Zoltan Shtern and his family

This is a family picture. Standing from left to right are my oldest son Evgeni Shtern, my younger son Victor Shtern, my cousin Miclash Mayko, and me. Sitting from left to right are Miclash's wife, her relative and my wife Prascovia Shtern, nee Goncharenko. The photo was taken in our flat in Uzhgorod in 2000 during the celebration of my wife's birthday. I tried to teach my sons Jewish religion and Jewish traditions. Regretfully, they were far from conceiving them. My sons were pioneers and Komsomol members and lived in accordance with the laws of the USSR. They didn't identify themselves as Jews and were just Soviet people. In those years we didn't observe any religious traditions at home. We didn't celebrate Soviet holidays either. We celebrated our birthdays and our children's. We invited friends, had parties, listened to music and talked. We spent vacations traveling to Subcarpathia or to the Crimea with the family. Evgeni wanted to become a teacher like his mother. After finishing school he entered the Faculty of Mathematics of Uzhgorod University. Upon graduation he became a teacher at a secondary school. He's a very good teacher and children like him. Victor finished the Faculty of History of Uzhgorod University. But, unlike Evgeni, he wasn't attracted by the idea of being a schoolteacher. He worked at school for some time upon graduation and then entered the Faculty of Law of Uzhgorod University. Upon graduation he obtained his license and became an attorney. He works well and I'm not saying this just because I'm his father. My sons are married. I have four grandchildren. Evgeni has a Jewish wife. They have two sons: Evgeni, born in 1984 and Alexandr, born in 1987. They both study in Israel under a Sokhnut student exchange program. Evgeni has finished school and is a university student. The younger one is still at school. He goes in for sports. He is a candidate for a master of sports in fencing. My grandsons are very happy in Israel. They often write me and call me. They have great perspectives and I'm very happy for them. Evgeni and his wife are going to move to Israel. I'll be missing them, but I understand that their children are there and therefore, their future is in this country. They study Ivrit. My son has quite a good command of Ivrit. Well, all I can do is pray to God for peace in Israel. My younger son, Victor, has a Ukrainian wife and they also have two sons: Sergei, born in 1987 and Andrei, born in 1994. They go to school.