Sally Uzvalova’s husband Jacob Uzvalov with his mother Molka Finkel

My husband Jacob Uzvalov (Oswald) and his mother Molka Finkel (her last name in her 3rd marriage) visiting my husband. My husband worked as a mechanic (repaired elevators) in Bucharest.  The photo was taken in 1938 in  Bucharest.

In 1949 I got married. My future husband's name was Jacob Uzvalov. His real name was Oswald.  I don't know how and when he changed his last name. Jacob was born to a religious Jewish family in Bendery (a Rumanian town at that time) in 1920. His mother's name was Molka and his father's name was Jacob. Jacob's father was Molka's 2nd husband. She had two sons with her first husband. They were much older than Jacob. Her first husband died and in 1918 she married Jacob Oswald, a very nice man. He was also a widower and was about 50 years old. His two sons and a daughter moved to America in 1930s. In 1920 Molka's husband and her old sons ell ill with typhoid. The boys recovered, but Jacob died. His son Jacob was born after his father died. In 1923 Molka got married again. She gave birth to a son in 1924 and became a widow again before the war. Her last name in her 3rd marriage was Finkel. In 1943 her younger son perished at the front. Her older sons went to work in Rumania and stayed to live there.  Jacob entered a professional school in Bucharest. He became an elevator mechanic and got a job at the government house. Jacob loved his mother. In 1944 Jacob moved to Bendery from Bucharest. His mother's house was ruined by bombing and the locals took away whatever was left. Jacob and his mother moved to Chernovtsy and Jacob got a job at the railcar depot. Before the war my husband corresponded with his stepbrothers from America. They wrote that although they didn't know him he was still their brother and they invited him to visit them in the US. After the war their correspondence stopped.  When in Bucharest Jacob got fond of the communist ideas and even distributed flyers. It happened somehow that all communists in Rumania were Jews and Rumanians didn't care about communist ideas. Jewish young people got inspired by communist ideas hearing that life was almost a paradise in the USSR.  Jacob joined the communist Party when he came to the soviet Union. He was always a convinced communist. 

On 30 April 1949 we got married. We just had a civil ceremony in the district registry office. We didn't have a wedding party, because we were so poor. After our wedding I moved in with Jacob. His mother was very kind to me and I came to liking this plain kind woman. Molka was a religious woman. She observed all Jewish traditions and celebrated Shabbat and all Jewish holidays.