This is my mother's stepbrother Motl Rakhlis. The photo was taken in Zhytomyr, before Motl emigrated to the US in 1923.
My mother's father died in 1905 when my mother was a child. All I know about him is that his name was Meyer Benderski. My maternal grandmother Pesia-Feiga was born in the village of Romanivka. After getting married my grandmother lived in Zhytomyr. She had four children when she became a widow. My grandmother remarried. This happened at the time when my mother was still staying with my grandmother's uncle. There was a widower by the name of David Rakhlis who lived in Zhytomyr. His son's name was Motl. David was a glasscutter.
David had a big house with seven rooms in the center of Zhytomyr. There was a front and a back door in the house. My grandmother moved into this house with Freida and Mirra. David's son Motl lived there, too. In the early 1920s Motl emigrated to the US. We had no contact with him.
Motl Rakhlis
The Centropa Collection at USHMM
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