Joseph Shapochnik

This is my father, Joseph Shapochnik, during his service in the Romanian army retraining , in 1940.

In 1931 my father graduated and obtained a diploma of electric engineering. He and my mother returned to Bessarabia from France. They moved in with my mother's parents in Kishinev. It was hard for my father to find a job, as Bessarabia wasn't an area where industry was developed. He was jobless for a few months and then was employed by a power station in Bucharest. My parents moved there.

Later we lived in Bugaz. In winter it was very sad there. It was very windy and cold. My father took my mother and me to Inkerman. He rented a small house there where we spent winter. Inkerman was big as compared to Bugaz. There were stores and a cinema. In spring we went back to Bugaz. Here, in June 1940, the Soviet regime came to power. At once the management left. The director, chief physician, and surgeon Janos quit. Work practically stopped. We moved to Inkerman, where I saw Soviet soldiers for the first time. Bessarabians welcomed them with flowers. We left Inkerman for Kishinev. We had no place to live. Grandfather Gersh lived in a separate poky room. Uncle Lazar and his family were evicted and exiled. We moved to my mother's friend Fanya Berekhman. After a few months there was a strong earthquake in Kishinev. Part of the house, where we lived, collapsed. Fortunately, my father managed to take me and my mother from the house. Then we rented a small room. My father found a job at a railroad design institute: Dorproject.