Moisey Marianovskiy and his schoolmates

This is a group of schoolchildren of a secondary school in Kirovograd town. This is me, Moisey Marianovskiy, the 7th on the left in the 2nd row.  The 6th on the left beside me is Ivan Zakharchenko, our military teacher. This photo was taken in 1932.

I was named Moisey after my paternal grandfather Moisey Marianovskiy, which was quite common in Jewish families. I was born in Novyy Bug near Kirovograd in 1919. I don't remember anything about the Novy Bug town. I was too young when we moved to Kirovograd. It was a nice little town buried in verdure and acacia blossom. Our whole big family lived in one room in a shared apartment. Most of our co-tenants were Jewish. There was a big Jewish population in Kirovograd.

I had no nanny. I didn't go to a kindergarten either. There were no kindergartens then. My sisters and brothers looked after me and taught me letters and numbers. They also gave me common errands to do. I went to a primary school at the age of 8. This was the nearest Russian school.  I studied well. I finished 5 years in this school.

In the early 1930's Ukraine was struck by terrible famine. Only God knows how we survived  this famine.  Mama had swollen legs. She always gave me whatever food she could, but I was still always hungry and even fainted from starvation. Fortunately, our family survived. In 1932 my older brother Yasha was in the army in Moscow. He became an officer. He wrote that there were better food supplies in Moscow and it was easier to find a job here. In 1933 our family moved to Moscow. Shimon went to work at the electrical plant named after Kuibyshev. He was a worker. Later I followed into his steps in Moscow.

We lived in Izmailovo district in Moscow. At that time this was a suburb of Moscow. We moved into a 19-meter room in a shared apartment. We hardly had any furniture. There was very little space. When my brother went to work  I took his place on the bed. We were very poor. Those were hard times. We hardly ever ate to our hearts' content, but at least we did not starve. Gradually our life was improving. I finished secondary school in Moscow. I worked at the plant and studied. This was hard. I worked the 2nd shift at the plant and had no time to do my homework. .I also had to help mama about the house. Besides, I also wanted to meet with my friends, so I did have little spare time. I was glad I earned my own living.  We lived in this room in the shared apartment till the early 1940's.