Mendel Sandman with relatives

This family photo was taken during a vacation in Vijeanca, a resort not far from Czernowitz, Bukovina. We stayed in the house of a relative of my maternal grandmother Malca Engler's. We paid for the room and stayed one month. In the back row, the first from the right, the gentleman wearing a hat, is my uncle Mendel  Sandman with Aunt Tiny, his wife, next to him; the lady in the checkered jacket standing next to them is my mother, Antonia Margulies. Grandmother Malca Engler, Grandfather Berl Engler's second wife, is in the middle; to the left, next to her, is a relative of hers from Vijeanca whose name I don't know. Behind, on the left, the lady with the white muffler around her neck is Saly Engler, the wife of Zuzu Engler, my mother's step-brother. Below, in the middle, is my father, Arthur Margulies, holding my brother, Hary, in his arms. I'm the one next to them. This amateur photo was probably taken in 1927 or 1928, when our relatives came to visit us in Vijeanca.

As a child, before I went to school, I spent most of my time in my uncle Sandman’s house. They didn't have children and enjoyed having me around. Uncle Sandman would take us for a ride in his car and sometimes to the restaurant. There were many Jewish restaurants in Czernowitz to choose from. In the evening, we would go with our aunt to eat; they were kosher. Friedman's was particularly famous. They even had music. They didn't serve meat, only vegetables and milk. They had red beet soup. They don't eat red beet here. We used to, and I taught my wife how to cook it. There was another restaurant called La dracu. It was really far away, but people still went there. They had various bands playing and you could hear their music from a distance. For a few lei, a carriage would take you there. In the evening, you could go to the cinema or theater. At midnight or 1am, you could still buy hot sausages from people who sold them in the street. They kept them in special carts.