Levit Family

Here is the family of my father. In the first row at the left is his elder sister Rachel. She worked in the Crimean Komsomol, and was very active. Above her, in the second row, is her husband Gorev - he was a writer, and before the war they staged his play "On the banks of Neva" in Leningrad, in Alexandriysky theatre. He died in the middle of the 1970s, and my aunt died in 1936, of cancer. Next to her on this snapshot is her sister Fenya, I do not know, what her occupation was. Behind her is her husband Iosya. He worked at a defense factory, therefore they were evacuated to Sverdlovsk in 1941, and never came back to Leningrad any more. Next to her is my grandmother Frida, holding my cousin Galya, Fenya's daughter. The girl standing beside, is Inna, or Lenina, who you could see in the previous photo. Beside sits my grandfather, Berk Levit. Utmost right is father's sister Sonya with her son in her lap. And his name Rem is an abbreviation for "revolution, electrification, piece". Sonya, too, was an active Komsomol member, as well as her husband Nikandr (generally called Kolya), but his real name was Nikandr Kuzin - he is above her in the second row. Uncle Kolya at that time was the chief of construction of Pre-Baltic Electric Power Station, deputy of the Supreme Council of Estonia, they lived in Narva, and died in Pushkin, when they were retired.  Behind grandfather is my father, then a student of the Leningrad Institute of Civil Engineers. Next to him on the left is his younger brother Abram. If you judge by his tie, he was a pioneer then. Later he became the leader of a Komsomol group. He worked as a deputy director of a large factory in Gatchina. Until 1941 all the family lived in Leningrad, and only after the war they were spread all over the country.

The name of my grandfather on father's side was Berk Levit, and in everyday life they called him Boris Petrovich. He died in 1944 in the city of Minyar, Kuibyshev region. Grandmother's name was Frida, her maiden name, I think, was Kunina - I can remember it somehow. She died in Leningrad in 1949. Unfortunately, I know almost nothing about them. Unfortunately I know almost nothing about this Grandfather, where he worked or what he did, because nobody informed me about that, and I myself was not interested while being small.

My Daddy Samuil Berkovich Levit was born in Simferopol in 1904. Their family was also rather rich - they owned a house, I think in Kanatnaya Street. As a boy Daddy, it seems, went to Cheder, but I do not know for sure. Then he studied in a vocational school, in the commercial department. In 1929 Daddy graduated from the Institute of Civil Engineers in Leningrad and was assigned to Murmansk, the city under construction then. Daddy was one of the first builders and designers of that city. But Mum fell ill with tuberculosis there, and they had to return to Leningrad. Mum got acquainted with Daddy during the students' practical training session in Kronstadt and they got married in 1928. Parents didn't tell me anything about their wedding, I don't even have any photos of this event. Maybe there weren't any wedding at all, they could have just register their marriage with state bodies or live in civil marriage.

Daddy's elder sister Rachel worked in the Crimean Komsomol, was a very loyal Komsomol member, and consequently named my cousin, born in 1922, in honour of Inessa Armand [a prominent Bolshevik figure], and after the death of Lenin renamed her Lenina. The father of Inessa-Lenina was a writer by name Gorev. Before the war, they performed his play "On the banks of Neva" in Alexandrinsky Theatre in Leningrad. He died in the middle of the 1970s, and Aunt - in 1936, of cancer.

Also, Daddy had a sister Fenya, but what her occupation was, I do not know. Her husband Yosya worked at a defense factory, therefore they were evacuated to Sverdlovsk in 1941 and never came back to Leningrad any more.

Father's sister Sonya named her son Rem - the abbreviation for  "revolution, electrification, peace". Sonya also was an ardent Komsomol member, as well as her husband Nikandr (in general we called him Kolya), but actually he was Nikandr Kuzin. Uncle Kolya at that time was the chief of construction of Pre-Baltic Electric Power Station, deputy of the Supreme Council of Estonia, they lived in Narva, and died in Pushkin, when they were retired.

Daddy's younger brother Abram, too, was an active Komsomol member. He was the Komsomol leader of the steel-casting shop in a factory. Then he worked as a deputy director of a large factory in Gatchina. He also died rather young, approximately in 1976.

Until 1941, all Daddy's relatives lived in Leningrad, but the war scattered them over to different places.