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We lived in a shared apartment, where one room was ours. The building was in Smolninsky district, 10 minutes’ walk from Smolny. As a Party activist with many awards, my father was expecting a separate flat in a new building behind Smolny Cathedral, on Smolninskaya Embankment. He took part in the construction of that building.
Our apartment was in a former inn, built before the Revolution. There were four rooms in the flat. Our family occupied one of them. It was 20 square meters. Mother and Father first lived by themselves, then in 1933 my sister was born, me in 1939, and my brother in 1946. So, there were five of us living in that room. The next two rooms were occupied by the family of a Jewish woman, Antseva. She did all she could to take revenge on us for taking the room vacated after the previous dweller died – she had her own pretensions. Another room was occupied by a Jewish lady, Katsnelson, who sort of adhered to neutral policies. The common kitchen was big – about 15 square meters. An oven, stuffed with firewood, took up one-third of it. In the 1950s, they disassembled it and installed a gas stove. There was a bathroom with firewood heater. But we didn’t use it, because there was another stove in the room. We didn’t have enough firewood for all of them. We used to go to the famous Mytninskiye bath house.
In 1953, they installed steam heating and began to supply hot water and we could use our own bathroom. The corridor was long and narrow. One toilet for four families. In the morning we all had to queue up. There was a telephone, but in the Antsevs’ room. Antsev was a lawyer, and his wife didn’t permit the telephone to be in the corridor and wouldn’t let the rest of us use it.
Our apartment was in a former inn, built before the Revolution. There were four rooms in the flat. Our family occupied one of them. It was 20 square meters. Mother and Father first lived by themselves, then in 1933 my sister was born, me in 1939, and my brother in 1946. So, there were five of us living in that room. The next two rooms were occupied by the family of a Jewish woman, Antseva. She did all she could to take revenge on us for taking the room vacated after the previous dweller died – she had her own pretensions. Another room was occupied by a Jewish lady, Katsnelson, who sort of adhered to neutral policies. The common kitchen was big – about 15 square meters. An oven, stuffed with firewood, took up one-third of it. In the 1950s, they disassembled it and installed a gas stove. There was a bathroom with firewood heater. But we didn’t use it, because there was another stove in the room. We didn’t have enough firewood for all of them. We used to go to the famous Mytninskiye bath house.
In 1953, they installed steam heating and began to supply hot water and we could use our own bathroom. The corridor was long and narrow. One toilet for four families. In the morning we all had to queue up. There was a telephone, but in the Antsevs’ room. Antsev was a lawyer, and his wife didn’t permit the telephone to be in the corridor and wouldn’t let the rest of us use it.
Period
Location
St. Petersburg
Russia
Interview
Irina Khokhlova