering higher educational institutions. However, we found the way out. There was an order issued that if school graduates worked at plants for a year then those plants could assign their workers to study. I helped my son with employment at my plant. After a year's work he entered Novocherkassk Road Transportation College. There he met Ludmila, a Russian girl, and married her. We had no objections. Horatsiy and his wife returned to Kiev after finishing their college. I helped my son to go to work as a designer at a plant in Kiev. Later Horatsiy became chief engineer at the plant and earned well.
