Meet Ludmila Davidovna Tirel.

"Being Jewish wasn't easy during communism. As a young woman, I once applied for a job. The interview went well and it seemed like they were going to hire me. When I showed them my passport and they saw my nationality, they asked me to wait a moment. They came back a minute later and informed me that the position had already been filled.

"I cried. Why am I any less of a person, just because I'm a Jew?

"Ironically, I later got a job specifically because I'm Jewish. Today, I am the assistant director of the Jewish school in Rostov, where I've dedicated 20 years of my life to giving a Jewish education to the children in my city."

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Credit: Yanky Ascher | Souls on the Don