Lev’s mother Rachil, her brother Abram and her sister Eva

My mother Rachil and her brother Abram and her sister Eva.

My mother Rachil Shmulevna Yagupolskaya (nee Fabricant) was born in a very respected Jewish family in Uman in 1895. She studied at school for 7 years. For its time it was a very good education for a girl. Their family was religious and my mother observed traditions and holidays, honored the Shabbath and followed the kashrut. She was a housewife her whole life raising her children. She dedicated herself to her family. She shared my father's joys and sorrows and supported him in the evacuation in Orsk. She returned to Kiev in 1946 and lived with my sister's family for the rest of her life. She died in Kiev in 1991 when she was 96 yeas old.

My mother had two brothers and two sisters: Abram was born in 1885. He was a pharmacist. He lived in Uman and then he moved to Kiev. He was a guardian of the Jewish traditions in the family. He established the rules to be followed. He always went to the synagogue, observed Shabbath and other holidays, followed the kashrut rules even when it was almost impossible. They talked Yiddish in his family, although his children went to Russian schools.

During the war he evacuated to Kokand in Uzbekistan and stayed there. He was director of a pharmacy. He observed all Jewish traditions in Uzbekistan, too, although there was no synagogue there. He had 3 children. One of them lives and works in Kiev, and two others live in Israel. He died in Kiev in 1995. Isaak, my mother's 2nd brother, was born in 1897. He worked as an economist in Uman and died there in 1985. He didn't have a family of his own. Eva, my mother's sister, was born in 1900. She lived in Moscow and was a housewife. She died in 1983. Her children and grandchildren live in Moscow.