This is my mother, Dvoira Makarevich, née Golubchik. Written on the back of the photo is, "To my dearest parents from Vera Golubchik."
My mother was born in Gornostaipol in 1894. Her family eventually moved to Kiev, but I don’t know when or why they moved. In Kiev, Mamma finished high school. Later she became a seamstress - a prestigious profession for Jewish girls.
For Purim, Mamma always baked hamantash, little triangular pies stuffed with poppy seeds. We had guests over to our house and they all drank wine and enjoyed themselves. At Hanukkah we children would always get money and gifts. But at that time we didn't understand the origin of these holidays. Our parents didn’t tell us anything. During Yom Kippur Mother and Father kept the fast, but the children didn’t. Children were not supposed to fast. At home our parents spoke Yiddish to each other, and Russian to us children.
