Arkadi Milgrom’s grandfather Iosif Milgrom, cousin Tania Samarova her husband Misha Samarov

In this photograph is my paternal grandfather Iosif Milgrom, his granddaughter Tania Samarova, my father sister Golda's daughter, and Tania's husband Misha Samarov. This photo was taken in Baku in 1937, when my grandfather came on a visit to Baku.

My paternal grandfather Iosif Milgrom ('milgroim' is 'pomegranate' in Yiddish), was born in 1868. I don't know for sure where he was born: either in Krasilov or in the nearby village of Kulchiny. I don't know anything about his parents either. My grandfather had few brothers and sisters, but I only knew his sister Rachil. She was one or two years younger than my grandfather. Rachil's family - her husband Isaac Goldenderg, their son Pinia and their married daughters Yenta and Sosia and their children - lived nearby. They visited us on holidays and always brought gifts with them. I used to play with Rachil's grandchildren whose name I don't remember, regretfully. They all perished on the first days of occupation during the Great Patriotic War in 1941. They were shot along with other Jews of Krasilov. My grandfather Iosif was a tall stately young man whom his neighbors called 'Yos'ka the redhead' for his red hair, a rare color among Jews. His hair had a light brown and goldish tint. He received a traditional Jewish education in cheder. Iosif was an apprentice of a blacksmith and when his training was over he worked some time. Later he became a grain wholesale dealer and made his living from wheat and barley sales. After he got married and had children he turned his house into an inn for local farmers and merchants. There were rooms and a kitchen in the living quarters and in another half of the house there were visitors with their wagons, horses and loads. Visitors had meals that my grandfather's beloved wife and my grandmother made.
My grandfather was deeply religious. My grandfather had a big beard and always wore a kippah or a big black hat to go out. He prayed every morning with his tallit and tefillin on and went to the synagogue.

My grandmother and grandfather had four children: one daughter and three sons.
The oldest daughter Golda, born in 1895, had no education. She could only speak Yiddish and never learned to speak Russian properly. She was a very kind woman and her husband and children called her like Sholom Aleichem 'Golda the Heart'. Golda married Aba Shilman, a Jewish man. He also made his living as a dealer purchasing minor lots of goods in Proskurov selling them to local traders. Aba was a successful dealer and provided well for his family. During liquidation of NEP Aba was exiled to mines as a bourgeois and anti-Soviet element. He worked as a worker in a mine in Krivoy Rog [600 km from Krasilov] few years before he moved to his brother in Baku [3000 km from home, today Azerbaijan]. Aunt Golda, her daughter Tania and son Boris also moved to Baku in the middle of the 1930s.