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Roza (Henkina) Shafir was born in 1941 in Ukraine. She identifies herself as Jewish although she says she is an atheist. Her primary language is Russian. She graduated from college with a degree in economics and worked in factories as an administrator until retirement. She and her family moved to Bishkek in 1970. Arslan Penjiyev interviewed her in her apartment in Bishkek on March 19, 2009.

I was born on July 13, 1941, in the city of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. When the war began in the Ukraine, I was evacuated with my mother to Derbent [in the Republic of Dagestan, in Russia]. My father left for the front during the first days of the war and was there until November 1944. In November 1944, my father died, and my mother and I moved to the Moscow area, to the city of Electrostal.

In 1946 we were found by my grandfather (my mother’s father) and moved back to Ukraine to the city of Belaya Tserkov [White Church]. I began school there in 1948 and graduated from high school there. The city was very beautiful but, as a result of the war, it was ruined...almost back to the Stone Age. The reason was that there was an enormous number of military facilities there during the war. Moreover, the city itself was very small and located 38 kilometers from Kiev. Although people back in those days were very friendly – doors were not locked at all – many people did not own property and, like us, rented apartments.

My mother brought me up. She didn't get married a second time. In addition, my grandfather educated me, too. Everything was so inexpensive those days, you could get anything for kopeks [pennies]! Ice-cream – 10 kopeks, for a pirajok – 4 kopeks, for a soda– 3 kopeks. I tried to earn myself 10 kopeks for ice-cream, so I studied very hard. I also collected portraits of actors. They were like mini-photos with complete information about actor on the other side of a photo.

Once, my mother and I went to the market. At this time many people were coming back from Germany – our soldiers, military men, who were in Germany with their wives – and, so, one of these wives was selling German dolls. And, my mother did not buy me anything for dinner that day, but bought me a doll. I named it in honor of my girlfriend – Zojka. This doll was a unique toy in the house, not only for me, but also for my girlfriends. Its head was made of ceramic, and everything else was made of cloth. Also, she was able to say “mother.” It was a very beautiful doll. But, once, one girl asked me if she could play with it and dropped the doll and it was impossible to fix. I promised myself that when I grew up I would get a new doll, one that could do something like moving, talking etc. So, every time my friends from abroad come for a visit, they bring me dolls.

After graduation [from high school], I was accepted to the Moscow Financial and Economics Institute. In 1960, I got married to Alexander Lvovich [Shafir]. He was our neighbor – he rented an apartment next door and he had just finished military college and taught at the military school in Belaya Tserkov. We had known each other since I was in the eighth grade. Therefore, after I graduated from school and entered the institute, I got married. In 1961, Alexander entered the Penza Higher Artillery School. In 1962 we had a son.

We didn't have enough means to live rich, but we lived cheerfully. When my husband was in the Military Academy in Penza, there were many concerts. We used to go out and watch these performances. All the stars of that time were there. You cannot name a single actor we didn't see. We also went to watch figure skating and ballet. Oh, it was a very interesting journey. It was possible even though we didn’t have much money.

Alexander graduated from the Artillery School in 1965. Then we moved to Novosibirsk. He worked as a military representative there and I was an economist at a factory. From 1965 until 1970, we lived in Novosibirsk. My husband had graduated from the military academy with outstanding grades and back then, I hoped that it was possible to choose a better place, but due to our nationality [Jewish], they did not transferred us even to Moscow, where Alexander’s mother lived. Therefore, the “okay” option was a transfer to Novosibirsk.

There were people from all over the Soviet Union living in our dormitory and all of us received coupons for grain, salt, bread, etc. But the dormitory building next door was for people from the socialist block and they received huge parcels – beautiful parcels filled with various stuff. So, imagine, one child receives nothing and the other from the socialist block gets a good, nice present. It caused a lot of frustration for our son and the other Soviet kids. Later, the Arabs arrived. We went to work at eight in the morning and the Arabs got up at 10 a.m. and were practically served breakfast in bed. That was how our girls learned that such stylish boys existed. Imagine it was 1965, the war has ended only 20 years ago.

We moved to Frunze [Bishkek] in 1970. Alexander worked in Frunze as a military representative of the Ministry of Defense and I was the deputy chief of the manufacturing department in a factory. The house in which we now live was built in 1953. When we arrived here, Pravda Street didn't exist. We went along a tiny road to the factory. There was nothing around here. Back in the day, this place [which is now urban] was considered a suburb.

When our son was small, I worked a lot. I liked my job at the factory. My mother helped me a lot – she took care of everything and she even took our son to music school. She found a common language with her son-in-law. I worked – I would leave at six o’clock in morning and come back at two o’clock in the morning sometimes. There were so many receptions, reports and all that stuff. When I tell my son, “Listen, I think I did not raise you at all!” he usually answers, “you were busy building communism.”

I worked in the factory until 1994 and then retired. After I retired, I worked for another six years for the Jewish Welfare Foundation. I still have very good connections with people from that place. I never wanted to leave it. At the Jewish Welfare Foundation, I was constantly working with people. We helped all sorts of people, no matter what their nationality. We bought things and brought them to needy people and helped them out on holidays. We also promoted the Jewish High School, which was located here in Bishkek – by the way, it was very respectable in terms of educational quality. I am not religious person. I am an atheist, if you will, but I try to be good to people.

Our life has been quite good. But, with all the problems we had because of our nationality, there were many unpleasant moments.