Iosif Tets

This is my father Iosif Tets wearing the uniform of a cadet of the private German gymnasium in Liepaja. Photographer J.E.Tacubortich in Liepaja, 1887.

All I know about my father's childhood is that he and his sister Ida finished a German gymnasium in Liepaja. They also got university education. My father left Liepaja for St. Petersburg where he entered the Pharmaceutical Faculty of the Military Medical Academy. This happened during the tsarist regime, when there was a quota for Jewish admissions to higher educational institutions. It was even worse with military institutions, particularly considering that Jews didn’t even have a right to be awarded officers' ranks. However, there were exceptions, and my father was the one. He must have been very determined and smart, and achieved his goals.

Upon graduation from the Academy, my father returned to Liepaja, but there were no vacancies in the town pharmacies, and my father could not afford to open his own pharmacy. So he moved to Riga where there were more job opportunities for him. He found a job and rented an apartment.