Efim Finkel with his wife Olga Poliakova-Finkel and son Oleg Poliakov-Finkel

It is me, Efim Finkel, my wife Olga Poliakova-Finkel and our two-months old son Oleg. The photo was made in Vinnitsa in 1947. All my family was killed by fascists in Razdelnaya in 1941. Only my brother Boris survived, after the war he lodged in Chernovtsy. I couldn't stay in Razdelnaya. I didn't even try to take back our house - I knew that the sad memory of my parents would always be with me. I went to Baku in 2500 kms from Odessa, the capital of Azerbaidjan where my fellow comrade lived. I couldn't find a job in Baku. There were vacancies at oil deposits, but I couldn't work there due to the injury of my cranium. I celebrated Victory Day on 9 May 1945 in Baku. This was the biggest holiday in my life. People laughed and cried, hugged and greeted each other. It was a happy sunny day. It seemed everything bad was behind us and there was nothing worse ahead of us. After Baku I went to Frunze in Middle Asia. I found the climate good and hoped to have more opportunities there. I didn't like it there and returned to Vinnitsa in Ukraine. I went to work as a mechanic at a car pool. I met my future wife Olga Poliakova in Vinnitsa when visiting my acquaintances. We got married soon. She was Russian. Olga was born in Vinnitsa in 1916. Her parents were farmers. Olga finished Pedagogical Institute before the war. She worked as a primary school teacher. Teacher at primary school teaches all subjects but music and physical culture. During the war she was in evacuation in the Ural. Her parents died in evacuation. We had a civil ceremony and Olga took a double name of Poliakova-Finkel. In 1947 our only son Oleg was born. In 1948 my brother wrote me that there was a vacancy at a car pool enterprise in Chernovtsy. I asked a job assignment to work there and got it. We moved to Chernovtsy and I worked at the enterprise for 25 years before I retired. After we moved we lived with my brother and his wife in their small 2-room apartment. We stayed in one room and my brother and his wife lived in another. At leisure time we went to the cinema and theatre. My brother and I went to the Jewish theater. Sometimes our friends came to visit us. In a year I received an apartment from the enterprise where I worked. My wife got a job at primary school. I liked Chernovtsy and its spiritual and cultural atmosphere.