Zhanna Arshanskaya Dawson is the subject of a book authored by her son [Annotator's Note: Hiding in the Spotlight by Greg Dawson]. Dawson was born in the Ukraine in Russia. Her hometown is Berdyansk which is a sea town on the shores of the Azov Sea. She considered her home to be the best place in the world. In her first eight years, she never saw a passenger car. She could freely roam the town. The family lived in a rented house. Her father was born in Poltava but moved to Mariupol prior to Berdyansk. Mariupol is a seaport where her father's parents had settled. They had a candy making business. Her father learned that trade, but he also played the violin. He and the family loved music. He taught himself to play the violin. He provided violin music for local Jewish events. Music was common in the Arshanskaya household. Dawson was never told why her father's family moved to Berdyansk. Her mother's family was in Berdyansk. That family specialized in making hats. Dawson's mother was well educated and a sportswoman. She was a wonderful swimmer who participated in competitions and won some victories. Dawson was her first baby and her mother lost her robust health with her pregnancy. Two years later, Dawson's sister, Frina, was born. Her father was intent on learning as much as he could about the violin. He even emulated Paganini's method of holding the violin [Annotator's Note: Nicolò Paganini was a celebrated Italian virtuoso violinist and composer]. Her father never lost a day of practice. Dawson heard music every night. One of the family's best friends was named Nicolai. Dawson cannot remember his last name. Nicolai was a photographer in Berdyansk who would come to the Arshanskaya home every night. He had to walk because there was no other means of transportation. While her father played the violin, Nicolai would play the piano with Dawson on his lap. They would play operas, overtures, sonatas and a wide range of selections. Both men were amateurs, but they played every night. After a time, they decided that Dawson had to go to bed. She did not approve of the idea and refused to comply. She would scream and make their playing impossible. It was decided to move the big bed to the living room for her. Dawson thought her life was very good. She had the roam of the town during the day and a concert at night. She even felt that she was playing in the concert. She was happy and did not want anything else.

Zhanna Dawson began piano lessons. The teacher was a friend of the family who was asked to do the favor of teaching her to play. The little girl had small hands so the teacher was reluctant to accept her as a student. When told that the little girl could read and knew fables, the teacher eventually agreed to take her as a student. It was beneficial that Dawson could also read music. Dawson was a student for two years. She was in awe of her teacher. She loved the music so she thought the teacher was wonderful even though she would beat the young girl on the forearm with a pencil. Dawson had heard so much music at home that she knew how the pieces went. There was no problem with that aspect. The time came for a concert. Dawson did her piece, and it went well. Dawson began to spend her playing time with the instructor's baby and his toys rather than practicing before her teacher returned home. Before her piano lessons began, Dawson's parents had looked into placing her in kindergarten. She did not like the idea because it would have cut out her free roam of the town during the daytime. She loved to walk the town and go to the bazaar and stores. She knew many people. It was great. The police would even bring her home. When she did attend the kindergarten for a brief time, she found that she was very different from the other children. They were unkempt and had running noses. Dawson would never let herself be in that condition. She felt she was much older than them. She felt they were only at the school because there was limited food at home. Dawson did not participate in any activities during that time. The teachers left her alone and Dawson became very bored. She decided not to attend any longer. That was when her father turned to Dawson learning piano. When visitors came to the family home, her father would close off the shutters on the interior of the home and have his daughter play in the dark. Dawson's sister [Annotator's Note: Frina Arshanskaya] would go into the other room and cry because she was not asked to play for the visitors. The family did not realize Frina was crying. Music lessons for the younger sister were considered; however, Frina was not as advanced as her older sister. The teacher could not even understand Frina when she talked. Only her mother could understand when Frina spoke. Dawson could be understood because she correctly spoke Russian. The only problem was that Dawson never spoke to her teacher except for one time [Annotator's Note: Dawson laughs at the irony]. One day, the piano instructor stopped at the family home and told Dawson's father that she would like for her to play on the radio. She wanted her to play Bach's Inventions [Annotator's Note: J.S. Bach's Two Part Invention 1]. In order to do so, her father would have to walk her downtown. He could return afterward to listen to Dawson play on the radio with his friends. He agreed and brought her there and returned home to listen to her play. She was brought into a darkened studio with limited lighting. It was the first time she saw a grand piano. It was new to her so she was skeptical of it. A man opened a window and signaled by hand for her to begin playing. Immediately, the lights went out. Because she had trained at home in the dark, she was able to play the selection from beginning to end without light. When her father picked her up after the performance, he was so happy and proud of her. The teacher thought it was great. The Inventions are difficult to master. Dawson has taught piano for years and only one of her students was able to successfully play the piece. It is largely due to the need to play with the left hand as well as the right. Most students can only play with their right hand. Dawson learned early to do so as she sat on the lap of a friend [Annotator's Note: Nicolai, a family friend, played piano with Dawson on his lap every night while being accompanied by Dawson's father on the violin]. It is frustrating for Dawson to see those who attempt to play without full use of their left hand. Bach's Inventions teach one to play with two hands. Dawson is grateful to Bach. That was the funniest thing to happen in Berdyansk [Annotator's Note: Dawson's place of birth and her early years]. Her sister wanted to follow her older sister and perform for people. There was a problem with her communication. After a year, the instructions were continued and her sister learned well. After relocating to Kharkov, the sisters were given scholarships to the conservatory. A school for children was opened at the conservatory as a result.

