It is me Malea Veselnitskaya (first from right), my husband Michael Veselnitski (first from left) and our children Yakov and Ida. This photo was taken in Odessa in 1960.
We got married in 1947 in Neman, Kaliningrad region. My husband was chief of the topographic department of the military unit in Neman Kaliningrad region. In 1948 our daughter Ida was born. My husband demobilized in 1949 and went to Kherson with his parents to settle down there but it didn't work. My husband became a surveyor in Meliovodstroy Company in Odessa. Ida and I joined him in 1951. In 1954 my son Yakov was born.
The 'Krushchev thaw' didn't reflect on our family. However, I faced anti-Semitism. I couldn't find a job due to my Item 5 in my passport. My acquaintance Polina Yakovlevna Zhadan, a Jew, helped me to get a job of a cashier in Odessa Machine Building College. I replaced her while she was on her maternity leave. I learned my duties fast and director and chief accountant were happy with my performance. I had a good handwriting and our accountant often asked me to write reports. When the cashier came back from her maternity leave they wanted to make me a lab assistant, but deputy director refused for some over made reason. It was clear that the reason was my Jewish identity. Then I heard about a vacancy of cashier in the College of Credits and Economics. Their human resources manager, a retired military, confirmed that they had a vacancy, but when he looked into my passport he lost interest in me and said that he would send me a card with his reply. Needless to say that I never received any card. I still remember how abusing his spiteful manner was. I couldn't understand what my fault was. I had an acquaintance that was in good relationships with chief accountant of the medical equipment plant and I went to work there in 1960. My husband went to work as a topographer in Ukryuzhgiprovodkhoz Company in 1961. He had been on the lists for receiving a lodging for 10 years being a veteran of the war, but only when their organization began housing construction we gained a hope. In 1962 we received a 3-bedroom apartment.
My children Ida and Yakov studied in school #56. They never complained about any anti-Semitic demonstration in their school. They went along well with heir schoolmates. After finishing school in 1965 Ida entered the College of Industrial Automatics. When she finished it I helped her to get employment as design engineer at the medical equipment plant. In 1967 she married Alexandr Misyuk. He was a turner at the October Revolution plant. The newly weds came to live with us. In 1968 their son Semyon was born.
My younger son Yakov finished school in 1969. He had concerns about entering a college in Odessa due to his Jewish identity and went to Saratov. My husband's uncle lived there and worked as logistics supervisor at the College of Public Economy. He promised to put in a word for my son. At the entrance exam Yakov was asked why he came to enter this college in Saratov when there was a similar college in his hometown in Odessa. He replied that there was no that specific faculty in the college. When I received a telegram that Yakov was admitted I went hysterical from joy.
