Rita Razumovskaya with her family

This is a photo of our family: me, Rita Razumovskaya (first from left) together with my husband Nicolas Razumovsky (second from right) and our two children Alexei (first from right) and Olga (in center). The picture was taken in Leningrad in the late 1950s.

Nicolas was born in Vyatka; he studied in Kazan. He graduated from Gorny Institute, and taught there, while being a student. He discovered a couple deposits of copper. In pre-war times Nicolas was a professor, and during World War II he was evacuated to Sverdlovsk and worked at some secret factory.

We decided to marry; the marriage took place on the same day, when Berlin was captured, on 2nd May 1945. Just after this event I moved in with my husband. He came to Leningrad with the Gorny Institute, he was a professor then. For two years we lived on the campus on Maly Avenue, my son was born there. Then we got an apartment on the Fifteenth Line, where thereafter our common family life took place.

My friends called Nicolas ‘a gift for young ladies,’ as he could do everything at home, he could do whatever you wanted: he was good at repairing things etc. Also he had wonderful manners and he made very funny jokes. He was a kind and open person, but not a simple one.

My elder son Alexei was born in 1946 in Leningrad. He has only a high school education, and then he became a car mechanic. He tried numerous jobs, now he is a businessman: in Opochka together with his elder son, also called Alexei, he builds hotels and houses. He is married to a Russian girl, his schoolmate; he was eighteen when he got married.

My daughter, Olga lives together with me. She was born in 1951, graduated from Gorny Institute, and all her life she worked in her professional field, first in ‘Gipronikel,’ then in ‘Lenkompriroda’ as an ecologist. Now she is trying hard to organize her own firm, she wants to work in the field of ecological tourism. Besides, my daughter is very musical, and my son too. They sang very well, and they have a good ear for music, even if not pitch-perfect. So they both have a good ear for music, although I never taught them to sing and so on. Perhaps, it’s because of my father, or maybe, because of their own dad.