Mrs. Oswald. If I had an apartment in Leningrad. I would have had to work overtime hours in order to be able to pay for it, because the normal workday is only 6½ hours, because they consider that to be hazardous work.
Mr. Rankin. Did you have a social life while you were in Leningrad?
Mrs. Oswald. What do you mean by social life?
Mr. Rankin. Did you have friends that you went out with in the evening, pleasant times?
Mrs. Oswald. An awful lot.
Mr. Rankin. So that except for the problem of your stepfather, you enjoyed it there?
Mrs. Oswald. Oh, yes, of course.
Mr. Rankin. Did you have any vacations while you were in Leningrad?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. After working in Minsk for one year I received a vacation and went to a rest home near Leningrad.
Mr. Rankin. How long did you stay there on vacation?
Mrs. Oswald. Three weeks. Three weeks in the rest home, and one week I spent in Leningrad with some friends.
Mr. Rankin. Do you recall the name of the rest home?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Mr. Rankin. Did you have to ask anyone in Leningrad in order to be able to leave there to go to Minsk, or you just go to Minsk and ask the people there to register you?
Mrs. Oswald. I simply bought a ticket and went to Minsk, to my uncle.
Mr. Rankin. And were you registered there then?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. What kind of pay did you get when you worked in Minsk?
Mrs. Oswald. Forty-five, as everywhere.
Mr. Rankin. Was that per week?
Mrs. Oswald. No, that is a month. That is not America.
Mr. Rankin. Is that 45 rubles?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Per month?
Mr. Dulles. Old rubles or new rubles?
Mr. Rankin. Is that old rubles?
Mrs. Oswald. New rubles.
Mr. Rankin. What were your hours in this work?
Mrs. Oswald. 10 a.m., to 4:30 p.m.
Mr. Rankin. When you said this same pay was paid all over, did you mean to say that you got the same amount regardless of whether you were in a big city or a small city?
Mrs. Oswald. This is the pharmacists rate everywhere. Unless you work in a specialized sort of an institution, such as a military hospital—there the pay is higher.
Mr. Rankin. What was the nature of your work?
Mrs. Oswald. Preparation of prescriptions.
Mr. Rankin. Did you supervise the preparation of the prescriptions, or did you just put them up yourself?
Mrs. Oswald. I prepared them myself.
Mr. Rankin. Did you have a supervisor?
Mrs. Oswald. I was in charge of myself. If I was working at a table, I was responsible for it.
Of course every institution is in charge of a supervisor who does not prepare medications—he is only an administrator.
Mr. Rankin. How many days of the week did you work on this job?
Mrs. Oswald. Six days. Except if a holiday falls upon a weekday. Then I didn't work.
Mr. Rankin. Were these prescriptions prepared only for patients in the hospital?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes. Sometimes we prepared something for ourselves or for friends, or somebody would ask us.
Mr. Rankin. Did you pay anything to your uncle and aunt for staying there?
Mrs. Oswald. No. They had—they were well provided for, and my uncle wanted that I spend the money on myself.
Mr. Rankin. What was the name of this uncle?
Mrs. Oswald. Ilva Vasilyevich Proosakov.
Mr. Rankin. What was the nature of his work?
Mrs. Oswald. He works in the Ministry of the Interior of the Byelorussian SSR.
Mr. Rankin. Did he have something to do with lumbering?
Mrs. Oswald. He is an engineer. He is a graduate of a forestry institute. Technical institute.
Mr. Rankin. Is he an officer?
Mrs. Oswald. He was a colonel—a lieutenant colonel or colonel, I think.
Mr. Rankin. Did he have a nice apartment compared with the others?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, very nice.
Mr. Rankin. Did he have a telephone in the apartment?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Were you supporting yourself during this period except for the fact you didn't pay anything for your room and board?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes.
Mr. Rankin. Did you save money?
Mrs. Oswald. No. I would receive my pay and I would spend everything in one day—three days tops.
Mr. Rankin. What would you spend it for?
Mrs. Oswald. First all the necessary things which I had to buy—shoes, an overcoat for winter. It is cold there, and, therefore, you have to wear warm clothes.
Mr. Rankin. Was your uncle a member of the Communist Party?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, he is a Communist.
Mr. Rankin. Did you belong to any organizations during this period in Minsk?
Mrs. Oswald. First I was a member of the Trade Union. Then I joined the Comsomol, but I was discharged after one year.
Mr. Rankin. Do you know why you were discharged?
Mrs. Oswald. I paid my membership dues regularly, and at first they didn't know who I was or what I was, but after they found out that I had married an American and was getting ready to go to the United States, I was discharged from the Comsomol. They said that I had anti-Soviet views, even though I had no anti-Soviet views of any kind.
Mr. Rankin. Do you think that they thought you had anti-Soviet views because you married an American?
Mrs. Oswald. They didn't say that.
Mr. Rankin. Did they give any reason, other than the fact that you had them?
Mrs. Oswald. They never gave that as a direct reason, because the Soviet Government was not against marrying an American. But every small official wants to keep his place, and he is afraid of any troubles. I think it was sort of insurance.
Mr. Rankin. Was there any kind of a hearing about your being let out of the Comsomol?
Mrs. Oswald. Oh, yes.
Mr. Rankin. Did you attend?
Mrs. Oswald. I didn't go there, and they discharged me without me—I was very glad. There was even a reporter there from Comsomol paper, Comsomol Pravda, I think. He tried to shame me quite strongly—for what, I don't know. And he said that he would write about this in the paper, and I told him "Go ahead and write."
But he didn't write anything, because, after all, what could he write?
Mr. Rankin. Did you make any objection to being removed from the Comsomol?
Mrs. Oswald. No.
Mr. Rankin. Did you belong to any social clubs there?
Mrs. Oswald.