Hanna Ferber`s family photo

This is a family photo of me, my husband, Shimon Ferber, and our two children, our son Ruvin and daughter Fira. This photo was taken in Riga in 1955. Shimon courted me from the time I was 13. When we grew up, he fell in love with me. I was too young to be allowed to receive letters. Lyuba Klauss had a housekeeper and Shimon wrote to her. These letters were for me. When I went to Kirov during the war, it turned out that Shimon's parents were also there. He joined his family in Kirov and came to visit my mother. I was at work at that time and though he sent me greetings, we didn't meet. But when my mother and I came back to Riga through Leningrad in 1945, I continued my studies at the English Language Institute. Lyuba Klauss told him where I lived. He came to see me. He came and was so kind - he bought groceries for all the ration cards. We went to the cinema, the circus and the theatre. We got registered, got a document stating that we were officially married. He started to work at the Ministry of Trade as an inspector for the organizational division. He worked in this Ministry until he retired. In 1946 I gave birth to a son, Ruvin. This was the happiest day of my life. I thank God many times a day for such a wonderful son! My son was taken care of by Russian speaking maids. I didn't teach him English; there was no time for that. Ruvin graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Latvia University. He is a professor at the University. He has a son named Arye and a daughter named Lina. My daughter Fira was born in 1952. I was very happy when she was born, because I wanted a daughter so badly. The doctor said at the beginning of labor, "The Ferbers again have a son!? When I saw the bracelet given to all newborn, they had crossed out ?boy? and put ?girl? instead. From the very first day of her life, we had a nurse for Fira. This nurse lived with us for 13 years. My daughter graduated from the Faculty of Russian Philology of the Latvian University. Now she is a businesswoman. Fira has a daughter named Ada. Our daughter married a Russian, a wonderful man by the name of Oleg Maniyev. He died of cancer when he was 47. But when Ada went to get her passport she registered as Jewish.