Perl Roitman with her husband David Roitman, and their son Nahman

This is Perl Roitman, the  sister of my grandfather Abram Rubel, with her husband David Roitman, and their son Nahman, who later became my husband. The picture was taken in 1923 in Zilberman photographer's parlor, Rezina.

My great-grandparents, Itsik and Charna Rubel, had many children. I know hardly anything about them. I know that the eldest one, Monysh, was a vine grower and lived in Rezina, in Itsik’s house. He died in 1920. I don’t know what happened to his wife and children. Out of all the siblings of my paternal grandfather I knew grandfather’s sister Perl best of all. She lived in Rezina with her husband David Roitman, who worked from morning till night, and her son Nahman. She was a housewife.

With the outbreak of World War II, she and her husband went into evacuation on foot. They reached Rybnitsa, where Grandfather’s younger brother Gedali Rubel lived and worked. They didn’t walk far and were chased down by the Fascists. All of them – Perl with her husband and younger son and Gedali with his wife – were brought to a ghetto in Transnistria, in the town of Balta. All of them perished there during one of the actions against the Jews. Perl’s son Nahman, born in 1920, was drafted into the army in 1941. He was in the labor army and when World War II was over, he came back to Kishinev.