Solomon Stumer

This is my father Solomon Stumer. This photo was taken in Tallinn in 1940. My paternal grandfather and grandmother came from Tallinn. They had three children. My father, Solomon Stuper, was the oldest. He was born in 1905. My father's brother Zemakh was born in 1907, and his sister Bertha was born in 1909. As far as I know from what my mother told me, my father's parents were quite wealthy. My father studied in a general education Jewish school. His brother Zemakh and his sister Bertha studied in a Jewish gymnasium in Tallinn. My father became a shoe leather supplier. He cut out shoe top leather delivering it to shoe makers. My father lived with my grandmother and his brother Zemakh. The families of my parents happened to rent an apartment in the same apartment building. My parents just met on the staircase in their building. My father told his family that he would only marry Dina Zitron, if he were to get married at all. So it happened. My parents got married in October 1935. They had a traditional Jewish wedding. After the wedding they rented a large two-room apartment with a spacious kitchen in the same apartment building. I was born in 1936. I was given the name of Masha after both my grandfathers. Both of them had the name of Meishe, and my name also started with M. After I was born, Mama had a maternity leave to take care of me, and when it was over, she resumed her work at the Punane Kojt factory. My mother liked going to work and communicating with people. She actually didn't have to go work. My father earned quite sufficient, but my mother wanted to be independent. Both grandmothers were helping to raise me. In 1940 Estonia became a Soviet Republic. Nothing seemed to change for our family. We had no wealthy relatives, and our family was not persecuted. My father went to work as a shoe leather cutter at a shoe factory, and my mother continued working at the Punane Kojt factory. She was well-respected at work. I don't think there was any anti-Semitism before the war even during the Soviet rule in Estonia. At least, this is what my mother used to say.