Iyah Dziekovskaya’s mother Nadezhda Dziekovskaya with her father Yefim El'bert in Baden-Baden

This is my mother Nadezhda Dziekovskaya with her father Yefim El'bert in Baden-Baden. This photo was taken in Baden-Baden in 1912. Unfortunately I don't know what the place is and to whom is the monument.

My mother was born in 1896 and lived in Odessa till the age of 6. After my great grandfather Isaac died my great grandmother brought her to her parents in Belaya Tserkov. My mother told me a lot about her childhood. My grandmother and grandfather had a two-storied house with a big garden. There was a cook, two room maids and a laundress to do the housework. My mother, and she told me about it proudly, she did her room herself.  She also cleaned the window in her room and liked gardening. When she was a little child she couldn't wait till flower beds opened: she used to 'upflower'  them opening their buds. My mother said there was a spirit of freedom in the family: nobody lectured to her or made comments.   However, my mother studied well and received an award of praise every year. : She was a very graceful miniature brunette and spoke impeccable French and was called 'French' in her grammar school.  

My grandfather had health problems and traveled to Baden-Baden to get water treatment every year. My mother went with him several times. Grandfather Yefim loved my mother. Every now and then he called her home saying: 'My joy, the treasure of my life'.  When my mother grew into a young girl, other students began to do the same. They called and said parroting my grandfather: 'My joy, the treasure of my life'. By that time there were frequent gatherings of young people at home: my grandfather liked the company of the young.  He liked to teat them to something to eat. He used to say jokingly: 'Cavalry, welcome to sweet treatments!' My grandfather died at the age of 56 shortly after the October revolution.