Tag #151007 - Interview #78412 (Frieda Portnaya)

I knew the words “financial inspector” from my early childhood. We were very much afraid of these people in our house. The reason was that my father had just learned to make leather coats, which were in fashion. But he didn’t have a license to make them, so this business of his was illegal. The license was very expensive. He was only allowed to keep items that were registered in the shop at home. And we kids always knew that we were not supposed to talk either at school or in the courtyard about what was going on at home. Financial inspectors came to our home often and searched the house, but my father always managed to hide the items on time and everything went well.
We had two small rooms in an apartment that we shared with other people. There were Primus stoves in the kitchen and each family had its own table. My father earned good money [on the side], but we couldn’t afford good clothes or food, as our neighbors could report to the police that we were spending more than we were supposed to. Now I understand that they did report on us every now and then, which is why the financial inspectors used to come.