Irina Lidskaya's brother Yuri Lidskiy, her cousins Faina Davydova, and Vladimir Vassiliev

From left to right in this photo are my brother Yuri Lidskiy, my cousin Faina Davydova -- the daughter of my mother's younger sister Maria, and my cousin Vladimir Vassiliev -- the son of my mother's sister Bella. The photo was taken in Kharkov in 1932. My mother , born in 1898, was the oldest of four children. After her came her sister Beila (Bella), born in 1899. Her brother Daniil (Dania), was born in 1901, and the youngest, Maria, was born in 1905. My older brother Yuri was born in Kharkov in 1926. He went to school there. I was born 8 years later. Aunt Beila met her husband Alexandr Vassiliev in Artyomovsk. She married him in 1919, and they moved to Alma-Ata. In 1924 their son Vladimir was born. Maria met her future husband, my father's friend Abram Davydov, in Kharkov. It was love at first sight. She was ill with tuberculosis at the time, and he knew that she had a contagious disease, but he never left her for a moment. At that time Abram studied at the Kharkov Industrial Institute. By the time he graduated, Masha was completely cured. Abram got assigned to work at the heat power plant in Novosibirsk, Siberia. Abram and Masha got married and left for Novosibirsk. Masha entered a technical institute there and became an engineer like her husband. In 1926 their daughter Faina was born.