Tag #140014 - Interview #97330 (Grigoriy Yakovlevich Husid)

We didn’t have political discussions in the family. Perhaps, they discussed something, but I was never interested in these subjects. The subjects of policy or work issues or critical attitude were closed.  There wasn’t much criticism, anyway. I remember in 1937 when my father was Chairman of the Radio Broadcast Committee he packed his suitcase and was awaiting arrest. He had been fired from work and expelled from the Party.  What happened was that they read the verdict of Trotskiy fellow-comrades on the radio, and after they finished they started broadcasting some funeral march. And my father was on business trip then.  My father’s deputy was arrested immediately. But my father wasn’t arrested. But still – he wasn’t in the Party and he lost his job. These were troubled times, and he expected arrest. Later, when it all settled down he went to work again, but he was put on a lower position. He worked at the consumer association. He wasn’t involved in policy or culture any more. However, they returned his Party membership card to him, and it was good that he had not been arrested or convicted. He was happy about it, as at that time they were arresting people for nothing. I was 13 when my father was awaiting arrest. Everybody believed that Trotskiy fellow-comrades were enemies. There were few of those who believed otherwise. We, students, believed that everything they were doing to the people was correct and had its reasons. Stalin was the one who, we believed, constituted our life basis.
Mamma worked as an accountant at that time, but I don’t remember where. Mamma loved beautiful clothes and she could make her own clothes. I can sew a little, too.