Tag #123039 - Interview #99947 (Samuel Birger)

My mother Riva Benisevich was my father’s cousin. At that time incestuous unions were rather common. Maternal grandmother Haya was grandmother Shifra’s sister. My maternal grandfather Alter Benisevich was a cabman. At that time cabmen considered to be the lowest class in the conventional hierarchy of craftsmen. Like paternal grandparents grandfather Alter and grandmother Haya were illiterate, but very religious. I remember Alter very well. He was a tall sinewy man. He seemed old to me though in the 1930s he was not more than sixty. He had a long beard and wore a cap or a hat. Grandmothers Haya and Shifra wore head kerchiefs. I had never seen them with their heads uncovered. They wore long dark dresses even in summer.