Zhanna Dawson and her family moved after the two daughters were offered scholarships at the conservatory [Annotator's Note: the family moved from Berdyansk to Kharkov in the Ukraine]. Her father lost his business as a candy maker. The equipment for the business was left behind in the move. The piano would be retrieved later. Her father's credentials only allowed him to be a laborer. He injured his back doing that work and the family fell on hard times. The two daughters were taking lessons on multiple days. Dawson's younger sister could not keep up with the instructions unless her father was helping her. Dawson was making good progress with her instructions. The girls would play in concerts. They were looked upon as advanced students for their age. They were promoted to play in locations other than the conservatory. Parents brought their children to observe the talented young pianists. They served as good examples. The girls heard about the sister of Horowitz [Annotator's Note: Vladimir Horowitz] who was from Kiev. Horowitz was not as famous then as he would become later, but his sister was the best pianist in Kiev. The Horowitz family was crazy about music. Young Horowitz began combining compositions to create complex musical overlays for the piano. He was both a great composer and pianist. His sister, meanwhile, was gaining recognition for her talent and began instructing students. She obtained a job in Kharkov at the conservatory attended by Dawson and her sister. The girls' professor, Luntz [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling], had studied in Moscow. He was like a father to the girls. His wife was a first class pianist who would at times accompany the young Arshanskaya [Annotator's Note: Dawson's maiden name] girls when they played the concerto. She told the girls that their playing with four hands, they would benefit from chamber music lessons. That was new terminology for the students. The professor's wife sent them to Regina Horowitz [Annotator's Note: the talented sister of Vladimir Horowitz]. She was put in charge of the class of beginners. That indicates the wonderful tradition of Russian music. The Arshanskaya sisters joined the class as beginners. It was not long afterward that the new teacher recognized the talents of her new protégés. She told them that they were ready to begin playing with four hands. The girls thought that was exciting. The girls learned well from Regina Horowitz. When the war started, the girls played a lot of four hand music. It was serious stuff. The government hired the girls to play for the army. Everyone played music for the army and the population. It helped with morale. The girls were busy playing their music.

Zhanna Dawson experienced constant bombing when the Germans invaded [Annotator's Note: Germany invaded Soviet Russia in June 1941]. The family had to flee to the basement for protection. Her father was hired to dig ditches for the army. The soldiers were busy doing their work. Her father was away for awhile. The enemy capture of Kiev was a milestone for Germany. They wanted Moscow, Kiev and Leningrad. Their job was also to get the Jews. The Nazis led columns of Jews to the edge of ravines and shot them. That was what was done in Kharkov. The shooters did not aim carefully. Some were still alive for a time in the pile of dead. There were only a few like Dawson and her sister who managed to survive. Dawson's son went to Ukraine with his wife and saw his mother's name and that of his aunt on the memorial there to the thousands of Kharkov Jews who were slaughtered [Annotator's Note: starting in December 1941 the Kharkov Jews were brought to the ravine at Drobitsky Yar to be systematically executed]. When the Germans entered Russia, the rights of the indigenous people were taken away. People were hung from trees. Ten million people died in the Ukraine during the depression prior to the war. The Ukrainians were waiting for the Germans to arrive. They soon found out that the Germans were not there to help them. The local population was persecuted by the Nazis. Some Ukrainians volunteered to help the Nazis to find Jews. Some locals were ordered to help or they would be killed. It was horrendous seeing people hung. Notices were given that if people helped the Jews, they would be killed. Madmen were trying to convince the world that the Jews had started the war. Jews are not warring people. They are doctors and musicians. They are humanitarian people. The Jews were taken into the ghetto for nearly three weeks. Water was scarce. People were dying. The Germans laughed as the Jews walked to their deaths. The people did not give any help. Announcements were made for the Jews to gather in certain spots. They were only to carry limited personal items. The family used a sleigh because the weather was very cold. As the day went on, the snow melted and the sleigh was useless. All the while, the Germans were taking pictures and having fun. That was the most memorable thing. Neither the hunger nor the fear affected Dawson as much. The Jews were chased until they had only five or six miles left of their 20 mile journey. The weather was harsh and it was dark. There was nothing except a small wooden structure for the family to hide in. There were three of the family members together. Her mother was having trouble with her feet. They had left the ghetto where they had to share a