Solomon Manevich with his mother Rachil Manevich, cousin Yan Katz, and his wife Yana Rimma

This is me, Solomon Manevich, the first from left in the second row, next to me my cousin Yan Katz, my mother Rachil Manevich the first from left in the first row and next to her Yan's wife Yana Rimma. The photo was taken on my mother's birthday in the mid 1960s.

I demobilized and returned to Kiev in 1946 only I was not going to work at the plant, but wanted to be involved in science. I looked for a job at educational institutions and scientific research institutes. After the potential employers saw my nationality in application form they always gave me a polite refusal. This was the first time in my life when I faced stable anti-Semitism on a state level. I looked for a job for about three months before I went to work at the military plant that manufactured radar sets. I was a senior foreman and deputy superintendent of galvanic shop.

In January 1948 I managed to get out of the hell of rushed work at the plant. I was invited to the position of senior lab assistant at the Department of general chemistry of Kiev College of Civil Aviation which was newly established. I also taught at seminars and supervised laboratory activities at the daytime department and lectured at the evening department. I also wrote manuals for extramural students. In some time Professor Izbekov, Head of Department of General Chemistry of Kiev Polytechnic College invited me to become a lecturer at the College. Since the College of Civil Aviation was located across the street from the Chemical department of Polytechnic College and I managed to commute between two Colleges during an interval. Working in two Colleges I also passed exams for the title of candidate of sciences and became a scientific researcher.

There were two campaigns in progress in the country at that period: struggle against servility and reverence for the West. All biggest discoveries in the world were declared to have been achieved by Russian scientists. The history of science was rewritten. The second campaign was openly anti-Semitic. Mass media had publications about struggle against 'rootless cosmopolites' - Jewish intellectuals and workers of culture. In both Colleges where I worked Jewish lecturers were not allowed to participate in commissions during entrance exams or even were dismissed. Party officials found formal reasons to fire people. Many Jewish employees from our College lost their job. I don't know whether any Jewish employee kept his job at that time. We didn't discuss this subject since we might be punished for such discussions. People didn't trust one another. I was also fired from the Polytechnic College in 1948. I couldn't find a job at any College or scientific institute since they also were firing their Jewish employees. I was given polite refusals at all institutions.

Once I met my former co-student who worked at the commissioning trust called Orgcommuneenergo responsible for the power supply in Kiev. My former co-student helped me to get employed by this trust. Valia Gordienko, another friend of mine from the prewar time was a supervisor at this trust. I became an equipment mechanic and liked this job. I worked with new equipment and was involved in its commissioning, start up and modifications. I trained the personnel and installed this equipment. I was promoted to an engineer's positions in due time, then to senior engineer, to crew engineer and foreman. I received a higher salary than a standard engineer at any other enterprise. I worked at the commissioning departments for the rest of my life until I retired in 1982.

My mother worked as a pharmacist in a pharmacy after the war until she retired. She lived along life and died in 1980. My cousin Yan (the son of my mother’s brother Nohim Berko Katz) graduated from Kiev Polytechnic College after the war. Yan and his family resides in Israel, they moved in the late 1980s.