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On the day of Stalin's death we heard an official announcement on the radio. People were silent. Then we were on guard in front of his bust wearing our mourning armbands. Some people cried. Some were skeptical about Stalin. One of my acquaintances said, 'Victor, this man with moustache joined a better world'. We took turns to stand on guard by his bust for three days. We didn't talk. We could still remember 1937.
My first wife died in 1957; she was buried in the international cemetery. After she died her sister Zinaida helped me a lot. She also had a son who was the same age as my Semyon. Semyon often stayed with them. I had a low salary, but it was enough to buy food. It was more difficult with clothes and shoes, but I could fix shoes. Sometimes we wore shoes for a long time. My son cared a lot about the memory of his mother. He was rather unhappy when I had an affair with a woman whom he didn't like at all. However, he never spoke his mind, just avoided her. He took away all his mother's photographs from my home then.
I was determined about my attitude toward Khrushchev's [32] 'thaw': I believed that those people who came to power were able to improve the people's situation. [Editor's note: Victor means the softening of the Soviet regime.] In the 1950s I had a very negative attitude towards the human resources policy of the Soviet power. Therefore, I was rather positive about the 'thaw' period and was convinced that everything was going to be fine from then on. The only thing I didn't like was the too active position of Khrushchev. He destroyed everything he came to doing. I believe the history of development of virgin soils to have been a criminal act.
The 1960s were the years of certain prosperity. Our salaries quite satisfied our needs. We got an opportunity to buy clothes and household goods. Men of my surrounding dreamed of a mackintosh and felt hat. I had my dream come true: my wife's brother made me a coat. I wasn't a dandy, but I had some ambitions.
My first wife died in 1957; she was buried in the international cemetery. After she died her sister Zinaida helped me a lot. She also had a son who was the same age as my Semyon. Semyon often stayed with them. I had a low salary, but it was enough to buy food. It was more difficult with clothes and shoes, but I could fix shoes. Sometimes we wore shoes for a long time. My son cared a lot about the memory of his mother. He was rather unhappy when I had an affair with a woman whom he didn't like at all. However, he never spoke his mind, just avoided her. He took away all his mother's photographs from my home then.
I was determined about my attitude toward Khrushchev's [32] 'thaw': I believed that those people who came to power were able to improve the people's situation. [Editor's note: Victor means the softening of the Soviet regime.] In the 1950s I had a very negative attitude towards the human resources policy of the Soviet power. Therefore, I was rather positive about the 'thaw' period and was convinced that everything was going to be fine from then on. The only thing I didn't like was the too active position of Khrushchev. He destroyed everything he came to doing. I believe the history of development of virgin soils to have been a criminal act.
The 1960s were the years of certain prosperity. Our salaries quite satisfied our needs. We got an opportunity to buy clothes and household goods. Men of my surrounding dreamed of a mackintosh and felt hat. I had my dream come true: my wife's brother made me a coat. I wasn't a dandy, but I had some ambitions.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Victor Feldman