This photograph was taken after the registration of my marriage. From left to right, sitting: my sister Ghitlia Mechlovich, nee Katz, my wife's sister Raya Yanovich, nee Boldur, my wife's mother Taiba Boldur. Standing: I and my wife Vera Katz, nee Boldur. This photo was taken in Khust in 1954.
I got married in 1954. My cousin Mendel Yanovich introduced me to my future wife. In 1947 he went to work in Donetsk region, in the town of Gorlovka. He met a Jewish family called Boldur: a mother and three daughters. Before the war they lived in Kharkov, and then evacuated to Karaganda, Kazakhstan. After the war they moved to Gorlovka.
The father, Wolf Boldur, was deputy director of the railroad trust of restaurants of Donetsk region before the war. He went to the front at the beginning of the war and perished. The mother’s name was Tatiana. Her Jewish name was Taiba. She was diner director in a mine in Gorlovka. Etia, the older daughter, was born in 1932, Raya, the middle one, was born in 1935, and Vera, whose Jewish name was Dvoira, was born in 1938.
There were few Jewish families in Gorlovka and even fewer young girls. Mendel met Raya, the middle daughter. Her mother decided to help her future son-in-law. She helped him to resign from the mine and enter a driving school. Later she helped him to find a job. When they decided to get married Mendel moved the whole family to Khust. The mother became director of a diner and Raya became an accountant in this diner.
Mendel and Raya got married in Khust. They had a Jewish wedding with a chuppah. A rabbi from the synagogue in Khust conducted the ceremony. I met Vera and her family at Mendel’s wedding. Vera was twelve years younger than I. She wasn’t raised Jewish. She grew up in the Soviet Union and studied in a Soviet school. This is all there is to say about it. I liked her anyways and asked her mother’s consent to our marriage. We got married shortly afterward.
I wanted to have a traditional wedding in Korolevo with a rabbi and a big party inviting all Jews in Korolevo to the wedding party. I had enough money to arrange it. There were few drivers and we earned well. But Vera’s mother said that she or her relatives would not come to the wedding in Korolevo and that we were to have a wedding in Khust. Therefore, we didn’t have a wedding party, but just a civil ceremony. Vera moved in with me.
Three months later we had a Jewish wedding in Korolevo. A rabbi from Svaliava conducted the ceremony. My sister invited him. There was plenty of food and we invited all Jews in Korolevo and our relatives.
