My sons Boris and Grigoriy (right) at the Belarus recreation center near Minsk where we spent our summer vacations. I photographed them in the park of this center. This photo was taken in 1967.

I was raising my sons like my father had raised my brothers and me, to be true Soviet children. They grew up to become good Soviet citizens. I’m very happy with what has become of them. They were members of the party and dedicated communists prior to the breakup of the USSR.

My wife and I spoke Yiddish at home. Our sons cannot speak it, but they can understand the language.

After finishing school, my older son Boris entered the Heat Engineering Faculty of the Belarusian Polytechnic Institute in Minsk, currently the Belarusian National Technical University. Upon graduation my son got a job assignment in Latvia. Boris worked as a mechanic and then as director of a weaving mill.

After finishing the tenth grade in Slutsk, my younger son Grigoriy entered the Higher Military Financial College. After finishing college, he moved from one military unit to another in the USSR. He was a military financier and also served in a Soviet army regiment in Germany. After returning from Germany, he served in Belarus. Now my son is senior lecturer at the Military Faculty of the Department of Finance of the Belarusian National Technical University. He is a lieutenant colonel.