This photo was taken at the meeting of my classmates 20 yeas after we finished school. They came from many towns of the USSR to this meeting. This is me, Mikhail Leger - the 3rd from the left. This photo was taken in Mogilyov-Podolskiy in 1972.
In 1958 I went to work at the design office at the machine building plant named after Kirov in Mogilyov-Podolskiy as design engineer. This is the biggest plant in the town. I still work there, even though I’ve stepped over the retirement age. I met my future wife Yelena Kravets at the plant. She was a copy operator at the design office. We got married in 1962. We had a civil ceremony in the registry office, and in the evening mama arranged a dinner for the family. We lived with my parents. My father installed a partial in the room and we lived there for few years. In 1965 the plant constructed an apartment house for its employees and my wife and I received a two-bedroom apartment. In 1965 our daughter was born. We named her Klara .
I've never joined the party. I never wanted to join the party and nobody ever put any pressure upon me. My wife and I celebrated Soviet holidays at home: 1 May, 7 November, Victory Day. In the morning all employees went to parades and then we got together at somebody's place and had parties. We drank and talked. On Jewish holidays my wife and I went to my parents. They still celebrated Jewish holidays. I don't think there was the so-called Jewry at that time. Te synagogue was closed, and Yiddish was gradually squeezed out of our everyday life. However, we've never forgotten that we were Jews. Besides, non-Jews never allowed us to forget it.
