Riva Pizman with her husband Aron Pizman and granddaughterTatiana Pizman

My son Mikhail took this photograph at the prom of his older daughter Tatiana. From left to right: my husband Aron Pizman, Tatiana Pizman and me. We were photographed in the school yard. This photo was taken in Mogilyov-Podolskiy in 2004.

We didn't observe Jewish traditions, but we celebrated Soviet holidays at home: 1 May, 7 November, Soviet army Day, Victory Day, 8 March [Women's Day], New Year. We also celebrated birthdays: we had guests and made presents. We had friends, acquaintances here, people respected us and we didn't have any conflicts. We were content with the life we had.

Our younger son Mikhail went to work as an engineer at the Kirov plant. Now Mikhail is chief of the department for introduction of state-of-the-art equipment. Mikhail met a wonderful Jewish girl. Her name is Lilia Weinstock. She was born in Mogilyov-Podolskiy. They got married. Mikhail received an apartment from his plant. Mikhail and Lilia have two daughters: Tatiana, born in 1988, and Nathalia, born in 1992. I helped my son and daughter-in-law to raise the girls. They are very nice, talented and kind girls. They spent a lot of time with us here.

There is a Jewish community in Mogilyov-Podolskiy, and the Jewish life has revived. There are various events and concerts of Jewish music and dancing. My husband and I used to attend Jewish concerts some time before, but then he fell ill and hardly ever leaves home. I do not want to leave him alone. The community celebrates Jewish holidays. My husband and I went there twice, but we don't like it. We have been atheists and religion is far from us. The community and the Hesed provide assistance to older people, and this is a real support. Old people receive food packages and have hot meals delivered to them at home. This is very good and they need it a lot. There are many Jewish publications. We subscribe to newspapers "Yevreyskie vesty" [Jewish news], 'Vek" [Century] and we read them with interest. However, this is done for the leaving generation while young people hardly need it: they have different interests. My granddaughters are far from the Jewry, they live the life like their non-Jewish friends do. My older granddaughter Tatiana has entered Kiev Polytechnic College this year. She will go to Kiev before the start of the new academic year. We will miss her. Perhaps, there is not so much anti-Semitism in Ukraine now, if she managed to enter a higher educational institution in the capital of the country all by herself.