Tag #146275 - Interview #100173 (Rosa Linger)

Perestroika [46] brought much good in my life. A Jewish family from Liepaja lived in house. Sofia and Michael were my age. We were friends with them and after my husband’s death, they became very close to me. They left for Germany in 1985. We did not get in touch for a long time. Once I sent them a card for Rosh- Hashanah and got a response from Michael saying that Sofia died. Michael invited me to come for a visit. It was 1988 during the soviet regime. I wrote to Michael that he must have been a dreamer. Then I found out that there was an opportunity to go. He sent me an invitation letter. I processed an international passport and in fall 1988 I went to Western Berlin for two months. There were a lot of wonderful times. I was shown Western Berlin. My cousin Isaac Fleishman, son of mother’s brother Nohum lived in Anverpen. I called him and he asked me to come over, but Soviet consul in Germany did not issue me a permit. Isaac came to the Western Berlin and we finally met after a long separation. There were a lot of people from Riga in Western Berlin. There was even their club. I was invited there. I told them about my life, about founded Latvian Society of Jewish culture. Before my departure I was given the envelope with money and asked to give those donations to our community. I brought the money to the chairman of the community of Jewish culture and told that the money was coming from former Riga dweller in Berlin. If not for Gorbachev [47], I should not even have dreamt of such a trip. I think that Gorbachev did a lot to remove ‘iron curtain’ [48], existing in USSR for many years. He did a lot for people. It is Gorbachev’s merit that we are not living in Soviet Union now. Though, there were good changes in that life as well.