Sura Milstein as a teacher
This is me, Sura Milstein, together with other teachers at the award ceremony at the end of the school year at the school where I taught. I'm the second from the right at the table. The photograph was taken in Botosani in 1970.
After we returned from Transnistria, gradually, life returned to normal, meaning that I was employed. I had relations. I knew the mayor because his daughter was a former classmate of mine. Her name is Lovinescu - if she's still alive, I don't know if she's still alive -, she's Lovinescu's niece who lives in Paris. [Ed. note: Eugen Lovinescu (1881-1943) was a Romanian literary historian and critic, literary theoretician and cultural sociologist, memorialist, playwright, novelist and short story writer.] Eugen Lovinescu had a brother in Dorohoi who was mayor during that period when the authorities withdrew, leaving the city without leadership. I don't know how he was elected, but we had a mayor, we had a Town Hall, a few institutions were running again. So, this mayor protected me, I received a job at the Courthouse, I was a court clerk for a few months - for I had qualifications, I had been to school -, then I was secretary for the Prosecutor's Office. These were special institutions organized by the population that hadn't left Dorohoi. There were also Romanians who didn't flee and remained there. Some people fled to who knows where… to Ardeal [Transylvania]…
Laws were passed that offered us protection [Ed. note: Mrs. Sura is referring here to the Voitec Law], I entered the Faculty of Letters in Bucharest, as I had relatives there - my mother's sister -, I could live with them. I attended the faculty from 1945 till 1949. I didn't actually live in Bucharest throughout the 4 years, I attended under the optional attendance system. I would stay there for 1-2 months at a time - I would take a leave of absence from work without pay. After I graduated the university I entered the educational system from where I retired as a teacher of Romanian language and literature in 1977. I enjoyed my work as a teacher. I wouldn't have chosen it, had I not liked it. There were even some discussions: some of my relatives wanted that, since I had acquainted myself with the work at the Courthouse, I should study Law. But I didn't want to. I chose what was to my liking.