Bluma Katz

This is me student of the 9th form of a general education school. This photo was taken in for the school board of honor in 1938 in Mogilyov-Podolskiy.

I went to the 7-year Jewish school in Ozarintsy where we studied in Yiddish. I had excellent marks in all subjects at school. I studied 3 years in Ozarintsy. In autumn 1931 my father was offered a job of director of the MTS [equipment maintenance yard - they repaired plant and equipment for kolkhozes in Vinnitsa region] canteen in Vendichany village near Ozarintsy. They promised him a higher salary and lodging. My parents decided to move there. Jews constituted maximum 30% of the total population in Vendichany.

I went to the 7-year Ukrainian school in Vendichany. There were quite a few Jewish students at school. There was no anti-Semitism - perhaps it did not exist before the war. I had Jewish and Ukrainian friends. We were taught to be internationalists at school. Nationality didn't matter to me. We were told that we had one nationality - we were Soviet people. I became a pioneer, and was very proud wearing my red neck tie. After finishing school my parents began to think about my further studies. They wanted me to enter a college which required a full secondary education. There was no place to continue education in Vendichany while there were higher secondary schools in Mogilyov-Podolskiy. My father went to Mogilyov-Podolskiy, found a job and our family moved to Mogilyov-Podolskiy. My parents bought a small shabby house in the center of the town. We certainly lived in better houses in Ozarintsy and Vendichany than the one we had in Mogilyov-Podolskiy. However, my parents believed it was more important for their children to get education than concentrate on certain discomforts. I went to the 8th form of a Russian school. I studied well. I liked school and only had good and excellent marks for my studies. In the 8th form I joined the Komsomol.