My maternal grandfather Duvid Ariye Minkovetskiy. We removed this photo from his passport after he died. Here is an imprint of the stamp 'NKVD USSR' on the photograph. This photo was taken in Mogilyov-Podolskiy in 1922.
I remember my mother's family well. My grandmother and grandfather were born in Mogilyov-Podolskiy. My grandfather Duvid-Ariye Minkovetskiy was born in 1868. Grandmother Freida, nee Mandel, was born in 1866. I didn't know any of my grandfather's relatives, but my grandmother had a sister living in Ataki village on the opposite bank of the river.
My mother's family was miserably poor before the revolution. My grandmother and grandfather rented apartments moving from one place to another. My grandmother was a housewife, and grandfather was the breadwinner for the family. Before the revolution my grandfather dealt in farming. He rented a plot of land from a landlord to farm it. He gave half of his crops to the landlord and had another half at his disposal. After the revolution my grandfather went to work as an acquisition clerk in the supply office that made stocks of fruit and vegetables for Leningrad and Leningrad region. When I was small I liked visiting him at work where I was always given some fruit. My grandfather was taller than average and thin. He had a small black beard with grey streaks. He wore black suits and a black hat. At home my grandfather wore a yarmulke.
My grandmother and grandfather had many children, but most of them died in their infancy. Only three of them survived: mama's older sister Rachil, born in the late 1890s, my mama Paya, born in 1903, and their younger brother Faivish, born in 1907. They spoke Yiddish at home, but also knew Ukrainian and Russian. My mother's family was religious. All children were raised religious.
