This is an excerpt from the birth roster about my father Efim Melamed birth in Uman in 1895. This excerpt was made in Uman in 1920 and certified by the rabbi of Uman.
My father was born in 1895. I have an excerpt from the synagogue roster that indicates that he was born in Uman. I don't know how the family happened to be in Uman at that period of time. My paternal grandfather Yakov Melamed - whose date of birth I don't know, regretfully -, was born and lived in Odessa. Grandfather Yakov had education. He spoke Yiddish and Russian and had a good conduct of English. He was a rich man, an industrialist. He had a luxurious apartment in 20, Petra Velikogo Street and his own carriage and horses. My paternal grandmother Sara Melamed, nee Shpolianskaya, was born in Odessa too. My grandfather was a gambler and used to lose a lot of money. My grandmother divorced him and raised her four children herself. My father told me that she finished a grammar school and received music education. She played the piano.
My father studied at school and received religious education at home. He and his brother studied Hebrew and Torah with a teacher who visited them at home. He also had private classes of playing the violin. My father's family had a talent for music. When the World War I began my father served as a private in the tsarist army. When the October Revolution began he went to the Red army. He served in the troops under command of red commander Yakir. I think he did it because he knew about pogroms and the attitude of tsarist power to Jews. He believed that the new regime would bring wealth and prosperity to all. He had a cavalry unit under his command. At home we used to keep letters of gratitude and awards of my father that disappeared later. My father was wounded in his face and had his jaws and tongue seamed. When he met with my mother in Golovanevsk he had long hair and looked like a gypsy, but my mother liked him anyway. They decided to get married.
