Mr. Rankin. Before you graduated, how much were you paid for your work?
Mrs. Oswald. I think I received 36 per month—this is new rubles—at that time it was still 360 old rubles. But I could eat there three times a day. And then this was a lunchroom that was part of a large restaurant where everyone liked me and I always was treated to all sorts of tidbits and candy. I remember they had some busboys there who always saved something for me.
Mr. Rankin. Did you save any money while you were working before you graduated?
Mrs. Oswald. I don't know how to save money. I like to make presents.
Mr. Rankin. Where did you work after you graduated?
Mrs. Oswald. I was assigned to work in Leningrad, but my stepfather didn't want me to remain with him because he thought perhaps he would marry again, and, therefore, I left.
But he hasn't married up until now.
Mr. Rankin. I hand you Exhibit 20, and ask you if you know what that is.
Mrs. Oswald. This is my diploma. My goodness, what did they do with my diploma?
I can't work with it. The government seal is missing. Who will give me a new diploma?
Mr. Rankin. Mrs. Oswald, I want to explain to you—the Commission hasn't done anything to your diploma. We are informed that——
Mrs. Oswald. They should have treated it a little more carefully, though.
Mr. Rankin. The process was trying to determine fingerprints. It wasn't our action.
Mrs. Oswald. There must be many fingerprints on there. All of my teachers and everybody that ever looked at it. I am sorry—it is a pity for my diploma.
Mr. Rankin. We offer in evidence Exhibit 20.
The Chairman. It may be marked.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 20, and received in evidence.)
Mr. Rankin. Do you know why on Exhibit 20 there is no date of admission to the school?
Mrs. Oswald. There is no entrance date on it, but it does show the date of issue and the date of graduation.
Mr. Rankin. Isn't there a place for admission, though?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, there is a place for it.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know when you were admitted to the school?
Mrs. Oswald. In 1955.
Mr. Krimer. I might mention the place here is for the year only, not for a full date.
Mr. Dulles. 1955, did you say?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, 1955.
Mr. Rankin. In this job that you obtained after you left the school, what were your duties?
Mrs. Oswald. When I worked in the pharmacy?
Mr. Rankin. Yes.
Mrs. Oswald. I worked in a hospital pharmacy. I prepared prescriptions. After the rounds every day, the doctors prescribed prescriptions, and the nurses of each department of the hospital enter that in a book, and turn it over to the pharmacy for preparation, where we again transcribed it from the nurses' book as a prescription and prepared it.
Mr. Rankin. Were you assigned to a particular job or did you go out and get the job? How was that arranged?
Mrs. Oswald. Generally upon graduation there is an assignment. I was sent to work to a drug warehouse in Leningrad. But this work was not very interesting, because everything was in packages. It is more of a warehousing job. And, therefore, if I had wanted to change I could have changed to any pharmacy. This assignment is only performed in order to guarantee that the graduate has a job. But the graduate can go to work somewhere else.
Mr. Rankin. How long did you stay in this first job?
Mrs. Oswald. I was there for three days, which is a probationary period, intended to have the employee familiarize himself with his duties. I didn't like that work, and I went to Minsk, and worked there. I worked there in my own specialty with pleasure. But the reference which I received after I was going to the United States was not very good, because they were very dissatisfied with the fact that I was going to the United States. They could not understand how could it be that a good worker could leave.
Mr. Rankin. Did you select Minsk as a place to go and work yourself?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. You were not assigned there, then?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Mr. Rankin. Could you have selected other places that you wished to go to and work?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, but the registration is very difficult. In Russia you cannot settle in a large city if you are not registered.
Mr. Rankin. What do you mean by that?
Mrs. Oswald. If I lived in Leningrad, I had the right to work there. But if someone would come there from a village he would not have the right to work, because he was not registered and he would not be permitted to. But to move from a larger city to a smaller one, then they may register, such as Minsk.
Mr. Rankin. By register, do you mean that if you want to go to a place like Leningrad, you had to be recorded some way in the city?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, that is, registered in the police department.
Mr. Rankin. And if you were not registered, they would not give you a job, is that what you mean?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
No, you would not get a job. There are people who want to come to Leningrad. The housing problem has not been solved.
Mr. Rankin. Can you tell us how you get registered if you would like to be registered in Leningrad from some other point?
Mrs. Oswald. First you must have relatives who might have some spare living space for a person. Sometimes people who have money buy that. You know money does a great deal everywhere.
Mr. Rankin. And then after you have shown that you have a place to live, do they register you as a matter of course, or do you have to have something else?
Mrs. Oswald. Not always. One has to have connections, acquaintances.
Mr. Rankin. Were you registered in Leningrad before you left there?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, of course. But if I had spent one year not living in Leningrad, and were to return, I would not be registered.
Mr. Rankin. But since you were registered there, you could have found a position in some pharmacy or pharmaceutical work there, could you?
Mrs. Oswald. Oh, yes, of course.
Mr. Rankin. Then, can you tell us how you decided to go to Minsk instead of staying in Leningrad?
Mrs. Oswald. I was very sorry to leave Leningrad, but there were family circumstances.
What can one do?
It is not very pleasant to be a sty in the eye of a stepfather.
Mr. Rankin. So it is because you liked to leave your stepfather's home that you sought some other city in which to work?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. I had no other place to live in Leningrad, and I did not have enough money to pay for an apartment.
I received 45 and I would have had to pay 30 for an apartment.
Mr. Rankin. Could you have gotten a job in Leningrad if you stayed there that would pay you so you could have an apartment?
Mrs. Oswald. Pharmaceutical workers received comparatively little, which is quite undeserved, because they have to study so long, and it is responsible work. Teachers and doctors also receive very little.