My father Esaih Ogushevich, on the right is my cousin Chasia Riabskaya, on the left is Chasia`s friend Tasia, whose name I don`t remember. This photograph was taken in 1930s in Saratov.
My father Esaih Ogushevich was born in Saratov in 1904. After the revolution of 1917 he finished a Russian lower secondary school, Construction College and worked as a plumber. My father worked long hours. He was taciturn, strict and hardworking. He wore a tunic, but no hat. He only put on a kippah and tallit at the synagogue and tefillin on his hand and forehead when praying. He went to the synagogue with his father and his brother Michael. We lived in neighboring houses with them. And at Friday and at Saturday evening we waited at the gate of our home when they returned from synagogue.
In 1926 my mother went to dancing-party at the House of Officers where she met my father. They were seeing each other secretly from their parents since they met against the Jewish tradition of matchmaking. They got married for love in 1927. They never spoke about their wedding and I never came to asking about it. My mother and father lived in a house with my grandfather in Niznyaya Street in the Jewish neighborhood. There was a synagogue and a mosque in this street. Our neighbors were Tatars for the most part. There were few lilac bushes, a cherry tree and an apple tree near the house. There was also a summer tent house and vines around it that my father planted. There was a wood shed in the backyard until some time. We didn’t keep any livestock. There was a big kitchen and a Russian stove in it. There were few small rooms in the house. Our parents had a bedroom and we, children, also had our quarters in the house. There was plain furniture: chairs and a bed with knobbles, a wardrobe and a dressing table.
My father’s sister Raisa Riabskaya, nee Ogushevich was born in 1890s. After getting married she moved to Moscow and became a housewife. Her husband Chaim Raibski was a Jew. He was a food supplier. Their daughter Chasia was born in early 1920s. She lives in Moscow. She worked as an economist. Now she is a pensioner. Raisa's second daughter Minna was born in the middle of 1920s. She lived in Moscow and worked in a design office.
