Roman Reznikov's family

This is a family photograph taken in Astrakhan in 1940. From left to right: my father Grigoriy Reznikov, my mother Hanna Reznik, nee Shoov, my grandmother Maria Reznik, nee Scherbo, and I. My parents got married in 1927. They had a real Jewish wedding with a chuppah and all other Jewish traditions. My father went to Astrakhan and began to learn photography from Aunt Mina's husband. My mother joined him there shortly afterwards. I was born on 18th November 1929 in Astrakhan. My father was already working at the photo shop at this time. He liked his job but he wasn't paid well. My mother had to take on all kinds of work to support the family. She worked as a deactivation assistant with Mina for some time, and then she worked as a cashier at the cinema. Some time before the war she learned to saw and got a job at a tailor's shop. My mother and father went to work and I stayed home alone. I went to the yard. There were many other children of various nationalities - Russian, Jewish, Tatar and Ukrainian. We were all friends. We were all Soviet children and never discussed any issues related to the origin of people. We didn't even know the word 'zhyd' [kike]. There was often a mother that stayed at home on this or that day and she invited all children to have a bite to eat. So did my mother when she had a day off.