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My sister Fira and her husband lived in Starokonstantinov. My sister’s family also was there to help my mother. Their son graduated from the Lvov Polytechnic Institute. He got a job assignment in Dnepropetrovsk. He still works at a research institute there. Their daughter Lialia graduated from Medical Institute in Leningrad and works at a clinic there. Her husband is a surgeon. My sister’s husband had a stroke in 2001. Cyril died on 4 November 2001. Lialia was staying with her parents while her father was ill. After his funeral she stayed with her mother for two months. My sister was reluctant to leave Starokonstantinov, but she couldn’t live alone. She moved to her son Boris in Dnepropetrovsk. Boris and his wife Katia take good care of her.
In March 1953 Stalin died. I couldn’t stop crying. People wore black armbands and there were meeting all over the town. The grief was overwhelming, but gradually it reduced leading to deeper understanding of the situation even before the ХХth Party Congress(11) revealed the truth. After the Congress many people saw the true state of things. But it was also true that even those who were executed at Stalin’s order were dying with the words “Long live Stalin!”. They strongly believed that he was unaware of what was happening in the country.
I graduated from the University in 1956. My husband got a job assignment in a district school near Chernovtsy. He was director of a district school in Kiselyov for two years and then in Berezhtsy. I worked as a teacher of literature in the same schools. Later we returned to Chernovtsy. I couldn’t find a job. It didn’t have anything to do with my nationality. There were no vacancies for me. I was offered a temporary job at a kindergarten and I decided to accept it. I got a job at the kindergarten near my house. I liked my new job very much and children and their parents liked me. I worked at the kindergarten until I retired.
In March 1953 Stalin died. I couldn’t stop crying. People wore black armbands and there were meeting all over the town. The grief was overwhelming, but gradually it reduced leading to deeper understanding of the situation even before the ХХth Party Congress(11) revealed the truth. After the Congress many people saw the true state of things. But it was also true that even those who were executed at Stalin’s order were dying with the words “Long live Stalin!”. They strongly believed that he was unaware of what was happening in the country.
I graduated from the University in 1956. My husband got a job assignment in a district school near Chernovtsy. He was director of a district school in Kiselyov for two years and then in Berezhtsy. I worked as a teacher of literature in the same schools. Later we returned to Chernovtsy. I couldn’t find a job. It didn’t have anything to do with my nationality. There were no vacancies for me. I was offered a temporary job at a kindergarten and I decided to accept it. I got a job at the kindergarten near my house. I liked my new job very much and children and their parents liked me. I worked at the kindergarten until I retired.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Faina Volper Biography