Boruch Ragozhik and his relatives

From left to right - my brother Boruch Ragozhik in a white shirt, Meishe, the husband of my mother's sister Taube, Taube, holding her daughter Enta and Tuvia Belostotskiy, the son of my mother's sister Chaya. The picture was taken in the 1930s in Pilvishkiai.

Mother’s elder sister Chaya was born in 1890. Her husband, a Jewish man, Belostotskiy, owned a small tannery, where pork hide was tanned. Chaya never worked. Her husband was rather prosperous, so Chaya’s family did pretty well. They lived in their own house on the central street of Vilkaviskis. Chaya had four children. The youngest in the family, Chaya’s only son Tuvia left for Israel with his parents. He was married. He died in 2001. His wife and daughter are living in Israel. Chaya lived until the 1980s and died, when she was over ninety years old. 

Mother’s second sister Taube was born in 1898. She lived with her family in the small Lithuanian town of Pilvishkiai. Taube married her cousin Meishe, the son of Grandmother’s sister. I can’t recall her name. Taube and her spouse owned a rather large grocery store, where both of them worked. They had a large house. Taube’s family and Grandmother lived there before she left for America. I was friends with Ente, Taube’s daughter, who was a couple of years younger than me. We played together when I came over to see my aunt. Taube’s family – she, her husband and daughter – perished in 1941 during one of the first Fascist actions in Pilvishkiai.

My brother Boruch, having finished lyceum, learnt the profession of a photographer and worked as such in Vilkaviskis. Boruch was always fond of Zionist ideas and even started talking of departure for Palestine. In the late 1930s, the time of farewells started. Chaya’s family, Yudita and Tuvia, left for Palestine. My brother Boruch followed them. By that time he was a good photographer and made pretty good money, but Zionist ideas, inherent in him, finally broke through and Boruch dreamed of Palestine. Mother cried as if knowing that she was saying good-bye to him for ever.