Victor Feldman and his second wife Olga Notkina

This is me and my second wife Olga Notkina. The photo was taken in Odessa in 2001. I remarried in 1978. My second wife, Olga Notkina, also worked at the university library. I moved into her apartment in a basement. I gave my apartment in Ekaterininskaya Street to my son. Shortly afterwards we received an apartment from the district executive committee, and Olga gave her apartment in the basement to Odessa Art School. We made some improvements in our apartment. In the middle of the 1980s we and other historians of the town organized two clubs in the Odessa House of Scientists: 'The Book' and 'Odessika'. We, scientists, writers, teachers, gather once a month, listen to reports and discuss important problems. My wife Olga and I work together. I had many historical publications in Odessa newspapers. In 1993 Odesskiy Vestnik [Odessa Courier], one of the biggest newspapers in Odessa, published an article about myself with the title 'Patriarch of the History of Our Region'. I view it as a high evaluation of my work. I heard about the Jewish Charity Organization Gmilus Hesed in 1993, a year after I retired. My wife and I were invited there to lecture on the history of Odessa. Like in any other charity fund there is a group of sincere and honest idealists eager to help people and a large group of people willing to profit from working there. There is a Front Brotherhood group there - it unites Jewish veterans of the Great Patriotic War. They are various people: from the directors of a plant to workers. They organize many lectures for older people. My wife Olga works at the library of Gmilus Hesed twice a week. Her salary is 130 hryvna. This amount and our pensions make our living. We spend a lot on medications. Recently Gmilus Hesed financed an eye surgery for me. This organization does a lot: it's a brilliant system providing assistance to Jews.