Lev and his aunts Vera and Betia and Ania

My father's sisters Vera and Betia and Ania and I.

We lived in a nice house in Uman. It was a brick house consisting of 6 or 7 rooms. There were 4 of us: my father, my mother, my younger sister and I.
When I was under 5 years of age a German woman came into our house and said that she would live in the spare room that we had and teach me German. She was a very good teacher and I spoke fluent German when I was 5 or 6 years old.

There were Jewish schools in Uman, but I finished a Russian school. It was thought that Russian schools were more progressive and gave a better education. My father and mother spoke Yiddish, and my sister and I spoke Russian.

Our parents went to the synagogue in Uman and later when they were living in Kiev. They were moderately religious and celebrated all holidays.

We had beautiful ancient Russian books at home. My mother got them from her father. They were Russian and world classical literature publications, children's books and fairy tales. My father had a book of prayers and Torah.

I had a governess before I went to school. She was Jewish. A governess was the one that had 5-6 children to teach and prepare for school. Our governess was an exceptional teacher and she gave us very good knowledge. I went to school when I was 6 years old, but when I was to go to the 2nd form they told me that I with my knowledge.

I have more information about my father's two sisters. They are Vera, born in 1904 and Betia born in 1906. They didn't have any education and they were housewives. When I was small they were living in our house and helping my mother about the house. They perished along with my grandmother in Uman in 1941.