Tobiash Starozum’s parents: Aron and Tsyrl Starozum with his aunt Enta

My father's sister Toba. Photo made in France in 1930s to be sent to us in Lodz.

My grandfather on my father's side Toibe Starozum was a tailor. He was sitting on the windowsill with his legs crossed sewing with a needle - he didn't have a sewing machine. My grandfather was religious like all other Jews in this town. My grandfather said a prayer on Fridays and went to synagogue on Saturday. They spoke Yiddish in their family and followed the kashrut. Jews in Vydava only ate kosher food that they must have bought in Jewish stores. My grandfather died in 1910. I don't know why he died. By that time all his 6 children lived in Lodz.

My grandmother Laya Starozum very well. She was a good housewife and a devoted mother. On Friday grandmother lit candles in our houses. She was a fat woman and suffered from diabetes. She was very nice to me and always wanted to tell me things, but I was just a boy and took no interest in her stories. I felt like playing with other boys in the yard and left my grandmother to do my own things. I wish I had listened more to what she wanted to tell me. My grandmother died in 1925 when I was 10.

All children of Toibe and Laya Starozum were very close and supported each other at hard times and shared their joys. All boys studied at cheder, but after the children left their parents' home they stopped being religious, although they always identified themselves as Jews and observed traditions. Their mother tongue was Yiddish.

My father's younger sister Toba moved to France in 1930s where she perished during occupation. I know that she had a son, but I don't know what happened to him during the war.