This is me, Isaac Klinger (first from the right) and my fellow Russian comrades - unfortunately I’ve forgotten their names. This photo was taken in Odessa in 1958.
There were demonstrations of routinely anti-Semitism after the war. Jews were abused in stores and in the streets. They called Jews ‘unfinished’ – rude. There was no abuse at work, though. We tried not to speak Yiddish at work, particularly in the presence of Russian employees. I had Russian friends. My Russian colleague was not anti-Semitic.
I remember well the period of the Doctors’ Plot in 1953. A female doctor from Moscow blamed Jewish doctors for an alleged plan to poison Stalin. I remember people saying that all Jews were going to be deported to Siberia like the Crimean Tatars and we were very concerned about it. In 1953 Stalin died and every Soviet citizen was grieving after him. We believed in him and idolized him. I went into attacks for him during the Great Patriotic War shouting, ‘For Stalin! For the Motherland!’
Life went on. I went to work and my stepson studied at school very successfully. He got excellent marks. He didn’t identify himself as a Jew at school. My wife’s stepson Мisha finished his military school and was sent to a fire brigade in Ufa. Later he returned to Odessa and worked at a spare parts factory where he was galvanic manager. He married Shyfra’s daughter Lusia. When their baby was born they lived with us for some time.
