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This is a picture of me and a friend in Northern Kazakhstan, where I worked for a year before I entered university. The photo was taken in 1957.

In 1955 I entered the Department of Physics at Vologda University. I studied well, but money was always a problem. I usually passed my exams in winter in advance so that I’d be able to work at a wood cutting site. It was hard but well-paid work. My earnings for a month or a month and a half lasted until summer. I went to Chernovtsy in the summer. I worked at the children’s summer camp where I had meals and earned some money. And I could see my mother, my father and my friends.

After the university I got a job assignment in a Moldavian village and worked there for two years as a teacher of physics. Afterwards I returned to Chernovtsy. It was hard to get a job there – my Jewish nationality was a problem. I got a part-time job first and then became a full-time teacher of physics.

More Photos from Efim Pisarenko

Efim Pisarenko with his second wife, Inna Pisarenko, and their son, Ruvim Pisarenko
      Efim Pisarenko’s older sister, Broha Shapiro, and her school friends
          Efim Pisarenko (1995)
              Efim Pisarenko’s sister, Broha Shapiro, and her fellow students
                  Efim Pisarenko, his Brother, Misha Pisarenko, and their Neighbours
                      Efim Pisarenko’s sister, Lisa Muravina, with her future husband, Aron Muravin
                      • with audio description
                        Efim Pisarenko’s Mother, Basia Pisarenko
                            Efim Pisarenko (1972)