In this photograph, the one in the middle is my husband, Iacob Haller, and I, Marim Haller, am the one to his left; the one on the left is Jeni Bercovici, the one on the far right is my cousin, Slima Aron, and the one to her left is a friend of Jeni's whom she brought along to visit us.
I was born in Harlau in 1915. Officially, my name is Marim, but people call me Maly. I was named after a neighbor whom my mother knew. At school, I was registered as Marim Nuta, even though my father's actual name was Sin Nuta, after his father. Formerly, that's how people were named, Sin Nuta, Sin This, Sin That - son of Nuta, son of this, son of that. [Editor's note: The word "sin" is a dialect form of the Yiddish "zun" (zin)=son.] Afterwards, I secured an attestation from the court of law stating that Nuta and Ghebergher were the same name. It doesn't matter, I changed it afterwards, when I got married.
I was born late in their life. My mother wanted children, but it was a very long time before I was born. I know that I was born after 10 years, 10 years after my parents married. I had no brother or sister. My father died in the war [World War I], I lived with my mother. My mother administered a business in the house, in the very room where we lived - half the room was occupied by the store. She sold tobacco, cigarettes, and she also received a pension after my father - that was our livelihood. My mother loved me very much. Seeing that it was only after 10 years of marriage - for she couldn't bear children - that she had me… I was the apple of her eyes. I don't recall her scolding me. Perhaps she scolded me if I did some mischief, but I don't remember.
My father, Calman Leib Ghebergher, was born in Harlau. I never knew my father, for he went to war when I was a few months old, and he didn't return. I don't know what he did for a living. He was a very good man, everyone loved him and had a kind word to say about him, that's what my mother used to tell me.
My father had 2 sisters - Sura and Ruhla - both of whom I've met. The name of one of his sisters after she married was Sura Solomon. I didn't know her husband, he died during World War I, too. She had 3 children. Their names were: Nathan, Benu, and Slima. I grew up together with her children, they were about my age. We played with dolls, we also played Popa Prostu' [Editor's note: it is a card game called "foolish priest".] - but I forget how it is played. They lived in Maxut, a hamlet near Harlau, part of the village of Deleni. [Maxut is located 3 km north-west of Harlau, Deleni is located 6 km north-west of Harlau.] We lived at the outskirts of Harlau, and well, it was at a distance of 1 km till where they lived, we walked up the hill and reached their place. And then we used to go to the place of my father´s sister, in the countryside. On foot. But they too moved to Harlau afterwards. My aunt kept - as was customary in those days - a small store in the countryside, in Maxut, and they lived off it. And after they moved to Harlau, they had no income, she lived off her pension [a war widow's pension].
Slima was married to Zizi Aron - Aron is the family name -, who is still living in Israel. And his son's name is Avram Aron - people call him Adolica -, I don't know what he does for a living but, in any case, he has a very highly placed position, he is living in Petah Tiqva. They had no other children - he was their only child.
The name of Ruhla's husband - the other sister of my father - was Avram Kesler. They lived in Iasi, but I no longer remember what they did for a living. Their sons' names were Leon and Saul. Ruhla had another son as well, David Kesler, who lived in Dorohoi, and who had a daughter, Jeni Kesler. Jeni Kesler was an actress at the Jewish Theatre in Iasi [Ed. note: The first professional theatre in Yiddish was founded in Gradina "Pomul Verde" (The "Green Tree" Garden), today the Park in front of the National Theatre in Iasi, as it was intended for a Jewish audience, the vast majority of Jews living in the Podul Ros suburb.], and then in Israel.
