Fayvel Teytelbaum with his mother Riva Teytelbaum

These are my husband Fayvel and his mother Riva Teytelbaum. The picture was taken in the 1930s, Vilkaviskis, Nitsevich photo studio.

I studied at the lyceum for eight years. By the time I was in the seventh grade, I didn’t want to finish the lyceum as I had other interests. The matter was that I met a young man and was infatuated with him. Vilkaviskis was a small town, where everybody, especially the Jews knew each other. Once an adult, tall and handsome guy came up to me and said that he liked me a lot. He called my name and said he would wait for me to grow up, for us to get married. Fayvel Teytelbaum was born in 1909 somewhere in Russia – I can’t recall where exactly – and moved to Vilkaviskis with his mother, when he was a child. Fayvel’s father had died a long time ago, and his mother Riva had a small house, where she lived with her son. Fayvel was the bread-winner of the family. He worked at the soap making factory, owned by some Jews. Fayvel was a very gifted and honest guy. He was respected and valued by the owners. Fayvel made pretty good money. He asked me out to eat ice-cream. We often strolled hand-in-hand. 

These were the happiest years of my life. However, my parents didn’t approve of my infatuation and were against Fayvel as he was much older than me. I was in love, and my parents understood that there was nothing they could do to separate us.

In 1941 my husband’s mother Riva had remained in occupation. Riva perished in Vilkaviskis during one of the first actions.