This is I, Marim Haller, in Israel. The camels that you can see in the back were not real, it was a mere frame in the open air and I had my photograph taken there. I still have that blouse to this day. I've been to Israel around 3 times. I don't remember in what years exactly, but the date on the back of this photograph reads 13th December 1997.
I was born in Harlau in 1915. Officially, my name is Marim, but people call me Maly. I was named after a neighbor whom my mother knew. I never knew my father, for he went to war when I was a few months old, and he didn't return. I lived with my mother. I believe we lived in Harlau until I was about 10. And afterwards we moved to Botosani, my mother and I.
I entered a job when I was 13, and I was already earning money by then. Little as it was, but it helped to support the household. If my mother was unemployed… I started to work at a store selling colonial products as a commercial intern - but I was paid for it. And by completing my internship there, I remained employed afterwards as well, and worked as an accountant. I remained employed at this store for colonial products for a very long time, until 1943. Afterwards I worked in different places, as accountant and later accountant-in-chief, until 1970, when I retired. I never missed a day at work.
I got married in 1946. When I was married and was on holiday, I used to go on vacation every year, at spas, at a resort or other, we used to go on organized trips. I used to go everywhere with my husband, Iacob Haller. We traveled to Cernauti, Chisinau, Leningrad, Moscow, Warsaw, Berlin.
I've been to Israel around 3 times. But I traveled there without my husband, for he had died. I don't remember in what years I traveled there. I've been to Jerusalem, Haifa. After that, I visited all the places on a trip. I've also been to the Dead Sea. I was thrilled by what I was seeing there. A beautiful country, a country built by means of hard work. Why, it was in the process of being built, it was just beginning, but still, beautiful things. Much has been done there. I always saw something new every time I traveled there. People worked there. A beautiful country, but it was surrounded by enemies. That's how it was.
