Shammai Menachemovitch Israelov stands with his grandchildren, young Shammai (age 10) and Ruga (age 8), on the street where he has lived for 73 years. The elder Shammai worked 52 years as a telephone operator in Quba, the Azeri town that abuts Krasnaya Sloboda. He says the biggest difference between the Communist period and the present regime is "what we built, what we earned." "We lived peacefully under the flag of the Soviets," Shammai recalls. "It was a good time. There was enough money for everything." Now, Shammai's hard-earned pension has been gutted and the costs of necessities are skyrocketing. Nonetheless, Shammai will not let a Krasnaya Sloboda visitor escape town without enjoying a meal with his family in his life-long home.

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