Frieda Portnaya's grandchildren, Oleg and Anatoliy Portnoy and great-granddaughter Nicole Zeltser

These are my grandchildren - my son Efim's children Oleg, the older, and Anatoliy, the younger. Oleg is holding my great-granddaughter Nicole, the daughter of Mikhail Zeltser, my daughter Tatiana's son. Photo made in Israel some time in 2000. Efim moved to Israel in 1990, as soon as it became possible. He lives there now with his wife and his sons Oleg and Anatoliy and works for construction companies as an engineer. Oleg is 20. He is in the Israeli Army. [At the time of the interview he was based in Gaza.] Basically, my grandchildren have turned into real Israel citizens. Tatiana worked in a department store for many years and was Head of the Komsomol unit there, but for several years in a row she was denied entrance into the Commerce and Economy Institute. She also was recommended to be elected to the local council. Of course, she didn't get enough votes, but an acquaintance told her, 'Tania, why are you doing this? You won?t be accepted.' She asked 'Why?'and he said 'Have you forgotten your item (item 5 in the Soviet passport ? nationality)?' Tania married a Jew ? Alexandr Zeltser. They have two sons, Mikhail, born in 1969 and Victor, born in 1978. After finishing school Misha decided to enter the technical school at the radio plant. They rejected his documents and explained to him that they couldn't admit Jews to a technical school related to the radio electronic industry. This happened in 1986 at the beginning of Perestroika. My son-in-law wrote a letter about it and sent it to the authorities in Moscow. A few weeks later we received a letter from the school asking Misha to re-submit his documents. But my grandson refused to enter that school. He went to the town of Tallinn in Estonia and entered the Polytechnic Institute there. He met a girl in Tallinn, Natasha, and fell in love with her. Natasha and her parents emigrated to Israel, and Mikhail followed her some time later. He loved Natasha and wanted to be with her. They got married and recently moved to the United States. They have a daughter Nicole, my great-granddaughter. My younger grandson Victor works as a programmer in Kiev.