bathroom with seven other families. It was terrible. The Jews were denounced by their neighbors. A German entered their home and demanded things from them. When his eyes fell on the father's violin, he took it. The family was devastated. That was the one thing Dawson's father wanted. The next day, Germans came in and pushed Dawson's mother to the wall. Her father attempted to defend her but the Germans were brutal. The children were screaming, but there was nothing to do. They had to get out of there. That night they spent in the field, Germans would alternate entering the building in order to warm themselves. The next day, the family searched for the grandparents. They were found with many other people. When the family entered the ghetto, there were barracks. The floors were wet and dirty. There was no food or water. The worst time was not the hunger. It was going to the bathroom. After a week, Dawson decided she had to find some food. The Germans had put up a cooking facility with a stove. The enemy soldiers, like the Ukrainians, did not like to eat the skins of the potatoes. Instead, the soldiers would peel them and then throw away the peelings. Dawson attempted to retrieve the peels from the garbage so they could be cleaned and used to cook potato cakes. As she went to find the peels, she knew the Germans would be on her 20 mile route. She had to do it. When it started to get dark, she knocked on the door of a building. The strangers took her in and put her to sleep with them. She has warm feelings toward her fellow Russians as a result of such kindness. She spent the night there. She gathered some food and then spent the night at the home of the same strangers on the way back. She had managed to find a little food. It went very fast.

Zhanna Dawson was taken on a death march by the Germans and Ukrainian police [Annotator's Note: starting in December 1941 the Jews of Kharkov in the Ukraine were brought to the ravine at Drobitsky Yar to be systematically executed]. She was with her parents, grandparents and sister. They were just one row, six abreast, in the many rows that made up the column. They were told that the column was headed supposedly to find work in Poltava. Her father and Dawson were leery of that being the actual destination. They were marching in the opposite direction from Poltava. Nevertheless, many parents hoped that they were on the way to work for the sake of their children. Babies were thrown in a truck by the guards instead of being left with the marchers. While in the column, Dawson's father walked alongside of one of the Ukrainian guards. Behind them were Germans with whips. Hitler penalized any of his people who talked about what was happening. It was to be kept a complete secret from the people in Germany. They had no idea what the SS was doing. Dawson's father offered the armed Ukrainian guard his last valuable possession, his gold watch, if the guard would look the other way while his daughter jumped out of the column and blended into the crowd observing the marchers. He assured the guard that he and his girl were not Jews. Dawson jumped out of the marching crowd next to a ball of barbed wire. She jumped into the hole next to the wire and looked up at two women who were observing the marching Jews. Dawson would find herself standing and watching the column and not knowing what to do. She noticed the Germans and Ukrainian guards looking at her. No one made a sound. Her sister was still in the column at the time. Dawson could only stand there and cry until the column disappeared. There was no exit for the older people. They were killed in some manner unknown to Dawson. [Annotator's Note: Dawson would discover that her sister also managed to escape.] It took 50 years for Dawson to discover that Hitler had forbidden anyone in Germany from learning what was going on with the Jews. Although Dawson never saw her father hand the watch over to the guard, she postulates that he did. The watch was not as important to him as saving one of his children. He took off his coat and placed it on his daughter's shoulders before she left the column. He admonished her to just live. It did not matter what she did. All that was important was for her to live. The thought of those words results in inexplicable emotions for her. Walking back to her street, she stopped at the same house where strangers had put her up before [Annotator's Note: the strangers provided shelter to her while she was on a foraging trip out of the ghetto to find any kind of food]. The people knew what was going on just a short distance from where they lived. Those in the column were innocent and good people. Greg's book tells the story of the guilt of the Ukrainian people who did not tell the Jews what the Germans were doing [Annotator's Note: Greg Dawson wrote Hiding in the Spotlight about his mother's experiences during the war]. Stalin was a harsh ruler for the Ukrainians. All the while, he was jealous of Lenin. Dawson's escape was aided by parents of a young boy named Nicolai who attended her school. She admired the boy but they never spoke to each other. He came to her concerts and told his parents about it. Her music helped her survive. [Annotator's Note: There is a moment of personal chatting between Dawson and the interviewer before the discussion picks up again.] Being 14 years old at the time helped Dawson survive what she experienced.

