Libe Farbirovich with Dora and Matvey Gendlin

This is my mother Libe Farbirovich, nee Lebyan with her aunt and uncle. My mother is 14 years old here, the photo was taken in Roslavl in 1911. Aunt Dora Gendlina was ten years older than my mother, she was 24 years old; Uncle Matvey Gendlin was 26 years old. The picture was taken in a photo studio and everybody is dressed up.

In this picture my mother is 14, and the next year, in 1912, she married my father. He returned from the army and their mutual friends introduced him to her. They had their wedding at the synagogue. Father wasn’t very religious, though he prayed sometimes and attended the synagogue. I even keep his prayer book. Father was a very kind and quiet man. 

My parents had three children of their own: Divora, Milya and Chaya, that is me, born in 1921. Mother had two adopted children as well. One of her sisters died of galloping consumption and her daughter Sonya, who was several months old at the time, was left alone. And my mother’s other sister simply gave my mother her son, Vladimir, to bring up. I can’t remember why it happened. Thus my parents had five children.
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My parents had very good relations with their relatives. I remember Aunt Dora and Uncle Matvey Gendlin, my mother’s relatives, and Father’s sister, Aunt Riva, whom we often visited.