Zenta Kanevskaya

This photograph was taken in 1959 in Leningrad.

To tell the truth, it is a fragment of our group photograph, taken on the occasion
of our graduation day.

In 1955 I entered the Financial and Economic College – by correspondence
– and graduated from it in 1959.

That year was very remarkable for me: I got both a room and a higher education diploma.

At my work at the Krasnogvardeets factory, I never came into conflicts on the ground of my Jewish origin.
When entering the college, I also faced no discrimination.
Most probably it happened because I wanted only to
become a correspondence course student.

And one more thing:

The College of Finance and Economic, which at present has a very high rating,
was not in popular demand at that time.

Fortunately I was never forced to condemn Israel or the USA publicly.
At first I worked as a bookkeeper, then as a senior bookkeeper, and later as an economist.
I was not a person in a high position and never aimed at it.

I was considered to be a good specialist, and always had a good reputation.
I always worked honestly and with pleasure, but retired on a pension easily.
If I’d wanted I could have continued working, nobody turned me out.

But my second husband had a house in Frunze, and it was hard for him to sell it.
And it took almost three days and nights to get there by train
– while it was too expensive to go by airplane.

So we lived in two cities: Aron Semenovich used to live at my place in winter
and I lived at his in summer.

While I worked, I had to take leave at my own expense and when I became a pensioner
I depended on nobody and lived at his for half a year.

In 1982 he sold his house at last and moved to my place.