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In 1945 I went to the Ukrainian school. I studied there for two years. I remember my first teacher Nadezhda Alexandrovna. We liked her a lot. She told us about Lenin[1]. In the 1st form I became a young Octobrist[2], and wore my star badge proudly. After I finished the 2nd form separate educational system for boys and girls was introduced and boys went to school # 5. It was a Russian school for boys. In our class there were 28 Jews of 32 children. It was easier for us to talk Yiddish than Russian. Besides, half of our teachers were Jews. In the 3rd form I became a pioneer. The mother of Zoya Kosmodemianskaya, the famous partisan, said a speech calling us to bear the title of the pioneer with honor. We celebrated the Soviet holidays - the 1st of May and the 7th of November - at school We went to the parades and then came back to school for the meeting and a concert. After the parade were could have an ice-cream that was an event in itself for us considering that this was the period of lack of food. We didn't celebrate Soviet holidays at home. We were very poor. My father was severely ill with tuberculosis. We often starved. My father couldn't go to work due to his illness, and my mother had to stay at home to look after him. My father received an invalid pension, but it was a very insignificant amount of money.
Interview
efim pisarenko