In 1942, Moscow's Naval School No. 1 was evacuated to Kuibyshev, now called Samara. In those years, it was practically the country's second capital. Foreign diplomats, among others, moved from Moscow to the relative safety of Kuibyshev.

Once, a U.S. Embassy car stopped outside our school. A gentleman got out and asked to be taken to the director. We were at a loss as to why someone from the embassy had come to visit. After a while, a fellow pupil, Lazar Shapiro, was summoned to the director's office.

This lad was known by everyone. He was an orphan. His father, chief engineer at a Moscow factory, had perished during one of the first German air raids on Moscow.

"I have some bad news for you," announced the gentleman from the embassy. "Your uncle in the United States died. He left you, as his only surviving relative, a sizeable inheritance. The ambassador of the United States invites you to come and discuss this in more detail."

On the day, prior to the meeting, Lazar was asked to drop by the local branch of the NKVD for instructions on how he should conduct himself at the embassy. As it later turned out, the ambassador told Lazar that his deceased relative had left a large fortune for his only heir, including several factories. Lazar was faced with the choice of going to the United States to take over his inheritance, appointing a manager to look after his affairs, or donating his inheritance to the Soviet Union. The ambassador asked him to think it over and come back the following week.

Lazar went straight to the NKVD and gave a detailed report of his meeting.

"I decided," he told his friends on his return, "to donate everything to our Motherland." At that time, we were all patriots of a country that was engaged in a battle to the death with fascist Germany.

Lazar's next visit to the U.S. Embassy coincided with an embassy reception. He was seated at a table next to a young American lady.

Having presented Lazar as the heir to a major fortune, the ambassador said that the young man had patriotically taken the decision to donate the inheritance to the Soviet Union. The guests responded with friendly applause.

I don't know how this story ends. In 1943 our paths diverged. Lazar was sent to the Leningrad Higher Naval School, and I to the Caspian Naval School in Baku.

I heard that Lazar Shapiro did not serve in the navy for long. He left the navy in the 1960s and now lives in the United States.

Maybe he'll see this column and get in touch.