Zhanna Dawson had to find a place of refuge after leaving the death march [Annotator's Note: starting in December 1941 the Jews of Kharkov in the Ukraine were rounded up and brought to the ravine at Drobitsky Yar to be systematically executed. Dawson's father had aided his daughter in escaping. Dawson's parents and grandparents were executed subsequently.]. She returned to her street and went to a friend's home who lived nearby but was sent away. She had to try to enter another home. There was one nearby that had always mystified her. It was the only private residence in the neighborhood. It stood behind a fence that was always kept closed. A boy lived there who fascinated her. It was obvious that his parents were very well off. She knocked on the fence and before she finished, the gate opened. A woman pulled her into the fence [Annotator's Note: Dawson is nearly overcome with the memory of the exhilaration.]. It was amazing. The woman knew exactly what was happening and why Dawson was there. She took her in and her son came out and greeted Dawson for the first time. As they were inside the home, there was a knock on the door. Dawson could hear some talk at the door about her sister being nearby. The woman told the man at the door to bring the girl to her home. It was wonderful that the woman was not only saving Dawson but also saving the life of her sister. The street knew what had happened, but no one ever gave away the two sisters. The girls began to plan their escape under a new cover of names and previous lives. There was no transportation or food for them to leave. They had no papers. She looked about the family house and on her piano. She saw Fantaisie-Impromptu [Annotator's Note: written by Fredric Chopin] and knew she could not leave that. She put it inside her shirt and carried it with her throughout the war and afterward. She brought it to America. It is now in a safe deposit box. It was a gift from her teacher when she was ten years old. She signed it in 1939. By the time the Germans came into Ukraine in 1941, she had been playing it everywhere. She could play the piece from beginning to end. Dawson is critical of how the piece is played by others. That is particularly true if both hands are not utilized simultaneously [Annotator's Note: she discusses with skepticism the daughter of a friend who does not use her left hand together with her right]. Dawson loves Chopin. He stands alone as a genius. No one can imitate him. The story that Dawson and her sister assumed to evade the Nazis involved them being orphans without papers. Their father was an officer in the army. Their mother had died in the bombings. They changed their surname to a common Russian name. Their given names were altered slightly but similar to their own names. The people they first took refuge with would help them get lodging with people outside of the town. They were to be taken by peasants using a horse and cart to the rail station. Their final destination was Lyubotyn. They had to walk alongside the rail tracks until they reached that destination. It is 25 kilometers from Kharkov to Lyubotyn. The two girls walked until darkness came. Her sister decided that she had walked enough and was ready to stop. It was snowing and the sun was setting. Her sister laid on her back in the snow. Dawson admonished her that they must continue. The sister rejected the idea at first. Dawson said that she was not going any further without her and lay down beside her. Her sister reconsidered and got up and moved toward Lyubotyn [Annotator's Note: Dawson laughs at the method she used to get her sister to keep moving.]. They were lucky.

Zhanna Dawson and her sister reached the rail station after a 25 kilometer walk [Annotator's Note: the two girls had walked from their home in Kharkov to Lyubotyn]. There was no room at the station so they had to find a building on the street where they could take shelter. They knocked on the door and told the people that they were orphans and were headed to Poltava. Everyone knew where Poltava was located. In order to obtain papers, Dawson had to adjust her birth date by three months. She maintained the year of her birth. The strangers took the girls into their small place. The floor was multi-color stones. They were allowed to sleep there. They slept well after the long walk. They woke up at six o'clock and were given some toast. They went to the station and looked for a train that was loading and headed to Poltava. It was dark when they reached there. Poltava was a rail hub and trains came and went. It was not like Kharkov. The girls walked over the many rails to a building where they thought they could sit down. A bridge had to be crossed to get into town, but the girls had no papers so they remained at the station overnight. After waking up, they joined some people nearby. They observed a man sitting across from them. He removed his boots. They saw that he had no socks. He only had rags wrapping his feet and legs. After the rags were unwrapped, he cleaned between his toes. Everyone was watching him. Following that, he pulled out a bag. He used his unclean hands to reach into the sack and break off a piece of Russian black bread. The girls were mortified with the unsanitary nature of the situation. Then he offered the first piece to them. They could not refuse since they were very hungry. They ate the bread with some discomfort. He offered them the bread first with his unclean hands because they were children. It was disgusting but hunger made them accept. The girls developed a plan to go to Poltava to see if they could get a job. They would stay until the Russian army returned and the enemy was chased back to Germany. Dawson attempted to cross the bridge first. She covered her face as much as possible. The German soldier with his rifle asked her where she was going. She did not answer. He lifted her facial cover and told his fellow soldiers that "Das ist kinder" [Annotator's Note: it is a child]. They allowed the girls to proceed. It was a relief. They had to continue their journey by finding someone to help them. They knocked on a door of a lovely home. They were invited in and offered food and tea. Dawson saw a piano. The lady told them that her children were taking lessons. Dawson was asked if she could play. After she did, the lady excitedly wanted her to stay and teach the children to play. The offer frightened Dawson. She felt that they had to run away. She did not want any attention drawn to her because of her playing. They escaped but she told Frina [Annotator's Note: Frina Arshanskaya was two years younger than her sister, Zhanna Arshanskaya] that they had to do what her Papa had told her. The people who took her in were lovely people. It seemed to Dawson that nobody said "no" to them. It was about a mile to the center of the town where the commandant lived. The government was there. She reached the spot and entered the building. She found a middle aged man who said, "What are you doing here?" [Annotator's Note: Dawson chuckles at the man's reaction to her.] She responded that she was looking for a job. He did not know what she could do. Dawson said she could play the piano. He was not so sure. He was a very learned man who was the controlling force for the town. He spoke many different languages. He offered a job to Dawson. She would help the elderly nanny at his home. She was quite old and the girl could assist her. Dawson accompanied him to the home and met the lady. Dawson was allowed to sleep in a hall on a cot. That was preferable to her accommodations in the ghetto. She did worry about her sister. Nevertheless, she had to accept what was given to her. The nanny was delightful and the cot was comfortable. She helped the lady and they got along very well.

