This is I, Marim Haller - in the middle - with Jeni Kesler - the one on the right - and Bertuta Bernard, the neighbors's daughter. Jeni Kesler was the daughter of David Kesler, the son of my father's sister, Ruhla. I'm holding a puppy - we had a puppy when we lived on Dragos Voda St., and once it accompanied my husband to the high school and returned home all by itself.
My father had 2 sisters - Sura and Ruhla - both of whom I've met. The name of Ruhla's husband - the other sister of my father - was Avram Kesler. They lived in Iasi, but I no longer remember what they did for a living. Their sons' names were Leon and Saul. Ruhla had another son as well, David Kesler, who lived in Dorohoi, and who had a daughter, Jeni Kesler. Jeni Kesler was an actress at the Jewish Theatre in Iasi [Ed. note: The first professional theatre in Yiddish was founded in Gradina "Pomul Verde" (The "Green Tree" Garden), today the Park in front of the National Theatre in Iasi, as it was intended for a Jewish audience, the vast majority of Jews living in the Podul Ros suburb.], and then in Israel. She was married to Martin Bercovici, who also had a bachelor's degree, but I forget in what field. They got married here, and left to Israel. I couldn't tell you whether Jeni is still alive. I believe so. But we haven't exchanged letters for a long time. She also had a little brother, his name was Solomonica, I think.
My husband was recommended to me by David Kesler, my cousin in Dorohoi. My husband was a teacher in Dorohoi, and my cousin knew him well. My cousin came with him to our house in Botosani. I went out with him for a walk, and [on returning] when he entered the house, he said: 'We are engaged.' And actually it wasn't long afterwards that we got married. We saw and liked each other. At first sight. We knew details about each other beforehand from this cousin of mine. I knew what he did for a living, what sort of person he was, how he conducted himself. Mother was very fond of him.
I got married in 1946. We lived on Dragos Voda St. after I got married. That was our first house [home]. We paid rent. It was a large house, but we only had a room and an entrance hall, and our kitchen was in the courtyard. But our room was very nice, it measured 5 meters by 5. We moved here from Dragos Voda St., in a block of flats. We moved just after they finished building the blocks of flats. And we paid by installments and purchased the apartment. We never owned a home until we bought the apartment in a block of flats. Where could we get one?
