Sophia Vollerner with her family

This is a family photograph. From left to right sitting are my father Philip Vollerner; my husband Alexandr Andrievskiy and the son of my brother Naum, my mother-in-law Varvara Andrievskaya. From left to right standing are my son Rostislav Andrievskiy; I, my brother Naum's wife and my brother Naum Vollerner. My brother and his family came from Kiev to spend their vacation with us in Chernovtsy in 1947. The photo was taken as a memory of their visit. I met my future husband Alexandr Andrieskiy, born in 1905, during the study at the Kiev trade economicinstitute. He was Ukrainian. We studied in the same group. We got married after graduation from the institute in 1931. I kept the last name of my father in marriage. My husband's family welcomed me heartily. His sister, Evdokia, came to Kiev before we got married. We became friends. A year later my husband and I went on vacation to Pervomaysk where I met his mother and sisters and brothers. My mother-in-law always treated me like a daughter and was trying to help wherever she could. We corresponded very actively. She was a common, but very kind and wise woman. In 1940 Bessarabia and Moldavia [today Moldova] joined the USSR. Before they joined the USSR my husband went to Chernovtsy as a member of governmental delegation. In July 1940 the Ukrainian Ministry of Trade sent my husband, Alexandr Andrievskiy, to work in Chernovtsy. In September I was transferred to work at a bank in Chernovtsy at my request. I took my son Rostislav with me. We got a nice three-bedroom apartment in the center of the town. Our son went to school in Chernovtsy. During WWII we where in evacuation in Alopaevsk, Sverdlovsk region. In March 1944 the Soviet troops liberated Chernovtsy and in October 1944 I went there. My father and son were staying with my brother for some time until I came to take them to Chernovtsy. My son finished secondary school with a medal in 1950. Rostislav entered the Polytechnic Institute to study at the Metallurgical Faculty. My brother defended his doctors' thesis shortly after the war, but it wasn't approved for several years. Jews had problems with entering higher educational institutions or finding a job. There was the expression 'invalids of Item 5'. I didn't have any problems, but my relatives and acquaintances did.