Larisa Shyhman’s son Leonid Shyhman with his wife Ludmila Shyhman and son Valentin Shyhman

My son Leonid Shyhman, with his wife Ludmila and son Valentin. This photo was made in the Crimea in 1995.

My older son Leonid took after his father, he is very smart. Gennadiy is also smart, but Leonid is smarter. He was very handsome, everybody said so. He was tall, my both sons are tall. Leonid had excellent marks.

He entered to Kiev Polytechnic College a Power Faculty. What of it? He finished it and wrote the best diploma. They said he should go to production industry right away, but the 'fifth item' and - they refused to employ Leonid. Assistant dean went to ask for him and to tell them how smart he was, but 'he was a Jew' and they didn't accept him. So he got a job where a 10-grade schoolgirl could cope. He was so distressed. This killed him morally. His wife Ludmila, they finished the college together and got married when they were students, she wasn't a Jew, was sent to work at the device manufacturing plant 'Communist'. Ludmila's last name was Vetrova: her mother is Ukrainian and her father is Russian. They have a good life together. In the long run my husband employed my son Leonid. He is an electronic equipment specialist. On 15 September 1985 my first grandson Valentin, Leonid's son, was born.

Leonid remarried. She is a good woman, they work together. My grandson Valentin entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematic in Kiev Polytechnic College. He passed his entrance exams well, his tuition is free of charge and he receives a stipend. Leonid is an electronic engineer and is doing well... But this is not what he wanted to be: theoretical physicist…