During one of our trips to Russia, Alexander Silaev, the son of Ivan Silaev, Russia’s prime minister, introduced us to a businessman from Tashkent named Mr. Sanjar Kassimov. He said Uzbekistan is willing to invest $20 million in medical equipment, and with our own funds dwindled by the Kremlin Cup, we wanted to seize the … Continue reading chapter 9 – Putting Uzbekistan on the map
Sasson: I didn’t like our new life in Zürich so much. In 1989, when we came to Israel to celebrate Allon’s Bar Mitzah, we stayed for two weeks in an apartment in Daniel Hotel in Herzliya. We liked it so much, we decided to buy one of the hotel apartments for ourselves, and Golli convinced … Continue reading End of Chapter 8: Moving to Israel, the Holy Land
Gollar: The Kremlin Cup, and the business and sports activity that followed it, increased my workload dramatically, and the international nature of our activity also rendered it necessary to hire someone for the office in Israel to do the accounting. In 1993, Janine, Danny Gelley’s wife, introduced to us to Minnie Nohr, who had recently … Continue reading Chapter 8 – Tennis takes over our lives: Minnie Nohr saves me
Gollar: During the 1993 Kremlin Cup, Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the International Olympic Committee, came to Moscow with a very elegant couple. I didn’t know what his relationship with this couple was, so I watched them very carefully. After the match, Samaranch and the couple, Shamil Tarpishchev and his wife, Boris Fyodorov and Vitali … Continue reading Chapter 8 – Tennis takes over our lives: The beginning of the end
Gollar: In March 1993, the Davis Cup was in Moscow, and we came as well, for photo shoots and interviews, where we were asked about the Kremlin Cup. The political situation was very tense and the atmosphere very dangerous. There were tanks and police all over, especially around Red Square. The Duma wanted to impeach … Continue reading Chapter 8 – Eastern Bloc stories: The 1993 putsch
Gollar: My work schedule was very intense. I was working very hard. I did the administrative work in Zürich and on weekends. I went on all the trips with Sasson, and attended all the meetings. When we had guests for dinner, I organized everything by long distance and told my housekeeper what to do while … Continue reading Chapter 8 – Tennis takes over our lives: An empty nest is smaller
Gollar: My good friend Ruth Kornfeld from Zürich, is in the art business. One day she came up to me and said she wants to come with us to Moscow to buy paintings of the cubist artist Lyubov Popova. I asked Vainstein if he could find a Popova for us. He made a few phone … Continue reading Chapter 8 – Eastern Bloc stories: Russian art and “art”
Gollar: At that time, Yeltsin gave the people vouchers, but most of them didn’t know what to do with them. I said to Vainstein, “Please buy for us whatever vouchers you can put your hand on, for up to $100,000.” But he said to me: ‘First of all, you can’t buy any vouchers because you’re … Continue reading Chapter 8 – Eastern Bloc stories: A missed business opportunity
Gollar: One day, President Yeltsin came to the Kremlin Cup. Out of our office window, I saw that all the cars, except ours, had been taken away from the parking lot, to enable maximum security. Sasson: It was a Sunday. Yeltsin came to Moscow for the Kremlin Cup, and that was the biggest highlight of … Continue reading Chapter 8 – Tennis takes over our lives: Playing tennis with Yeltsin
The third Kremlin Cup tournament turned out to be a milestone in Allon’s education too: Gollar: Allon went to a private Swiss high school, after switching from the English school to a German-speaking one. Only two students managed to do it. Entry exams to Swiss school are very difficult, but he was a good hard-working … Continue reading Chapter 8 – Tennis takes over our lives: Tennis deciding Allon’s education choices