Kusiel Meyerovich

This photo from the big family album depicts the paternal grandfather of my wife Marianna, Kusiel Meyerovich. The photo was taken in Voronezh, where he went for a business trip, at the beginning of the 1900s. The Meyerovich family came from Pochep, located on the border of Russia and Ukraine. Pochep was not a town, but a sort of borough before the Revolution, a small town in Chernigov province. Now it is a district center in Bryansk region. Their ancestors owned a private printing-house in Pochep. They printed books and magazines. All their sons and their whole family worked in that printing-house. They were considered a wealthy and prosperous family, middle-class for those times. They were someone who is called ?ikes? in boroughs, which means cultured respectable people with a developed dignity. Kusiel Meyerovich moved to Petersburg before the Revolution. He settled in Petrogradskaya Storona and, being a craftsman, obtained a residential permit. His wife Nishama gave birth to 14 children. They all grew up and obtained an education. Kusiel died in 1913. His grave can still be seen at the Jewish cemetery. By 1929 all Meyeroviches moved to Leningrad from Pochep to be closer to their relatives. Their whole family clan gathered in Leningrad. Their relations were very warm. They visited each other often and gathered at the table on Jewish and Soviet holidays, eating gefilte fish, chicken galantine, beetroot with garlic and other Jewish meals.