Zhanna Dawson stayed with her benefactor who took her into his home [Annotator's Note: Dawson was hired to help the elderly nanny in the home of her benefactor]. Her sister meanwhile had been placed by the same man in a house occupied by school teachers. They were very harsh to the sister. She was very unhappy. Dawson would give her sister a bit of bread when she visited her. It was a hard situation. Dawson would leave the home to see if she could find a job. It became dangerous when someone would shout her real name in lieu of her recently adopted name [Annotator's Note: the two Arshanskaya girls, Zhanna and Frina, adopted new identities to mask their Jewish background during the Nazi occupation of Ukraine. They had escaped a January 1942 death march at Kharkov that resulted in their parents and grandparents being killed.]. People from Kharkov who were in Poltava recognized her and embraced her. A famine in Kharkov drove many people to Poltava. The recognition scared her to death. She could not admit who she was. When Frina, her sister, came to see her, she called Dawson by her real name. Her boss was in the next room and asked what was going on. He told her to tell the truth. He had suspected her story. He said she had to leave. Dawson started to cry. She hated to lie to her benefactor. She told the truth. He told her to leave right away. Using his contacts with farmers, he obtained help for Dawson. The Germans were highly dependent on the commandant because he knew everyone in the area and thee many languages spoken. He suggested that the girls slightly alter their story. When they were being transported to Poltava by the peasants, the girls were changing their background story in the cart. They reached Poltava in two days. They had adopted a new name and said that they were looking for their aunt. When they reached Poltava, they knocked on a door and told the occupant that they were looking for their aunt. When they gave the woman at the door the name of the supposed aunt, she responded that she had died [Annotator's Note: Dawson laughs about the coincidental name selection]. The woman began to bring her neighbors from the building together to introduce the two young girls as the nieces of the deceased ersatz aunt. The girls stood transfixed while this occurred. It was such a funny situation in retrospect. The neighbors all knew the deceased woman and offered the story of her death as well as a welcome and food. The apartments were small. The people were good to them. In one of the apartments, there were two young policemen under 20 years old. They were terrific friends. The tenants were good to them. The girls worried that their story would unravel. They found out where the orphanage was located. It was far away. Dawson kept the location in mind. A school teacher and her husband occupied one of the apartments in the building where Dawson and her sister took up residency. He asked her to come in and play the piano while his wife was away. He was an old man to her so she went in and started playing. He started asking her questions. Then, he pulled her to his lap and started pawing her. She had never experienced that before so she ran to the orphanage. The director of the facility was a farmer. She said she had no place to stay. He said she could stay but they had little to offer. Dawson decided to sleep there after it got dark. She got into bed and fell asleep. In the morning when she made the bed, she saw it was covered with huge lice. She could not shake out the sheet. It was horrible, but she had to tell the director that she and her sister were coming to stay there. Frina and Dawson arrived there. There was a piano at the facility. Germans were nearby. When Dawson started playing, the Germans began to hear it. They investigated the situation thinking that a concert was going on. The director decided to have the piano tuned but said he would not pay the tuner until Dawson checked it.

