Henrich Kurizkes with his family and friends

This is my family on Pirita beach in Tallinn in 1929. I am sitting in the first row in the center. My paternal grandmother, Miriam Kurizkes, is standing in the third row. My mama, Revekka Kurizkes, is on my left. On the right is my mama's friend, whose first name I don?t remember. Her maiden name was Dymshytz and her married name was Golon. Next to Mama is my aunt Genia Schulkleper, my mother's brother Iosif's wife. In the second row: Lev Heit, Mira's father, Mama's friend Mirah Heit, my father's friend Mikhail Shampal and Lena Dymshytz, my mother's friend's mother. In the third row: my father's friend Villie Mazkin; his wife; Fenia Heit, Lev's wife; Vera Shampal, Mikhail's wife; I don't remember the next two persons, Lev Heit's son-in-law Mikki Mazkin, his wife Tsylia, nee Heit; they were evacuated during the Holocaust. Mikhail and Vera Shampal died in evacuation. The others returned to Estonia. Some of them have passed away. After my parents died I did not keep in touch with them and have no more information. My paternal grandfather's common name was Yefim Kurizkes. My grandmother's name was Miriam, but I don?t know her maiden name. They were both born in Estonia, but I don?t know where exactly. I know very little about my grandfather, while I knew my grandmother quite well. I don?t have any information about what my grandfather did for living. As for my grandmother, she had her own business selling paper that she purchased somewhere in Russia. My grandmother made tours of offices and shops offering her commodity and receiving orders. Her assistant delivered paper on a cart. Of course, one couldn't become rich from this business, but my grandmother provided quite well for the family. My mother, Revekka, was born in 1896. Her family was religious like all Jewish families. They observed Jewish traditions, celebrated the Sabbath and Jewish holidays. Of course, all of my mother's brothers had had a bar mitzvah. On holidays my grandmother, grandfather and their children went to the synagogue. They spoke Yiddish and all the members of the family were fluent in German and Russian. My parents got married after my father moved to Tallinn. They got acquainted at a party and got married in 1922. They had a traditional Jewish wedding. All local Jews had traditional weddings. Wealthy or poor, there was a chuppah and a ketubbah issued by a local synagogue. Religion was an integral part of the life of Jewish families at the time. After getting married, my parents rented an apartment in the house owned by Sweetgauer, a Jewish man. My father worked and my mother was a housewife. I was born in 1924, and I was the only child in the family. I was given the name of Henrich. We spoke Yiddish and Russian at home. My parents mostly spoke Russian to me, but it took me no time to pick up some Yiddish. Children are good at languages.