Ilya Magid

Grisha Juditzki

I had known Grisha since 1947. He was a Jew, the same age as I. Grisha was secretive, of average build, scrawny, brunette, with eagle's nose, and with a long nail on the little finger of his left hand. He looked the same all the time.
He was a front- line soldier and tank-driver. Grisha defended Leningrad against the fascists. They blockaded the city and one million people died of hunger.
After the war he studied in the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute with a specialty in Electronics. I studied with him in the same group. After classes he would sit in the laboratory or in the library until it closed. He used to write articles on his specialty.
I have to say when you searched for work in the Soviet Union you didn't send a resume to businesses and await an answer. You had to go to the businesses, to their personnel department. You presented your passport that confirmed the nationality.

A young specialist, after completing studies at the institute, received direction from the ministry (from Moscow) where to work.

The government did not provide any benefits for the unemployed, as the Socialistic state officially didn't have unemployment.

May be Grisha, as a Jew, would have received direction from the ministry to a non prestigious plant and that was satisfactory. However, he made a big mistake. He wrote in the last questionnaire at the institute that he had relatives in Israel. Therefore he received a document from the ministry stating that the ministry would not direct him to a job. He had to find his own jobs.

He couldn't find a job for 1.5 years. I can only guess what he tried to do by going to the personnel department of many plants. * At last he was accepted at the construction institute named Hydraulic Engineering (for the building of dams). This institute was located at the site of the old front-line, where his tank unit had been, (Maybe Grisha could influence the chief of the personnel department).

He changed his specialty. He studied to build dams. After work he went to the central library until it closed (at 11 p. m.). The institute provided accommodations for him at a hostel (with four or more people in a room). It was in 1954. In 1970 he received his candidate degree and then he defended his thesis for the doctorate degree** (This is a higher degree than the American doctorate.)

He died 15 years ago (right now 1997). Perhaps a happier story would be better than this one.

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* In the Soviet Union, if you are an engineer, you can enter work only as an engineer, not as another worker.
** In the Soviet Union the salary directly depended on your degree.

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