The marrige of Gustav and Beatrice Finkel

This photograph was taken at my son's wedding in Botosani in 1992. The groom, Gustav Finkel, and the bride, Beatrice Finkel, are in the middle, I, Berta Finkel, am the one on the left of the bride, my daughter, Carola Finkel, is on my left; the one on the left in the back row is my husband, Mikel Finkel, my in-law, the mother of the bride is the one in the middle, and the one on the right is her sister, Jana. Of the young people with flowers, the one on the left is Beatrice's nephew, the one on the right is a friend of his, a Christian, who also accompanied Beatrice's nephew to the wedding; the one behind him is Luminita, a friend of my daughter's. Beatrice's maiden name was Brif, she too was Jewish. They had both a civil and a religious ceremony performed. The religious ceremony was performed at the synagogue in Botosani, I think Bruckmaier from Bucharest was the one who delivered the service.

I, Berta Finkel, was born in Sulita in 1925. My husband was born here, in the city of Botosani. His name was Mikel Finkel, Mahal [Makl] was his Jewish name. He was born in 1925, just like me. We married here, in Botosani, in 1951.

I didn't have children right away, it took a while. My son, Gustav Finkel, was born in 1958. He went to the talmud torah. There was this man, Haim Aranovici, who eventually taught him. I sent my son to study, and he studied. My son is very skilled at reading the Torah, he also performs the religious service at the synagogue. When my son was 16-17 - I don't remember what grade he was in, but he attended the Laurian High School -, rabbi Moses Rosen  - who has also died - came to Botosani, and he wanted to send him to study in France, to learn Ivrit there. In fact, he knew Ivrit, for he learned it here, but… And my husband said he wouldn't send him there, that he should first go to university. He graduated the Faculty of Polytechnics in Iasi, he's an engineer. He served his military service before going to the faculty, when he was 18-19. He served in Buzau, he was part of the transmissions unit. He got married in 1992. His wife is Jewish, too, her maiden name was Beatrice Brif. They also had a religious ceremony performed at the synagogue in Botosani, I think Bruchmaier came from Bucharest to perform the service. I have a grandson from my son, Avi, he was born in November 1992.

I also have a daughter, Carola Finkel, she was born in 1963. She isn't married, we live together.

We raised sheep until my husband died, and then we sold them, we stopped raising sheep. Ten years have passed since my husband passed away, he died in 1996. That's when we also sold the house where we lived in Botosani. We had 2 rooms there, the porch was in front of the house, and the kitchen was in the back. And we had to go out in the cold during winter, and we cooked there, for that's where we had the cooking stove and everything else. And in 1996 I moved in a block of flats where I live with my daughter.