Masha Zhak and her family

This is our family photograph. Row 1, from left to right: I and my mother Dina Kitt. Row 2: my stepbrother Leo Kitt and my stepfather Benjamin Kitt. This photo was taken in Tallinn in 1964. My father died in 1941; he served on a Soviet battleship, which sank near the Hanko Peninsula, Finland. In 1947 Mama married a local Jewish man. My stepfather's name was Haim Benjamin Kitt. He was the director of a perfumery store. In 1949 my stepbrother Leo Kitt was born. Leo was born with a heart disease, which became apparent, when he was a child. However, Leo never gave up. He finished an Estonian general education school in 1967. Leo holds a very important position in a bank. He is a pension division manager. He often travels to Japan where they have an affiliate. I left school after finishing the 8th grade. I believed it was time for me to go to work and support myself and my family. My friends Pesia and Tsylia also quit school. Pesia went to work as a shop assistant at the perfumery store where my stepfather, Benjamin Kitt, was the director. Tsylia went to work at a plant, and I went to work at the knitwear factory. My mother worked at the HR department at the factory. I was a worker in the knitting room. I was a winder machine apprentice. When my training was over, I started working there. I met my future husband, Lev Zakh, at work. He was a mechanic at our factory. Lev liked me and asked me to date him. I liked him, too. We kept seeing each other. I was in no hurry to get married. We got married in 1960. We had a common wedding. We registered our marriage, and our mothers made a wedding dinner. After the wedding I moved in with my husband. Our only daughter Ilona was born in 1965.