Rozaliya-Polya (Alla) Yasnogorodskaya-Futoryan

This photo shows me at work, typing. I graduated from highschool in 1950. I tried to enter university, but Jews weren't admitted. This was the the way anti-Semitism worked.

I worked at the Public library. In 1954 I graduated from the philological department (French and German languages) of Pokrovsky State Pedagogical Institute in Leningrad.

I was born in Kiev in 1932. From 1954 to 1955 I taught Russian and German at the Pedagogical Institute in Tobol , along with my mother. In Leningrad I had trouble finding work because of my (Jewish) nationality.

In 1956, with the help of my Uncle Efim Matveevich (Haim Mordukhovich) Yasnogorodsky who, at the time, worked at the Executive Committee, I was hired as a translator and researcher on architecture at the department of information of the Leningrad enterprise "Lenproekt," where I remained for the rest of my career.

At the same time I worked as a part-time guide for "Intourist." I was greatly interested in the French language and in 1988, at the invitation of some French friends, I was able to visit France.

I was in Paris, Burgandy and Normandy. Near the small town of Bayonne I visited an ancient Jewish cemetery from the 18th century. Because of my trip to France, I was forced to leave my job. I was basically fired.

I taught foreign languages at the Leningrad Mining Institute (June-August 1969) and the Togliatti Engineering-Economics Institute in Leningrad (1970-71). I have been a pensioner since 1989. I was never married and have no children. I live in St. Petersburg.