Dina Falkova

This is a picture of my mother. Dina Falkova, nee Borovika, taken on the day when she was nervous about the enterance examination in literature, the subject of which was ‘Byron and World Sorrow’.

My mother was born in Ludza on 23rd May 1899. She was called Dulce in her childhood. She, just like my father, left her home when she was young. After finishing elementary school in Ludza, she gained admission to a high school in Daugavapils [until 1917 it belonged to the Province of Vitebsk, now it belongs to Latvia]. My mother was admitted, and although she was sent some money, she earned a living by teaching and by darning socks very artistically: she got one kopeck for each hole she mended.