Lev’s grandfather Samuel, Lev and his sister Anna

Samuel (Shmul) Yagupolskiy, my grandfather and my mother's father, my younger sister Anna and I.

My grandfather (my mother's ather) Shmul (Samuel) Fabricant was born in Balabanovka village in 1855. He was a senior man at the Jewish community in Balabanovka village, but he lived in Uman mainly. There were many Jews in Balabanovka, and my grandfather was responsible from any official issuance of documents to recruitment to the tzarist army. He knew all traditions, laws and was a very intelligent and educated man. He was very fair and people always came to ask his advice. My grandfather had an apartment somewhere, but I don't remember it.

The family celebrated holidays according to the Jewish traditions and rituals. I remember my grandfather teaching me to say my prayer at Pesah, and I pronounced it quite clearly and everything was according to the rules. I remember discussions with my grandfather. He was a very smart man and knew all religious details well. He spoke Russian to me, but he was teaching me some words in Hebrew before the holidays. The rules required having a drink at Pesah. I remember small silver wineglasses with wine. My grandfather's daughters, my mother and her sister Eva were responsible for laying the table on holidays.

We lived in a nice house in Uman. It was a brick house consisting of 6 or 7 rooms. There were 4 of us: my father, my mother, my younger sister and I. My sister was born in 1926 (she was 4 years younger than I was). Her name was Anna. We were not very close. We were very different. It happened so that I've achieved much in life, and my sister didn't reach any successes in her studies. She was a very weak girl. Perhaps, it was because the concussion that she had had when she was a child due to an accident.

My sister's fate was tragic. She was a sickly woman. She worked as an accountant, but she didn't have a higher education. In 1991 Anna poisoned herself with gas in her kitchen. Her husband Boris Isaakovich Reznikov was an engineer. He worked at the vegetable storage facility. He died soon, too. He had asthma and heart problems. Their son Lyonia is a very sickly person. He is alone. He works in a library now.