Zlata Tkach, her mother Fania Berehman and her friends

This is me, my mother, Fania Berehman (in the center), and her friends. This photo was taken in Kishinev in 1930. We had a stroll in the park and sat on the grass. My mother graduated from grammar school where she was a good and industrious pupil. She was musical and sang well. My mother was of average height, had brown hair, a round face and black eyes. Her most prominent feature was meekness. My mother was a beautiful woman, but she grew plump when she was young, for some unexplained reason. She didn't have to go to work. She married my father when she was young, and was a housewife. I don't know how my parents met, but I know for sure that they had a love marriage. This happened in 1927. My mother told me that they had a traditional Jewish wedding with a chuppah. I was born on 16th May 1928 in Lozovo in Nisporensk district, where my grandmother Kenia had her business, and my parents probably lived there for some time. When I turned three, we moved in with my mother's parents Mendel and Riva Kofman in Kishinev. They had an apartment on the second floor. There was a big hallway, a kitchen, some storerooms and a toilet in the apartment. My grandparents and my parents had their own bedrooms. There was also a big dining room and a salon with a big piano where my father gave his classes. I also slept in this salon: I had a desk and a small sofa in the corner. My father's students had their classes when I was at school. There was a woman in the house who must have cleaned the house and brought food products from the market. My mother didn't go to the market. My family led a traditional Jewish way of life and I liked everything associated with Jewish traditions. It was like I lived in a fairy-tale wrapped in love. I didn't have a nanny. My mother educated me and walked with me. She was a wonderful mother: devoted, tender and wise.