Selected text
This was the first time in my life when I came across anti-Semitism. I submitted all the necessary documents. My papers were successfully admitted by our Polytechnic Institute, the Ministry of Higher Education and the central committee of the Communist Party of Estonia. They were sent to Leningrad by official bodies.
A letter from Leningrad was sent to my home address. It was signed by the chief of the postgraduate department of the School of Engineering and Construction in Leningrad, Postnikov, and addressed to the rector of our institute. The letter read: ‘We cannot admit your targeted postgraduate student to the entrance exams since he is not working in the system of higher and secondary education and has not provided a recommendation letter from his job. Enclosure: 11 pages.’
A letter of recommendation was written on the letterhead of the trust Santechmontazh, where I was working. It was stamped and signed by the secretary of the party organization, the manager and chairman of the trade union. The letter of recommendation didn’t include the place where it was sent. The documents were sent by the republic, not by me personally. They just needed a pretext to reject the candidacy of a Jew to the postgraduate studies.
Then that issue was discussed by the ministers of higher education of the Soviet Union republics. 11 proctors of Leningrad institutions of higher education were dismissed for displayed anti-Semitism. I was not the only one who hadn’t been admitted to the post-graduate department . All Jews got their documents back. Estonia was the country, where the nationality factor wasn’t considered among the candidates for the target postgraduate studies. It didn’t matter whether the person was a Jew, Russian or Estonian. They selected people by their capabilities and skills, but they did pay attention to the nationality in Russia.
A letter from Leningrad was sent to my home address. It was signed by the chief of the postgraduate department of the School of Engineering and Construction in Leningrad, Postnikov, and addressed to the rector of our institute. The letter read: ‘We cannot admit your targeted postgraduate student to the entrance exams since he is not working in the system of higher and secondary education and has not provided a recommendation letter from his job. Enclosure: 11 pages.’
A letter of recommendation was written on the letterhead of the trust Santechmontazh, where I was working. It was stamped and signed by the secretary of the party organization, the manager and chairman of the trade union. The letter of recommendation didn’t include the place where it was sent. The documents were sent by the republic, not by me personally. They just needed a pretext to reject the candidacy of a Jew to the postgraduate studies.
Then that issue was discussed by the ministers of higher education of the Soviet Union republics. 11 proctors of Leningrad institutions of higher education were dismissed for displayed anti-Semitism. I was not the only one who hadn’t been admitted to the post-graduate department . All Jews got their documents back. Estonia was the country, where the nationality factor wasn’t considered among the candidates for the target postgraduate studies. It didn’t matter whether the person was a Jew, Russian or Estonian. They selected people by their capabilities and skills, but they did pay attention to the nationality in Russia.
Period
Location
Talinn
Estonia
Interview
Avi Dobrysh