Sima-Liba Nerubenko with her childrens Svetlana Nerubenko and Victor Nerubenko

I, Sima Nerubenko, and my children Svetlana and Victor during a walk in Lvov. Photo taken by my older son - 15-year-old Vladimir, in 1954.

In April 1942 my daughter Svetlana was born. Since then I never worked and dedicated myself to my family and raising children. In December 1944 my husband Grigoriy got a job assignment in Lvov. He was offered to be manager of the construction of the factory of glass insulators. He went there immediately. I packed our belongings and children and I followed him.

My husband spent a lot of time at work, he became its director and worked there for many years. I was a housewife. In 1947 our third child Victor was born. I understand that we had a better life than many other families at that time. My husband held a high position and had a good salary.

We didn't have many friends since our family was most important for us. We didn't observe any religious traditions. We celebrated Soviet holidays: 1 May, October Revolution Day, Victory Day and new Year. We also had birthday parties. I made traditional Soviet food: meat salad, jellied meat, cutlets, etc. Sometimes I made Gefilte fish.

Our children were always aware of the fact that their mother was Jewish and they never kept it a secret. They chose to be put sown as Ukrainians in their passports - my husband and I understood that it would be easier for them to enter an Institute and get a good job.

Our children studied in a Russian school. They were pioneers and Komsomol members. They spent summer vacations in pioneer and sport camps. They were sociable and had many friends of different nationalities. There was no national segregation between children.

Vladimir was not doing very well at school and it never occurred to Grigory to involve his influential friends to help our son enter an Institute. Our son finished a technical college. Svetlana was very successful with her studies and entered the faculty of physics and mathematic of the Lvov University. Upon graduation she got a job assignment in a distant village. In a year and a half she became a postgraduate in Kharkov University, but due to her family she couldn't finish her studies. She got married and in 1967 her son Sergey was born. Svetlana's husband wasn't Jewish. Her marriage failed and we prefer to not discuss this subject. In a short time she divorced and returned home to Lvov. This was a failure of a marriage and we are doing our best to forget about it. Svetlana worked at school and then got a job at a research institute where she worked for many years. I was raising my grandson Sergey.