Evgenia Wainshtock

I, Evgenia Wainshtock, on my eleventh birthday in 1952 in Kiev.

After the war we returned to Kiev in 1945.

In Kiev I went to study at an evening school to complete my secondary education and took a course in shorthand and typing. After finishing my course I got a job of a typist at the mining inspection committee. I worked there for a year before I received my school certificate and decided to enter Kiev Institute of Finance. Then I had an entrance exam in mathematic. I had it completed before time, when a young man sitting behind me asked me to give my work to him to copy it off. I gave it to him. When we came later to get to know the result of the test I saw on the list that I had a satisfactory mark and he got "excellent". This was when I faced anti-Semitism. It was a general mood of these days. Newspapers continuously published anti-Semitic articles about murderers of doctors. So I understood that it was my last name that caused problems. So, I wasn't admitted to this Institute. But then representatives from Moscow Institute of Statistics came to Kiev looking for somebody willing to study in their Institute.

I was willing. Besides, I had all highest grades in my school certificate. I was admitted to the faculty of public economy planning without exams. I studied by correspondence. There was an affiliate of this institute in Kiev and I attended lectures every Sunday. I also continued to work as a typist. My boss valued me highly. He wanted me to become a member of the Communist party. He believed it was necessary for the one that wanted to make a career. I became member of the Communist party in 1960s. The process was simple for me. They had a schedule for a specific number of people to join the Communist Party. My boss insisted that I became a communist even though I was a Jew. I was a breadwinner in my family. My salary was 410 rubles. I lived with my mother and sister. It took me no time to mature. My mother was a tutor at kindergarten. She earned less than I did. My sister went to the 3rd form of a Russian secondary school in Kiev.

In 1952 I got a job of economist in Ugolsbyt (acronym: "Coal sales"), a state department that distributed fuel between state enterprises and citizens. At that time many apartments were heated with coal and wood. My boss' deputy involved me in public activities when he noticed my talents. I could speak well in front of audience and have a problem discussed at meetings. I had an excellent memory. When we had an audit chairman of the commission said it was the first time in his time when all files were so clear and complete. The affiliate of my Institute in Kiev became part of Kiev Institute of public Economy that I graduated.

In 1959 I married Isaac Sheenvaald, a handsome Jewish young man. He worked at Kiev mechanic plant and I met him at a party there.