Avrum Alterman and his family

This is a family photograph of my mother's brother Avrum Alterman. Sitting from left to right: Avrum, his son-in-law, his wife Basya. Standing from left to right are the Avrums daughters: Charna, Molka and Tsilya, and their husbands. The picture was taken in Kishinev in the 1970s.

The youngest in my grandparents’ family, Avrum, born in 1918, became a tailor. He evacuated with our family when the Great Patriotic War started and then at the beginning of the war went to the front as a volunteer. Avrum was severely wounded, and lost his arm. When he came back from the hospital, he settled in Kokand with me and my mother. We returned to Kishinev together. After that Avrum married a Jewish woman, Basya, and adopted three children: Charna, named after Grandmother, Tsilya and Molka. They all currently reside in Israel. Avrum’s daughters have their own families. His senile wife Basya is at a hospice, and Avrum stays with each of his daughters in turns.