Tag #118283 - Interview #88025 (Iosif Yudelevichus)

In 1939 the war started from captured Poland. Vilnius became the capital of Lithuania again. Parents and I went to see aunt Malka. I enjoyed traveling by train. I met my cousins. Parents were getting more and more concerned. There were vivid fascist and anti-Semitic moods. They had not reflected on us so far. There appeared anti-Semitic slogans, calling upon buying goods from Lithuanians, not to use Jewish stores and enterprises. But not further actions had been taken yet, there were mere slogans. When in June 1940 Soviet Army came in Lithuania, most Jewish people, including intelligentsia, where my parents belonged to, were happy welcome the Soviets. Nothing changed for us. Though, products had vanished from the stores. Wives of Soviet officers appeared in the streets looking dowdy and ill-kempt. Of course I did not like to see Soviet officers to be uncultured people, who often even did not know how to use tableware. There were times when almost all of us considered Soviet people to be ideal. The most amusing thing that lower strata of society, like our servants, were mostly perturbed with the brusqueness and ill manners of Soviet people. Mother often had to comfort Elya, who quite often came across their harshness.