Zhanna Dawson worked with a tuner to tune the orphanage piano [Annotator's Note: because of her playing talent, Dawson was assigned by the music school director to assure that the tuning was done properly by the tuner]. The tuner advised her that no one else could play the piano in town as well as she could. She could get a job playing in theaters if she wanted. She could have her own place that way. Dawson replied that she would stay where she was until the Russian army came and rescued them from the Germans [Annotator's Note: the two Arshanskaya girls, Zhanna and Frina, adopted new identities to mask their Jewish background during the Nazi occupation of the Ukraine. The girls had escaped a January 1942 death march at Kharkov that resulted in their parents and grandparents being killed. They were in Poltava under assumed identities.]. The tuner said that he would return. When he did, he told the girls that they had to go with him. They were fearful of the consequences if they did not follow his directions. The man took them to the music school. When Dawson played for the director of the school, she told her that she could play in the theater entertaining the German soldiers. She told the young girl not to worry. She was going to make a dress for her. She offered Dawson a private room in the music school. The director judged the two young girls not to be thieves or miscreants. They were talented young girls. There were jealous dancers from Kharkov in the theater. The Germans were attracted to them originally. Here was a badly dressed little girl with a toe missing on her shoe. The dancers laughed at her. The school director told Dawson that she should not worry. She would get her more money than anyone. Money was not as valuable as vodka and schnapps. When Dawson played for the enemy soldiers, they went crazy. That further aggravated the situation with the dancers. They were used to getting all the attention. The dancers denounced the two girls as being Jews. They told the Germans, but the Germans did not want to kill the young girls. One dancer escaped, but he was captured. It was unforgettable how he was beaten. It was a warning to the others about attempting to escape. That was on the border between Poland and Germany. It was frightening. Some of the troupe were singled out in Berlin and disappeared. While in Berlin, the bombing started. Dawson and her sister did not want to die with the Gestapo. They preferred the idea of dying by being bombed. The Germans would arrest people who did not evacuate when the bombing started. The girls resented being woken up to go to a shelter. When the end of the war came, the girls would sleep 18 hours each night for a month. They were in Bavaria and felt that something fantastic must be done in celebration. They put on their best clothes and walked in the streets. All the shutters in the homes were closed. Only occasionally would someone look through the shutters. The two girls were the only people on the street. They were looking for American soldiers but did not find any. They looked all day. They were exhausted. The next day they saw some Americans. One of the Americans had his feet on the desk. It was disgusting to her. It took a long time before the Germans felt comfortable walking the streets. The two Arshanskaya girls were no longer afraid to be seen.

Zhanna Dawson felt her first encounter with an American was ridiculous. She did not know how to react to the American soldier putting his feet on his desk. She heard there was to be a dance. Dawson had heard about the Americans not talking while they danced. Beyond that, she had heard how they handled women very casually and disrespectful. She was not attracted to that. Soldiers came to her home to ask some questions. There were not only men but women in uniform. It was then that Dawson heard English spoken for the first time. She thought the language sounded terrible. She had studied French and loved the language. It is as different from English as is the Russian language. Dawson and her Russian friends lived in a school building which had a nice arrangement. Rooms were spacious and they slept on bunk beds. She met an American soldier who wanted to marry her. Dawson pointed out that she had a sister so that loveless relationship dissolved. The group of performers was moved to Kempten near Augsburg in Bavaria [Annotator's Note: Germany]. The troupe was placed in a camp for displaced persons. There were no opportunities for the performers in that location. Dawson was very bored. She spotted a building at the far end of the camp and thought it might be a church. She looked inside and saw the pews and that confirmed her assumption. She saw a piano on the stage and decided to try it. It was a worn out, dinky instrument that needed tuning. She told her friends that there was a hall with a stage and a piano. The performers were all excited that they could do their act. Announcements were made and programs prepared for the performance. The concert was a terrific success. While introductions were being made backstage, they met an individual who was dressed as an American. Dawson assumed that the man would be talking with the older females in the troupe. Instead, he went straight to her and Frina, her sister. He greeted them and spoke in German with a ridiculous American accent. It was funny. He was hard to understand. He inquired if the girls would like to play piano on a better instrument. He invited them to a dinner with some people from UNRA [Annotator's Note: United Nations Refugee Agency]. The man who invited them was the head of a group of people who harbored no racism. The man's name was Larry Dawson. He headed 5,000 people in the organization. He told the girls that he would send a car for them and asked that they have dinner and play for the group afterward. They agreed to participate. The next night while at dinner, the girls saw peanut butter for the first time and thought it was a form of mustard. There was spam on the table. The UNRA people ate what the soldiers ate which was much better than the soup prepared for the refugees. Larry Dawson was a person who would never discriminate. He was three years older than Zhanna's future husband, David Dawson. David Dawson was a premier musician. He was very well respected. No conductor would say no to David. After dinner, Zhanna played Fantaisie-Impromptu [Annotator's Note: Dawson excelled in playing the piece written by Fredric Chopin]. She was asked to play it again after completion of her first rendition. She played it again and again. Before being brought back to the camp, Larry Dawson told her that she was wasted during the war years. Her education had been dormant during that time. He asked the girls if they would like to go to study. They pondered several countries but could not decide. He suggested that they might enjoy America. Both Zhanna and Frina agreed that they would like to go to the United States.

