My mother-in-law

My cousin Fani Levi who was the youngest daughter of my aunt Verjini, born in 1893, later became my wife.  My aunt was married to Salvator Levi who was very cultured, who spoke French, German and Hebrew and who was an antiques dealer.  However the family lost this angel of a father at a very young age as a result of a feverish disease. My aunt Verjini became a widow with her children at a very young age.  Because these children had to earn money at a very young age, they couldn't even finish elementary school.  

Fani's mother, that is to say my aunt, was really like an angel.  She suffered a lot of poverty but never made a concession on her pride.  Her children and herself were always dressed clean and with a smiling face.  They lived in Ortakoy for a long while too,  we saw each other very often as a family since we were close to each other.  I felt very comfortable with my cousins, we grew up all together.   Later on my aunt left Ortakoy and settled around Galata Tower [on the European side, one of the neighborhoods where Jews preferred to live at the beginning of the 20th century] 

In 1980, Verjini who was my mother-in-law as well as my aunt, went out to the street after having dinner at her daughter Sara's house in Heybeliada to give the bones of the fish they had eaten, to the stray cats.  She had a heart attack when she leaned down to give the bag to the cats and died on the spot.  We buried her in Haskoy Jewish cemetery.

Photos from this interviewee