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From the author’s archives.
The author at the age of two in Lódz,
Poland—1914.
Between Two Aerodromes
shiny to some man, and he measured out
something for her into a white bag—
maybe flour, or groats.
I was often sick.A significant portion of
Father’s small income went for consultations
with luminaries on childhood
diseases. But it was not I who became seriously
ill, but Father. He became severely
lame, and I remember the diagnosis was
“water on the knee.” It was very difficult
for him to get to work in the center of
Moscow. Uncle Moisey, the husband of my
mother’s elder sister, came to his aid. He
offered both of my parents work and an
apartment on the far outskirts of
Moscow—beyond the Presnenskaya Gate.
There, at the textile factory, they needed a
good bookkeeper and wanted to set up
some kind of medical attendant’s office,
preferably with a midwife, because there
were no maternity homes in the
surrounding areas. We received a two-room apartment in a one-story wooden
house.The same building housed the factory office, and they set up the medical
nook in the hallway.
There were no city conveniences like running water, a sewer system, or central
heating, but to make up for that, our windows overlooked an apple orchard. Clean
air, nature, and produce—supplied by the closest villages, Mnevniki and
Shelepikha—were far more available here than in Razgulyay.
Our factory-owned house stood right on the bank of the Moscow River,
which at that time was very clean.To the south of the factory were the vegetable
gardens of the peasants from the village Shelepikha, and the potato and rye fields
of the villages Mnevniki and Khoroshevo extended from the northern side.
I am eternally indebted to my parents. In the first place, I am grateful to them
for selecting the place where we lived.They chose wisely. In order to show how the
geography and social environment of the former outskirts of Moscow influenced
my fate, I shall excavate some not yet faded fragments from my memory. I have
selected something that, to my way of thinking, should be of interest to everyone
who is interested in the unique history of Russia and Moscow.
Boys today have hardly taken their first steps before they have gained a knowledge
of the different models of automobiles. For me, knowledge of transport
issues began with the temperaments and nicknames of the horses that were the
basis of all the factory’s transport services—trips to Moscow, trips to the villages
for potatoes and vegetables, and the ambulance service delivering the gravely ill
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