This is my maternal grandmother, Sarah Gorovits-Vaisbrot, nee Ginzburg. The photo was taken in the town of Zamosc in the 1930s.
My mother's father had a total of four names. I remember one of them: Shloma. My grandmother Sarah became a widow in early 1920. After finishing school Jewish girls would come to her to learn needlework and Yiddish. They had a good time with her. I also know that her cousin lived in St. Petersburg; he was Baron Ginzburg, a famous patron of the arts, banker and manufacturer. That's the family my grandmother came from.
My grandfather was a rabbi. After his death, my grandmother was paid a state pension as the widow of a rabbi. All their children were given education. They were raised in Spartan style. My mother told me that in winter they walked barefoot on the snow. Throughout her life my mother took ice showers every morning.
