Serafima Staroselskaya's family: Sima and Borukh Vigdergaus and other relatives

This is my grandmother Sima, in the upper row, to the right; her husband and my grandfather Borukh Vigdergaus is in front of her; his grandmother is in the first row to the left; his mother is third to the right. The man to the left in the first row is grandfather's father. Children in the lower row: my mom's elder sisters, Sonya (to the left) and Lyuba (to the right). Great grandfather's children standing: second from right - grandfather's brother Bentsion, sister Manya (third from right), brother Grigory in the upper row to the left. Nevel, 1906. When mother was a little girl, her elder brothers and sisters began to leave home. They moved to Leningrad in the 1920s, as did many Jews who lived beyond the 'Jewish pale' before the Revolution. Mother lived in Nevel up to 1930. She finished a Russian school there and was the last to leave among the other kids. She was 15 years old at that time. Her older sisters already had babies and elder mom's nephews were 10 years younger then herself. She even nursed them, because they were always brought for summer to Nevel to stay with grandparents. Only in winter, when everyone left for Leningrad, mother remained alone with her parents. Her elder sister Soya (Sarah-Dinah) studied to become a seamstress at the age of 13. She sewed women's lingerie beautifully. It was before the Revolution. Then she left for Leningrad and studied somewhere else. But no one managed to get higher education. She got married in Leningrad, her husband was a military man and later on he worked at a printing-house till the end of his life. Second sister Lyuba got married at the age of 19. Her husband's last name was Dernovsky, he also came from Nevel. He was the only person in the family who obtained higher education. He studied at the Technological Institute in Leningrad, at the department of ceramics and refractories. It was such a starvation year - the 1921 and Mikhail attended the Institute, wearing only one galosh (rubber). When he graduated from the Technological Institute he was assigned to work in the town of Borovichi, where aunt Lyuba and uncle Misha always lived. A large refractory combine was being constructed there and uncle held an important position at the combine. In general it was a family known to the whole town. They had five kids born.