CHAPTER 13

Since I could not go to the university the time had come to look for a job. One day I went "to get a factory job": I tried to get a job at a factory where they made tinned food, but this did not work out. There were a few other attempts that did not lead to anything either. Finally it was my former teacher, Mr. Lifshits, who helped me: he recommended me as a governess to the Yankeloviches who had a 3 years'-old daughter. I was to look after the little girl, Inna, for three and a half hours before lunchtime and would receive 20 Latts (this equaled the price of a good pair of shoes, of the rent for a poorly furnished room, the cost of 10 kilograms of butter or of 80 tram rides). I liked little Inna very much. She was a clever little girl, very pretty and well developed for her age. She had blond hair and eyes of a different color: one eye was grey-blue and other one brown. Inna had a sister, Raya, who was 6 years' older and went to school. I did not have to look after her, she only spent some time with me and Inna during the school holidays. My duties included working with the little girl (we used to draw and paint, made embroideries, paper cuttings, etc.) and taking her for walks. After I brought her back home the maid, Zina, used to feed her and put her to bed.

I used to tell all my friends about "my little girl" and often enough they even made fun of me because of that, but I did not care. I just loved spending time with little Inna… The pay was not high though and I had to look for additional work. Another one of our school teachers recommended me for a job at a charity kitchen run by the progressive Jewish organization "TsiSho" (the abbreviation, when translated, stands for "The Central Yiddish Schools' Organization" – Tr.) Children from poor families could get free lunches at this kitchen. Youngsters with metal cans came to the kitchen and, after checking the records, received vouchers to obtain food for 3, 5 or 7 children. Some came and had their lunch right there, while I sat in my corner and did my work: registered all those who received the food. At the end of each month I checked my records and made up the totals. Many of my underground Pioneers suddenly became my "lunch-eaters", but we never acknowledged the fact that we knew each other…

I used to have my lunch at the kitchen too and since I came there after my few hours with Inna I arrived quite hungry, so I was eager to have my lunch. The food was always the same: cabbage soup or barley soup, soup meat or meat rissoles with sauce (but without potatoes) and some bread. It was all very tasty. I got paid another 20 Latts for my work at the charity kitchen, so all in all I could pay for my needs. I made no claims to be able to dress up too…

In the autumn of 1932 Tusya came back home from Belgium and right away told me to have a haircut. So, I parted from my plaits, having made a picture of myself with my hair still long before I had it cut. My thick wavy hair did not shape itself right away into a decent hairdo and Tusya said later that she got rather scared when she saw me after I had come back from the hairdresser's. In the end I got used to my new hairdo and no-one said it did not suit me.

My underground activities were the most important part of my life during that period. It included my Komsomol activities, my work with the Pioneers and also my activities in the underground (or semi-underground) anti-Fascist studio, where everything was interesting, everything was fun and everything was "for the soul".

The illegal printing shop "went under" that winter and my former classmate Lyalya Vinograd had to disappear very abruptly. She went first to Poland and then to Italy and to Paris, where she studied chemistry. She ended up in America. She sent me this picture from Paris.

We were all a bit surprised by the fact that Lyalya was connected with any illegal activities. It transpired that the printing shop was run in her family's apartment and that she had managed to escape at the last moment, together with her cousin Roma Bobrov, who was also connected with running the printing shop. The two of them got married later. Roma was not a good -looking fellow, but he was quick and he was a really good organizer. His parents who lived in Lithuania or Poland were wealthy, but he became a Communist and must have recruited Lyalya to join him in his illegal activities.

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