This is Moisey Krakovskiy, my grandfather on my mother's side, who was a professor at Odessa University. The photo was taken in Odessa in 1907.
My mother, Musia Moiseyevna Krakovskaya, was born in Odessa in 1908. Her father Moisey Krakovskiy, born in the 1860s, was a professor at Odessa University. He died in 1907 before my mother was born. My mother’s family was religious. They celebrated Jewish holidays and Sabbath. My mother remembered how they celebrated Pesach: the whole family got together at the table, my grandfather said a prayer and my grandmother lit the candle and cooked traditional food: stuffed fish, chicken, strudel with raisins and nuts. My grandfather went to the synagogue regularly and prayed.
My grandfather died leaving my grandmother with many children to feed. I don’t know how many children they had in total. I only knew two of them: Ilia, born in 1904 – he lived in Odessa, worked as an electrician and died in the 1950s – and Yelizaveta, born in 1906. She lived in Kiev and was a pharmacist. She died in the 1960s.
