Leia Rotaru with her granddaughter Rica Pintilie

This is my mother, Leia Rotaru, with the daughter of my brother, Avram Rotaru. My brother had three daughters, I believe this must be the oldest, Rica. The photo was taken in Botosani in the 1970s.

My brother's name was Avram Rotaru. He is no longer alive. He died in 1985 and is buried here in Botosani in the Jewish cemetery. His wife's name is Hermina, I forget her maiden name. She is Jewish. They got married in 1970 or around that time, seeing that their oldest daughter is 35 and she came into the world one or two years after they got married. They had three daughters: Rica - the eldest -, Monica - the second born - and Bianca - the youngest.

Rica is still in Romania, she lives in Bucharest, is married and teaches computer science at the Lauder High School. The Lauder School was founded - as far as I know - by the Embassy of Israel and with the support of the Jewish community. It is a school for children entering 1st grade and up to higher grades, high school included. It is a private school, attended in general by the children of accredited staff in Romania - ambassadors, embassy personnel - and other children of various nationalities. Classes are taught in Romanian, but there are also foreign languages classes such as English, French, what do I know… This school is attended both by Jews and Christians - and other nationalities.

We lived in Saveni until 1961 and afterwards we all moved here, to Botosani. During our stay in Botosani, my father was employed by the Community as administrator of the ritual restaurant, the Jewish Community canteen, for a few years, until his death. He died of a heart attack in 1975. My mother lived with me as well, she died in 1999, she was 90 years old.