Anna Ulik’s family photo

A family photo. From left to right: my father, Iosif Ulik, my mother, Mina Zakharyevna, my grandmother Esther Iosifovna Papish, my aunt Lyuba. The photo was made in 1924 in Zhitomir.
My father was born in March 1895. He paid a lot of attention to his studies. He also studied music. He went to Kharkov on his own to finish his musical education, simultaneously finishing secondary school. He began to work very early. He worked in various symphonic orchestras, and then he held many administrative offices in Kiev, starting with 1926. All his offices were related to the cultural formation of Kiev and Ukraine. He worked at the Ivan Franko Theater, in the Opera Theater, was vice director of the philharmonic society, and at the "Ukrainian Concert" company. He came from an ordinary family. His mother was a seamstress and father - a cabinetmaker. My father was born in Zhitomir. He had a large family.

The family of my mother was somewhat different. It is obvious that the Revolution caused people to count time from it and not to dig deep into history. Everything was designed to cause people think only about the bright future. But some things were told, some things were mentioned, and they are stuck in the memory. For instance, when the war began and we fled and ran to safety, with no clothes or belongings, my mother grabbed her photos with her. She realized that there was something important in them.

Grandfather, her father, often went to Warsaw. His name was Zakhariy Papish. He died in 1936. From mother's stories I know that being a young man he went to St. Petersburg on foot and graduated from the Higher Agricultural Academy there. He majored in agriculture and forest estimation. It was an interesting and prestigious work requiring special skills. He worked for big land owners. He was given a special house and a cart - and every other thing he needed for his work. His family always accompanied him. They lived in different cities. I only know Pinsk, Lutsk and some other cities of the Volyn province. The family of my grandparents was large. As far as I remember they had five children. I can't name them all though. I only remember those whom I met personally.

At home grandmother spoke Russian. She knew several foreign languages. She spoke fluent English because she had a chance to live in the United States. All her family - sisters, brothers and other relatives - moved to the United States, and she was the only who refused to emigrate in 1905 together with her husband Zakhariy.