Larry Dawson told Zhanna Arshanskaya Dawson and her sister Frina that their transport to America could be arranged so that they could further their study of music. There were no quotas for Russians being accepted into the country so he told the girls not to believe they were in the United States until they were allowed to exit the boat. He worked on the transfer for a year and a half before it was finalized. There were 800 Poles on the ship and no other Russians but the two sisters. The Poles were terrible to the girls. They told the Arshanskaya girls that they had no right to go to America because they had no relatives there. The two girls avoided them and their taunting. The Arshanskaya sisters were so seasick on the voyage that they did not want to see anyone. They did not even want to look at food. Coming from their background during the war, it was ironic that they did not want to eat anything. The refugees who ended up in Israel have worked hard to make it a land of plenty. People rave about its beauty. When the girls arrived in America, no one picked them up. A good friend of Larry and David Dawson was supposed to pick them up but he did not get the message in time. The girls had no papers so they sat there for hours during the month of May [Annotator's Note: May 1947]. When the individual did pick them up, he asked them in German where they would like to go. Zhanna Dawson replied that she would like to go to a bookstore. The manager of the book store spoke Russian. He asked why they came to America since they had no relatives. They said they wanted to go to school for music. The Russian gave them a dictionary so that they could learn the language. He was outraged that the girls came to the new country. Their host was Paul Magriel [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] in New York. Dawson told her son Greg that he had to mention Paul in the book he authored on his mother's life [Annotator's Note: Greg Dawson wrote Hiding in the Spotlight about his mother's life]. Greg had a difficult time but eventually located the man who confirmed that he knew the girls. He had bought them a box of candy and put them on a train. He gave them a note to show a taxi driver after the train journey to Crozet, Virginia. The note explained where the orphaned girls were going and that the driver would be paid for their fare. A taxi was arranged and the girls were driven to their destination. Dawson smelled honeysuckle during the trip. It was very nice. After much searching, the residence was found. Grace Dawson opened the door to their new home [Annotator's Note: Grace Dawson was the wife of Larry Dawson who had arranged for the girls to go to America]. The girls walked in. The taxi driver refused payment despite taking so much time looking for the correct address. The man amazed Zhanna Dawson [Annotator's Note: she wells up with emotion at the memory of the kindness of the taxi driver]. The two Arshanskaya sisters had made their way through the voyage to a new home and a kind family.

Zhanna Dawson met David Dawson after she arrived in the United States. They met in the Library of Congress while David played in a celebrated string quartet. Grace, their adopted mother, had driven them to the concert [Annotator's Note: Grace was the wife of Larry Dawson who worked for the United Nations Refugee Agency. He had been the benefactor to Zhanna and her sister Frina Arshanskaya and was also the brother of David Dawson whom Zhanna Arshanskaya would ultimately marry]. David was a wonderful musician and the performance was very good. David and the cellist, Fritz, were the only two members of the string quartet who accepted invitations to come to meet Frina and Zhanna. David and Fritz had both served in the Army together as musicians. The girls were very shy during the meeting. They stayed in the kitchen. David and his friend had come to hear the girls play. The girls had already played a concert in Munich dedicated to the Jews who had been freed from the horrible camps. There was a huge audience. They received a prize to travel in Europe after the concert in Munich. It was awful to think what happened during that war [Annotator's Note: Dawson wells up with emotion in reaction to the thought]. So many people died. Many people thought that Zhanna and Frina were dead. Her teacher in Kharkov and others there would cry when they spoke of the girls. That was before the discovery that the girls had actually survived. The girls had selected something special to play for the members of the string quartet. They played four hands transcription for one piano from Act One Overture. When they saw the complexity of the music, the two members of the string quartet were anxious to hear it. The girls had played for the Russian and German armies so they were not intimidated. They had a wonderful time, and it was well received. Fritz had married Natasha [Annotator's Note: no surnames given] who had previously been married to a composer named Walter Bricht [Annotator's Note: Bricht was a celebrated pianist, composer and teacher from Austria. He immigrated to America after refusing an honorary Aryan status from Hitler if he swore an oath to the Nazi government. Bricht was Jewish.]. The Arshanskaya sisters had wanted to study under Bricht but the scholarship would not cover their expenses with him as a tutor in the Peabody School of Music. They went instead to the Juilliard School of Music where the scholarship was accepted. Zhanna was enchanted by Bricht's music nevertheless. While she attended school, she met and married David Dawson. He played for Toscanini [Annotator's Note: Arturo Toscanini was a highly regarded conductor for the NBC Symphony in the postwar period] during the day and for a stage performance of "Look Ma, I'm Dancing" at night. It was a musical that paid better wages. A cellist for Toscanini's orchestra was the husband of Zhanna's Julliard teacher [Annotator's Note: Dawson's Julliard teacher was Muriel Kerr. The name of Kerr's husband could not be located.]