Tag #146726 - Interview #78109 (Naum Kravets)

When perestroika [51] began, I believed Mikhail Gorbachev [52] at once. People always hope and I hoped that the situation in the country would change for the better. Things guaranteed by the Constitution, in actuality were not enforced in the USSR, but with perestroika we obtained our liberty of word, press. There was no censorship. The truth was revealed about real things that had taken place in the USSR during the Soviet regime. So, I had hoped that life would turn out for the better in our country. In the USSR religion was persecuted and during perestroika people were free to profess religion. Not only the elderly, who had nothing to lose, but also young people could go to the church, synagogue without fearing that it would be known at work. The Iron Curtain [53], separating us from the rest of the world, was removed. Now we had a chance to correspond with foreigners, go abroad and invite foreigners for a visit.