My wife Anes Dubinskaya. This photo was taken by her friend in the University garden after classes when she studied at the Faculty of foreign languages. Kiev, 30 April 1940.
In 1934 I entered Agricultural College, present Agricultural Academy. I finished the Faculty of Mechanization at the Academy in 1939. I got a job assignment to Chernigov [regional center, about 150 km from Kiev], where I was a shop superintendent. We also studied military disciplines in college and after finishing it I became a reserve lieutenant of armored troops. I worked at the vehicle and tractor plant in Chernigov. I went to visit my father in Belaya Tserkov. On my way back on 22 June 1941 I heard about the war and that Kiev was bombed… I decided that I had to go to the military registry office for mobilization. I went to the plant to pick my documents from there, but they said: ‘Oh, no, you already have a release from military service and you are employed!’ The plant evacuated to Kuibyshev on 1 July. We were the first plant to evacuate and I got tickets in a nice train! I was seeing a girl, a nice Jewish girl, I liked her, but I was not thinking of marriage yet. So I offered her to evacuate with me. She agreed instantly. The girl’s name was Anes Dubinskaya. Her mother was a common woman and I was an all right guy, so they agreed. Her older daughter was smart, though. She said: ‘What do you mean go with him? No. Let him marry her first!’ This is how it was then: you want her - you marry her. I said: ‘Let’s get married!’ We went to a registry office where our marriage was registered. So I got married. Our luggage was taken to the railway station.
My wife Anes Dubinskaya was born in Volodarka in 1920. In the middle 1920s she moved to Kiev with her mother and sister. After finishing a secondary school she entered the Faculty of Foreign languages in Kiev University. When we met, she was a third-year student. So, this trip to the destination of our evacuation was our 'honey moon'.
We got a room at the hostel of the plant. In Kuibyshev I helped my wife to get an employment at the human resources department at a military plant. She heard that Kiev University evacuated to Kzyl-Orda in Kazakhstan. After a year of our life together it suddenly occurred to her that she wanted to finish her studies. Let her! I worked at the military plant day and night and hardly ever was at home. I had an office at the plant and there I slept. My wife went to Kzyl-Orda where she graduated from the university and then returned to Kuibyshev some time in 1943.
