Joseph Ginovker and Aron Tamarkin

Joseph Ginovker and Aron Tamarkin

In this picture you can see my father, Joseph Ginovker, with my friend Aron Tamarkin, at our summer cottage in Haapsalu. My father was an active enterprising man and always worked a lot. He was also an honest and just person. Everyone who had to deal with him had profound respect for him. He wasn't interested in politics or social life. He didn't join any parties, societies, or corporations that sprang up in large numbers during the Jewish Cultural Autonomy in Estonia. My father read a lot. We had a large library; my father's study was full of bookshelves. Both father and mother had radiculitis, and every summer starting from 1915 or 1916 they went to the mud bath resort in Haapsalu. We did not have a summer cottage of our own, so we rented one. Aron Tamarkin, often used to stay with us in the summer cottage because his family couldn't afford one. Our fathers were fellow countrymen and good friends since their early years. Shmarya Tamarkin, Aron's father, was the first principal of the Tallinn Jewish Gymnasium. Besides, he taught Yiddish there. Aron was a good musician, a cheerful and interesting person. He and I were friends throughout our lives. During the Soviet period, he worked as an administrator at the Museum of Theatre and Music in Tallinn. Besides Estonians, Finns and Swedes visited the Estonian resorts at the time. There were a few Jewish families; all of them were in close communication with each other, they would get together in the evenings, talk in Yiddish and sing Jewish songs. Our family never stayed at a resort for a long period. My parents would go through two or three weeks of treatment and then we went back home. For my father, his job was always first priority.
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