Tag #147055 - Interview #83426 (Piotr Levitas)

That orphanage was a common one, there were both Jewish and Russian kids. We lived in the orphanage in the Soviet time, and at that time there were no Jewish orphanages. While living in the orphanage, we didn’t observe any Jewish holidays. But it was not out of fear or because of prohibition; we simply did not observe them. There were mainly Russians and Ukrainians and a few Jews in the orphanage. We never had any troubles on account of our Jewish nationality. Everybody there was treated equally. After my father took us away from the orphanage, we began to keep Jewish traditions again.