Albert and his son Yusuf

This photograph was taken in 1967. From the left, my son Yusuf was 11 months old and myself.


My son Yusuf was born on July 1st, 1966. He was born in Istanbul, but we still lived in Edirne. We had his b'rit mila at he hospital where he was born, Güzel bahçe klinigi(clinic) in Istanbul. My deceased mother had suffered a stroke, therefore one of her legs and one of her arms was not functional. My mother-in-law and I helped her carry the baby, which she did with great difficulty, afraid that she might drop the child. The circumcision took place. I remember this from that day. We used to tease my father. We used to say "dad, look, you have one grandson, his name is Yusuf, this grandson is also Yusuf. Too many Yusufs, instead let's give him the name Kemal(my father-in-law's name). Otherwise I would never think of such a thing. My father would only say one thing: "I will give everything I have, but even if I had 100 more children, I would name them all Yusuf. You can name him Ahmet, or Mehmet, the only thing that interests me is that during the b'rit, while he is being cut, they will call himYasef Yusuf Özlevi, that is the only thing that counts for me, I will give everything but I will not give this up.


My son Yusuf, started preschool in Sisli Terakki lisesi at the age of 3. Then he attended elementary school, junior high and highschool. We had his bar-mitzvah while he was in junior high.
My son studied industrial engineering in the Techcnical university after finishing highschool. He graduated in 4,5 years and then went to England to improve his English. He married Emili Özlevi (Altaras) in 1992.