Serafima Staroselskaya's aunt Sonya Rakhman with her husband Yefim and son Ilya Rakhman

This is the Rakhman family: my aunt Sonya and her husband (born in 1908) are to the right. Yefim (Khaim) with his son Ilya (born in 1936). One interesting detail: the boy wears a military uniform. My mother's elder sister Soya (Sarah-Dinah) studied to become a seamstress at the age of 13. She sewed women's lingerie beautifully. It was before the Revolution. Then she left for Leningrad and studied somewhere else. But no one managed to get higher education. She got married in Leningrad, her husband was a military man and later on he worked at a printing-house till the end of his life. Second sister Lyuba got married at the age of 19. Her husband's last name was Dernovsky, he also came from Nevel. He was the only person in the family who obtained higher education. He studied at the Technological Institute in Leningrad, at the department of ceramics and refractories. It was such a starvation year - the 1921 and Mikhail attended the Institute, wearing only one galosh (rubber). When he graduated from the Technological Institute he was assigned to work in the town of Borovichi, where aunt Lyuba and uncle Misha always lived. A large refractory combine was being constructed there and uncle held an important position at the combine. In general it was a family known to the whole town. They had five kids born.