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My uncle’s arrest had an impact on my life as well. In 1938 they didn’t admit me to Komsomol 18 due to my uncle who was an ‘enemy of the people’ 19. Many people were disappearing at this period. Our school teachers whom we loved were gone. Our favorite Russian teacher Polina Uschenko who taught us love for the Russian literature, disappeared. We got together at her home where she recited poems of Anna Akhmatova 20, who was a forbidden author. Somebody must have reported on her. At least, once she didn’t show up at school and nobody ever saw her again. My father’s close Ukrainian friend Pisarevskiy, a Ukrainian literature teacher, an invalid of the Civil War, was arrested as a Japanese spy and disappeared. Our school teacher of mathematic Israel Garkave, an old provincial Jew with a funny Jewish accent, whom we adored, also disappeared. He was arrested, and his family with many children was gone, too.
Then his replacement Valentin Golovnia, a young teacher of mathematic, was arrested and the third teacher followed his predecessors. Our teacher of history Sarah ( I don’t remember her surname) also disappeared. We were 15-16 years old, we were raised on the examples of Bolshevik heroes and believed the Soviet reality to be the best in the world, but then there was some dual attitude in our romantic minds. On one side there were holidays, marches and parades that we liked so much, and on the other side there were ‘enemies of the people’ who were heroes just shortly before. I asked questions at home and my father answered me truly saying that he believed these were mistakes that great Stalin didn’t know about. He spoke to me eye-to-eye and told me to never discuss this subject with anybody, but we, boys, discussed those terrible arrest and people who were disappearing. The time proved that those boys were true friends: nobody reported on his friends.
Every family in those horrible 1930s was prepared for anything. My father was afraid of arrest and was particularly concerned about my mother who still corresponded with her parents living in Poland. My mother packed a basket with underwear and dried bread and kept it ready in case of arrest. Once my mother’s colleagues planned a celebration at a restaurant. My mother dressed up and was ready to go, but my father didn’t let her go, however much she cried and begged him. My father must have intuitively known about something: on the following day all participants of this celebration were arrested.
Then his replacement Valentin Golovnia, a young teacher of mathematic, was arrested and the third teacher followed his predecessors. Our teacher of history Sarah ( I don’t remember her surname) also disappeared. We were 15-16 years old, we were raised on the examples of Bolshevik heroes and believed the Soviet reality to be the best in the world, but then there was some dual attitude in our romantic minds. On one side there were holidays, marches and parades that we liked so much, and on the other side there were ‘enemies of the people’ who were heroes just shortly before. I asked questions at home and my father answered me truly saying that he believed these were mistakes that great Stalin didn’t know about. He spoke to me eye-to-eye and told me to never discuss this subject with anybody, but we, boys, discussed those terrible arrest and people who were disappearing. The time proved that those boys were true friends: nobody reported on his friends.
Every family in those horrible 1930s was prepared for anything. My father was afraid of arrest and was particularly concerned about my mother who still corresponded with her parents living in Poland. My mother packed a basket with underwear and dried bread and kept it ready in case of arrest. Once my mother’s colleagues planned a celebration at a restaurant. My mother dressed up and was ready to go, but my father didn’t let her go, however much she cried and begged him. My father must have intuitively known about something: on the following day all participants of this celebration were arrested.
Period
Location
Poltava
Ukraine
Interview
Ilia Rozenfeld Biography
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