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At the beginning of the 1950s we were confronted with the demonstration of anti-Semitism by the state. [This was the time of the Doctors’ Plot, as well.] [10] Our relatives were fired and exiled to other cities. Uncle Grigory, who worked as a teacher at the Hertzen Pedagogical Institute in Leningrad, left for Kaliningrad and Aunt Tira’s husband, Ilya Gutner, a professor at the Leningrad Medical Institute left for Yaroslavl. After Stalin’s death in 1953 they managed to come back to Leningrad and continue working at their former positions. I think that was possible due to the fact that they were both excellent experts and each had a name and reputation in their field. After the war all grandchildren got a higher education and began to work in various fields, achieving high positions. They founded families and gave birth to children. Our big family gathered for the family holidays as usual.
Despite the hardships our family faced during Stalinism, the death of the ‘Leader of all Nations and of all Times’ was a terrifying shock to all of us. The atmosphere was dismal and mournful in the days before the death of the leader, when the radio and newspapers reported on the condition of Stalin’s health. Before, such a mood was only experienced when close relatives were sick. When the message about his death was spread on 5th March 1953, the sorrow in the family knew no limits. Our eyes were full of tears for days. My brother Mikhail, who was 10 at that time, was sobbing in the same way as the grown-ups. My cousins, Larisa and Lutsia, left a note for their mother at home, and headed for Moscow to attend the funeral of the leader. They went in freight cars because there weren’t enough trains for the number of those that wanted to go to Moscow. Their trip almost ended tragically. They miraculously survived in that welter, which occurred in Moscow, near the House of Unions, where the coffin with the leader’s body was placed for people to bid farewell. A lot of people perished in that throng. Confusion and feelings of complete uncertainty about the country’s future without the great leader filled people’s souls. At present, several decades after, having re-examined our history, we recall that period of our life with irony.
Despite the hardships our family faced during Stalinism, the death of the ‘Leader of all Nations and of all Times’ was a terrifying shock to all of us. The atmosphere was dismal and mournful in the days before the death of the leader, when the radio and newspapers reported on the condition of Stalin’s health. Before, such a mood was only experienced when close relatives were sick. When the message about his death was spread on 5th March 1953, the sorrow in the family knew no limits. Our eyes were full of tears for days. My brother Mikhail, who was 10 at that time, was sobbing in the same way as the grown-ups. My cousins, Larisa and Lutsia, left a note for their mother at home, and headed for Moscow to attend the funeral of the leader. They went in freight cars because there weren’t enough trains for the number of those that wanted to go to Moscow. Their trip almost ended tragically. They miraculously survived in that welter, which occurred in Moscow, near the House of Unions, where the coffin with the leader’s body was placed for people to bid farewell. A lot of people perished in that throng. Confusion and feelings of complete uncertainty about the country’s future without the great leader filled people’s souls. At present, several decades after, having re-examined our history, we recall that period of our life with irony.
Period
Year
1953
Location
Russia
Interview
Mia Ulman