Faina Shlemovich and her family

This is a picture of me holding my daughter Inna, and my parents Moisey and Hana Shlemovich. The photo was taken in Chernovtsy on 14th June 1950. My daughter was born in 1950. I don't want to talk about her father. It's important that she came into this world and brought happiness into our family. I called her Inna after my father's mother Inda. These names sound alike. In 1948 we heard about the establishment of Israel. We were very happy about it. I had a feeling that we had finally got a home. In the same year the campaign against cosmopolitans began. The Jewish theater and school in Chernovtsy were closed. Later the Doctors' Plot began. Many people understood that it was just a preparation for the next round of the persecution of Jews, but there were many others who believed in what they heard on the radio and read in the newspapers. There were horrible articles about doctors poisoning and murdering their patients. Stalin died in 1953. One of our acquaintances put on her mourning clothes on the day of his death. Many people were saying that it was the end of the world and that life wasn't possible without Stalin. I didn't think so, but I didn't argue with those who thought otherwise. Inna started to study at a Russian secondary school in 1957. She was an ordinary Soviet child. She was a pioneer and a Komsomol member at school. There were no Jewish traditions in our life back then. She studied at the secondary and music school. She studied successfully in both schools, and I was proud of her success. My father died in 1959. My mother received a miserable pension, and I was only paid a small allowance for the child. I had to go to work. I got a job as a registrar in the polyclinic in 1962. They didn't pay much, but we could manage with the money I made. I worked there until I retired. I was trying to do everything I could to support my daughter and my mother.