Zinaida Leibovich's family: mother Shprintse Leibovich, father Moisey Leibovich , Zinaida Leibovich and brother Efim Leibovich.

This is our family: my mother Shprintse Leibovich, my father Moisey Leibovich and I, Zinaida Leibovich standing beside my father. My father is holding my brother Efim Leibovich. This photograph was taken in Kiev, in the yard of our house on Gorky street, after we returned from evacuation: some time in 1946. I was born on 30 January 1942 in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, where my parents were there in evacuation during WWII. My parents lived with an Uzbek family. These people sympathized with them, especially with my pregnant mother. My mother had suffered very much during the long train journey to Tashkent. When I was born the doctors didn't think I would survive. I was born with many lesions and bleeding sores. In fact, nobody believed that I would live, and the doctors didn't want to take the responsibility for my treatment. My mother was discharged from the maternity hospital and sent home. But then our Uzbek landlords took over. The landlady went to her home village to see the healer. She brought back some ointment and herbs and they nursed me to health. So I owe my life to these Uzbek people. I don?t even know their names. I don?t know why, but after returning to Kiev my parents did not keep in touch with this family, but I remember that my mother always spoke with gratitude about their kindness and cordiality. . My younger brother Efim was born in Tashkent in 1944, and that same year, when he was only one month old, our family returned to Kiev. We settled down in my father's parents? apartment in Gorky street, where he had grown up. It was a poor communal apartment, and our family lived in one room. My father's brother Iosif and Rachel's family lived in the next door room. We had another neighbor: Ida Kotlar, a Jew. They all tried to support and help each other. When we arrived, our Ukrainian neighbors gave us some bed linen and furniture, as we didn't have anything at all. The toilet and water were in the yard. We cooked our food on kerosene stoves.