Lubov Ratmanskaya with her cousin Lev Gertsensteyn and his wife Lubov Munets

This is me with my cousin Lev Zinovyevich Gertsensteyn and his wife Lubov Munets. The photo was taken in Moscow in the 1960s. After the war I worked the housing department as the chief of the planning department. I also entered the Institute of Foreign Languages. But my boss wouldn't let me off work to take exams. He said to me: 'Who will let you go to university? You're Jewish!' But I still graduated from this institute. Then the campaign against cosmopolitans began and I was fired because my boss found somebody else for my place. It was because of the item 5 that I was fired. For a long time I couldn't find a job. My friend, a Russian, who had studied at the Institute of Foreign Languages with me, said to me, 'I don't believe that you can't find a job because of your nationality. Our department needs a person who speaks English. I'll talk to my chief about an interview. If you don't get this job, I'll believe that it's because of your nationality.' I went to the interview, interpreted some conversations on the phone in English, got answers to a number of questions, and made a written report to the chief. He was very pleased with me and wrote a note to the chief of the personnel department. The chief of the personnel department sent my documents to the personnel department of the Ministry. I didn't get this job. My friend said, 'You were right, it was only because of item 5. Then another friend suggested that I should go to another institute to ask for work. The chief of the information department there asked me to translate an article, then took me personally to the chief of the personnel department. The chief of the personnel department opened my passport and asked in astonishment, 'How dare you to ask for a job here!' When the chief of the information department learned about this he said, 'Well, the personnel department will probably start doing our work soon.' I had five friends at that time, all Jewish, and we were like sisters. We often discussed dangerous topics and were very concerned about Israel. I am still concerned whether Israel will withstand everything or not, and this relates to the question of whether the Jews will survive or not. If only one [nuclear] bomb is thrown at Israel, she will be gone and with her, a great number of Jews, too. That is why we were against the creation of the State of Israel, just because it was dangerous and would make it possible to get rid of many Jews at once. We talked a lot about it. We knew very well where Golda Meir 14 lived and we often went to that street. We wanted to go and visit her some time, but we understood that we shouldn't.