Roman Reznikov, Hanna Reznik and Rieva Rabinovich

This is a picture of my mother Hanna Reznik (on the right), her sister Rieva Rabinovich, nee Shoov and me. The photo was taken in Gaisin in 1935. I started school in 1937. This was an ordinary school. There were children of many nationalities. Since my childhood history has been my biggest interest. I read a lot. I wasn't very good at mathematics or physics. I borrowed books from the library and often read at night. My mother told me off for doing so - she thought it was bad for my eyes. But I loved reading and it was my hobby. I also liked sports and went in for track and field athletics. I remember some tension in the middle of the 1930s [during the Great Terror]. My parents stopped celebrating Jewish holidays or going to the synagogue. They seemed to be afraid of something but they never mentioned anything to me. In 1936 our landlord's husband was arrested in Rostov. He was a manager in the fish farming industry. I remember our landlord bringing his little daughter to his house. My mother felt very sorry for the child. She used to tell me that she was an orphan and I had to be very kind and sympathetic with her. Later my mother told me that her father had been shot and her mother arrested and sent to a prison camp. That's the only thing I know about Stalin's repression of people in the 1930s. Rieva, born in 1910, was married to Boris Rabinovich. He worked as a car tester at a plant. He wasn't recruited to the army and he moved to Miass along with his family. Mina, Rieva and their families stayed in Miass after the war. Rieva died in 1952. She had no children.