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I, Maria Komarovskaya, and my cousins: I am the last on the left; Genrich Lipp (son of father's sister Rebecca), Sofa Komarovskaya (daughter of father's brother Gersh), Fanya Komarovskaya (daughter of brother Mitya), and Boris Komarovsky (son of Gersh). The photo was made in around 1931-32 in Oster during our summer vacations.
I, Maria Yakovlevna Komarovskaya, was born in Oster on July 19, 1925. Oster is a small town in Chernigov region, which used to be a district center. Then this center was moved to Kozelets because Oster was far away from the highway. The town is beautiful and is located on the bank of the Desna river.
Father was followed by his brother Leva (Jewish name - Leibl), who was born in around 1898; then brother Gersh, born in 1901 and brother Mitya, born in 1903. The youngest was sister Rebecca, Riva, born in around 1908.
Leva, or Leibl, lived in Chernigov and was a simple worker at a plant. Gersh and Mitya lived in Kiev, but I don't know what they did and where they worked.
Their sister Rebecca finished some courses immediately after the Revolution and became a junior school teacher.
Mother told me that grandparents were religious. Later, my parents moved out of Oster, and I came to visit my grandparents on vacation. I remember that in the morning grandmother would stand at the window and whisper a prayer in Yiddish.
With children, that is, with their grandchildren, they spoke Russian, but with each other they spoke Yiddish. I remember that there was a synagogue in Oster and mother said that grandparents went there on holidays.
