Arkadiy Redko with his wife Tamara Redko and friends

Arkadiy Redko with his wife Tamara Redko and friends

This photograph was taken on my 50th birthday. Our friends were visiting us. We had this photo taken for the memory. My wife Tamara Redko, nee Shkuro is the first on the right, I am the third on the right. This photo was taken in our flat in Kiev in 1974. I worked as a foreman, expert in sanitary engineering on construction sites in Kiev. I was involved in the construction of all major facilities in Kiev: hotels, colleges, the buildings of the Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian Parlament] and the Cabinet of Ministers. My management had a very good attitude to me. I worked there 33 yeas and have nothing to complain about. I retired in 1992, but I keep in touch with my organization. Tamara worked as a geodesist. My wife retired in 1990. My wife and I didn't celebrate Jewish or Christian holidays. We always celebrated Soviet holidays: 1st May, 7th November [October Revolution Day], Victory Day, Soviet Army Day, 8th March [International Women's Day], New Year's. We also celebrated birthdays. Our friends and relatives visited us. On Victory Day we went to the Grave of the Unknown Soldier. Veterans of the war got together there to share their memories. Children brought us flowers. On this day I always recall those who didn't live to see the victory. I am an atheist; the majority of Jews are atheists. I think that any religion is anti-scientific. An intelligent person who knows about history would never agree to believe all those fables about the existence of God. Every nation has a religion believing that it descends from God. But in reality, people do not believe in gods or idols, they believe in real life. Real life is what is important. In 1960 we received our first apartment. It was a communal apartment and we had few neighbors. In 1968 my wife and I received a separate apartment in Rusanovka that was a new district in Kiev then. Now it is a well settled district on the bank of the Dnieper. We have no children.
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