Tag #154373 - Interview #103914 (Rita Vilkobrisskaya Biography)

My grandmother (I don’t know her name) died shortly after my father was born. I don’t have much information about what happened afterward. All I know is that my grandfather left the child. My grandmother Hasia, my mother’s mother, told me about it. She heard this from some acquaintances of hers. My father never told me anything about it – he couldn’t stand any mention of his father whom he had never seen.

My father was adopted by the Jewish family of retail grain merchant, their family name was Ioffe, Ioffe’s family moved to Odessa. Childless families used to adopt orphan children. I guess, they moved to avoid any talks about adoption. They didn’t want their boy to hear that they were not his parents.