Musya Beskina and Galina Beskina

This is my grandmother Musya Beskina with her daughter-in-law, Aunt Galina Beskina. The photo was taken in Vitebsk in the 1930s. Uncle Ierukhim Beskin, my mother's brother left for Moscow in 1925-1926. He worked as a porter at first but then made his way up to a good job. Uncle Ira fell deeply in love with a non-Jewish woman he met. His mother and her parents were certainly against their marriage. There she is, Galina Evgrafovna, first from the right. She came from real Russian nobility. But they loved each other and registered their union. She was Fadeeva by family name. Later they became very close with my grandmother. Grandma used to joke, ?My son can not eat pork! But he can not resist cold boiled pork!? Which is how she referred to her daughter-in-law at first. Aunt Galina Evgrafovna didn't like to offend anybody, so she visited all the relatives and ate everything she was given, although she knew that she would have to take purgatives later. She used to say, ?Well, why would I offend anybody?! But my diet, my fine figure!!? Galina Evgrafovna personally taught me, when I studied in Moscow, all the rules of good manners and decent behavior. She introduced me to Moscow's high society and taught me many things, including the right way to hold a spoon or a fork. You know, I was from a small town.