. He was also Russian and Dawson looked upon him as a father. The couple had to leave New York after the orchestra disbanded. Dawson's income from teaching alone could not support them in the manner to which they were accustomed. Dawson's Julliard teacher left for UCLA where Heifetz [Annotator's Note: Jascha Heifetz was born in Russia but immigrated to and performed in the United States. After an injury, he taught at not only UCLA - University of California Los Angeles - but also the University of Southern California. Many think of him as perhaps the greatest of all violinists] taught. Heifetz hired the Julliard teacher and arranged for her to make a recording of a piano concerto by Kovalevsky [Annotator's Note: Dmitri Kovalevsky composed difficult violin concertos with piano accompaniment during the late 1940s and early 1950]. Dawson's Juilliard teacher was one of the best musicians she ever met. That woman could play anything by Rachmaninoff [Annotator's Note: Sergei Rachmaninoff was a popular Russian composer, pianist and conductor in the first half of the twentieth century]. Dawson's former teacher was given the opportunity to play for Horowitz [Annotator's Note: Vladimir Horowitz] when her husband [Annotator's Note: the name of Muriel Kerr's husband could not be determined] requested it. After Kerr played, Horowitz told her not to change anything. Dawson's instructor was an excellent musician and friend.

Zhanna Dawson's husband David was in the Mitropoulos Orchestra [Annotator's Note: Dimitri Mitropoulos was a famed Greek conductor, pianist and composer] in Minneapolis for five years. He only left to have an audition with William Kroll [Annotator's Note: a famed American violinist and composer who taught at the Peabody Conservatory and other institutes of music]. Kroll was a fantastic musician. Mitropoulos loved David and was reluctant to let him leave. Eventually Mitropoulos acquiesced and gave David travel money but admonished him to audition and then come back to him. Mitropoulos was not an egotistical conductor. He was good to his orchestra unlike many of his peers. He attended the Dawson wedding. Dawson's teacher gave her a wedding [Annotator's Note: she was very close to her Juilliard School of Music instructor, Muriel Kerr]. Since Dawson was relatively new to America, she had limited conversation with others at the time because she had not yet learned to speak the English language [Annotator's Note: Dawson laughs at the memory]. David played in string quartets even though he was an accomplished violinist. He auditioned with violin at Julliard and was accepted. He was assigned to Hans Letz for his first lesson. Letz played strictly chamber music and is not as well known as others of the period. The Letz quartet played all their selections by memory. David was complimented by Letz after he first heard him play. Letz told him that he was already a fine musician. David's family always had the finest musical compositions available for their listening enjoyment. The five children all listened to the music. Letz told David that he was too large for his instrument. At six feet tall, the manner in which David held the violin was seemingly unconventional. David was upset and cried for a whole year. It broke his heart. The literature of the violin is wonderful. David died in 1975. Many of his students have gone on to success. After that one year, David adjusted. He managed to always have a job even after the depression started. None of the children could get a job. Only David found work. He played for the Metropolitan Opera and supported the entire family. His music was wonderful. It would bring tears to the listener. The string quartet was engaged by Indiana University in 1948. The family moved there. Their son, Greg, was born the next year.

Zhanna Dawson has experienced many acts of kindness by others helping her through her life. People have to extend themselves to others. possibly even more significant lesson learned is that nothing is worse to experience than persecution and discrimination. Both result from hatred. People have to be accepting of others even if they look different. We dislike the wrong things about people. Dawson had a personal experience with an individual in her apartment complex that drove her to dislike her. It was because of the deceitful manner in which Dawson was treated. Most people deserve a good life but if someone destroys others, they do not deserve a life. She just learned that lesson. If a person ruins the acceptance of others, they do not deserve respect or a life. It is a new idea but she is experimenting with the notion. Dawson wants to get rid of people who want to kill others. She had a negative experience with a neighbor. The black neighbor rejected Dawson's invitations to meet for a welcome. She also criticized people Dawson loved. When Dawson told the woman that she had gone too far, the woman denied saying what she did. Dawson has developed a negative feeling toward that individual as a consequence. Now Dawson cannot trust the woman. She feels the woman is mean so she cannot stand her. The woman reacted by crying to her husband. When the husband confronted Dawson, she held her position. Dawson is being practical, not emotional on this confrontation. She cannot believe a word the woman says.