Lia German and family

This is a family photo, taken by my grandson, Henri Dorfman, in Riga in 1999. From left to right: my daughter Edith Dorfman, nee German, my daughter-in-law Irina German, I and my son Michael German. My daughter was born in 1950. She graduated from the chemical faculty of the Latvian University. She married a Leningradian, but she didn't live there for long. She returned to Riga and worked in a technical school, in a secondary school, and when the Jewish school opened, she started to work there. She has been living in Israel since 1992 and works as a teacher of chemistry. My daughter often reproached me: she wanted to study at the philological faculty, and I kept telling her that I had a very bad experience. I did what I could to talk her out of it. I didn't teach her languages: if she had mastered English, she would have gone for philology. My daughter's son Henri has finished a Jewish school here, served two years in the Israeli Army, and now he works in Israel as a programmer, and studies at the economic faculty in the magistrates. My son was born in 1953 and graduated from the physics and mathematics faculty of the Latvian University. He is a system programmer and lives in Riga. He didn't even consider to pursue a humanitarian career like me. He had a choice between the conservatory or the physics and mathematics faculty. He wasn't patient enough. He finished a musical school, took private lessons with Professor Blumental. And when he passed the 10th year in school, we came to Blumental to consult him on what to do, that is which institute our son should apply to. He told us, 'Look, he can enter the conservatory today. But what for? In our business you must be a genius or you are a nobody! Would he want to spend his time teaching children, like I do? He is good at mathematics, what does he need the conservatory for?!' That's how his destiny was decided. Physics it was, the easiest way, the way of the least resistance. My son isn't religious. He is married to Irina and my grandson Ilya, born in 1982, is a student at the physics and mathematics faculty, he works, and pursues his mother's and father's career - they are all programmers. All three work in the same firm.