Tag #155316 - Interview #94498 (Evadiy Rubalskiy)

I cannot say that our life improved during the Khrushchev rule, and there was no more anti-Semitism in our life, but it became easier from the moral point. There were no more demonstration trials, executions and there was a feeling of having more freedom. Anti-Semitism began to decline, but then it became visible again. It was hard for a Jew to get a job. Even if there was a vacancy, when a Jew came for an appointment, they demanded his passport. There was a ‘nationality’ line item in passports, the so-called ‘5th line item’ [Item 5] [54]. When they looked at this item, they declared the vacancy was already gone. However, I never faced this problem. Construction people were valued well and besides, many people knew me, but once I faced this problem all right. I was to be officially transferred from one trust to another. One morning I went there to submit my documents, when they told me there was someone else employed and there was no vacancy for me. “When did it happen – at night, if yesterday night there was still a vacancy?’ Anyway, this was not a problem for me: I got employed by another trust on that same day, but it was more difficult for others, particularly if they were office workers. Of course, employers never spoke out that they were not employing Jews, but it was all clear anyway.