Konstantin Pavolotsky Interviewer: Whitney Stalnaker Date of Interview: July 2, 2015 Location of Interview: 6028 Mayfield Rd #8, Mayfield Heights, OH
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Soviet Jewish Oral History Project Western Reserve Historical Society Interviewee: Konstantin Pavolotsky Interviewer: Whitney Stalnaker Date of interview: July 2, 2015 Location of interview: 6028 Mayfield Rd #8, Mayfield Heights, OH Whitney Stalnaker: Today is July 2, 2015. My name is Whitney Stalnaker. I’m here with Konstantin Pavolotsky. We are here in his office at Mayfield Heights. First of all I do want to thank you again for agreeing to meet with me. First we’re going to start with a pretty easy question, could you just introduce yourself? Konstantin Pavolotsky: Konstantin Pavolotsky. General things I work in Mayfield Heights, I reside in Cleveland since 1996 and in the United States since 1990. WS: Okay great. Can you tell me a little bit about your family here? KP: I have a wife, Larisa, and my son Felix. He is 28 years old. He is a Kent State University student. WS: Wonderful. Does your wife work here or…? KP: Yeah she works with me. She is the manager for the office. She is an accountant by education. She works with me since I was opening my practice. WS: Where did you go to school? KP: I graduated from dental school. It was a dental school in Moscow, which was then the capital of the Soviet Union. I graduated in 1986. In the United States I graduated dental school from Indiana University School of dentistry class of 1995. WS: I would like to talk a little bit about your life pre-immigration. Could you describe what your life was like before you decided to immigrate? KP: After I graduated dental school in 86’ I had a residency in Rostov which is a city on the river Don in the South of Russia for one year. My son was born by the way in this place. After one year of residency I moved to Odessa. In Odessa I worked in a government dental office. It was a government dental office because there was no private dentistry at the time in the former Soviet Union. We decided to move. We had thought about it pretty much since graduation of dental school. My wife supported me one hundred percent. We fulfilled our dream in 89 when we left Soviet Union in November. WS: You said that you thought about it right around graduation. Had this been 1 something you had thought about in the years prior to that as well? KP: Yes. You know it was several influence. Several sources, you know. First of all it was tough to say, but you always have this thing on your mind. You think it’s not achievable, but you always work towards it. One of them was to move to the States. My hometown of Odessa is pretty much multicultural. It is not uniform like whole Soviet Union. So we had some source of information from people who immigrated before, because Odessa is a very famous city for immigration. Thousands of people immigrated in the 1870- something. [Interview Interrupted] Because we have some idea about how some people doing, because even part of my family immigrated in 1927, so we have not much connection, it was pretty much lost after Second World War. But, we have some ideas and some relatives in the United States and they are doing fine. In my family, my grandfather listened to lots of Western Radio from America. Its influence was [helping me to] understanding what was going on in my home country. There were several sources; it was several bricks that built my wish to move. I knew for a long time, much earlier than graduation from dental school. Only after Gorbachev came into power in Soviet Union in 1985 did we realize it could be technically possible. Before it was not easy and we were too young. Our family situation with our parents, my mother died when I was 10 years old and my father was married second time. I could not convince my family to move together. We decided finally that we’re going to do it alone, me, my wife, and my son who was three years old when we came to the States. What made us come was family history, information about west, realization of the bleak… let’s say we don’t see any future to stay live our home country. We realized with our skills, with our knowledge, and our profession we cannot fulfil ourselves in the country. Lots of influence from our nationality too, you know Jews doesn’t have the same opportunities, even when I graduated dental school I knew that it was only 5% of Jews were allowed to be accepted to dental school officially and I was very lucky to be accepted. Even when I graduated, I realized I could fulfil myself much much more working in another country. I did not feel sorry for a single second for my decision. WS: You mentioned that it was kind of difficult to obtain opportunities being of the Jewish faith. Did you feel connected to your Jewish faith growing up? KP: Religiously not as much. But, my family, for example, my grandmother and grandfather celebrated Jewish holidays. They speak to each other only in Yiddish. With other people they spoke Russian. Between them and with my father they spoke only in Yiddish. Maybe some of the reason was they don’t want to hear, or they don’t need to hear what’s going on in their conversations. But, because I studied German in school as a foreign language I started to understand what they were talking about. But, I remember from childhood we always celebrated Jewish holidays at home. Thanks to my grandfather and grandmother because my father was not involved as much. We would celebrate together, but not in our apartment (but in Grandfather and Grandmother’s apartment). Though we would have the matzos as food at home. My Jewish identity was formed grossly by both my grandmother and grandfather who always tried to explain me 2 or bring me the realities that I am a Jew. But, my grandfather and grandmother did not attend, for example, temple. In Odessa there was one little synagogue. But they send me, and I remember going with him to buy matzos and I talked to the Rabbi. But I did not attempt to join temple as a member. Because it was not really… I don’t say it was illegal, you can do it. But, you can have a lot of problems if they know you go to temple on a regular basis. That’s why there were not as many young people in attendance, but when I went to Moscow for dental school I go to Moscow synagogue several times during the holidays. There were tons of people and it was really feeling of the holiday, and happiness around. I’ll never forget that. That was between 81 and 86 when I was a dental student. It was a different environment because the temple was located in the center of Moscow and thousands of people came to celebrate. It made me understand more about being a Jew than I knew in Odessa. But, in Odessa it was a different story. There was a large Jewish population there. There all my friends were Jews. My wife is a Jew. We pretty much wanted to be with each other. Even when it isn’t religious and how you should be a Jew. There is a difference between religion and nationality. You can be a Jew, but it doesn’t mean you need to go to temple. You don’t need to celebrate holidays of the United States and Israel. You realize you are a Jew, you are different. Plus, thanks to the government and the people around you, they maintain this feeling pretty strong. This feeling of being different, unfortunately. I talk about anti-Semitism at the government level and the anti-Semitism at the basic level which is very strong. I will remember this for a long time. And all together I think this answers what you asked me. WS: Absolutely. So did the government’s anti-Semitism play a role in your wish to ultimately… KP: A lot. I realized even with changes in the Soviet government we cannot predict if Ukraine can be different. I am originally from Ukraine because Odessa is in Ukraine, not in Russia. We realized this deep feeling of dislike for the Jews; unfortunately, it is constant in the country after years to come. Even officially, for example, in Russia or Ukraine anti-Semitism does not exist, and I don’t think in a basic way it will continue to blossom. That’s why again our prediction was pretty much right. Officially it is not there, but unofficially it is pretty strong and I don’t think it is going to change until all Jews will leave the country, which I personally think will happen. WS: Right, right. Because of this did you or family experience, you mentioned how difficult it was to get into dental school. Did you and your family experience additional difficulties growing up, due to this? KP: I can say it was difficult in a global level. For example, there were different episodes when you’re going around you can create a whole picture. In my family my mother was a medical doctor and she wanted to defend her thesis. They take lots of effort in order to do it because she needed to do it not from Odessa, she was going to move somewhere to some small place in Russia where she was allowed to defend her thesis and have her PhD and medical doctor at the same time.