Golda Ravikovich

This is my mother Golda Ravikovich, nee Gorokhovskaya as a bride. She was photographed at my father's request before the wedding in Kiev in 1925. My mother's family moved to Kiev in 1924. They settled down in Spasskaya Street in Podol, an ancient neighborhood in Kiev where craftsmen lived. My grandfather purchased a shoemaker shop from an old shoemaker that had decided to retire. This shop was near the house and all tenants of the house were my grandfather's customers. My mother became a shop assistant in a small food store. My father was invited to work at the factory as production consultant. He met Munia, my mother's brother, at the factory and they became friends. I guess Munia introduced my father to his sister. They were young and handsome and loved dancing. My mother told me that my father met her after work and they went to a dance club. The popular dances back then were the waltz, the tango and the foxtrot. My parents got married in 1926. My grandparents were religious people. My mother was their first daughter to get married. They insisted on a traditional Jewish wedding. They made a chuppah at my grandparents' house and a rabbi from the synagogue conducted the wedding ceremony. Later my parents had a civil ceremony at a registration office and in the evening they had a wedding dinner for two families. After my parents got married Munia moved back to his parents and gave his room to the newly-weds. Our family lived in this apartment until the Great Patriotic War began in 1941.