Simha and Cadik Danon and children

A photo of my mother's family, taken in Gracanica in front of family house in 1910. From left to right: Laura, Dona, Simha, Cadik, Ela, Sara, Streja, Blanka and Moric Danon. My mother's parents were in love with one another and they had 9 children, 8 daughters and one son. They lived in Gracanica, and one needed to have a lot of strength and energy to maintain such a big family. They were also traditional, but not orthodox. They celebrated all holidays at home and grandfather went with his son to synagogue and afterwards came home. My grandfather died early, and on his deathbed he asked my father, his son-in-law, to take care of his family. My father was an exceptionally good and generous man and he promised to maintain the family until the end and he did help as much as was possible. The hardest thing was that he had to marry off eight girls, each of which needed a dowry and a husband. My father played the biggest role in marrying off all these girls. The family expanded because with each of the girls another son-in-law came to our house. The family got along well, they all loved each other, it was like one soul and one body. I remember, I was still quite young and we were still living in Sarajevo, celebrating one Pesach, the holiday which recalls the Jews' salvation from slavery in Egypt. All the traditions connected to that holiday are related to fleeing from slavery and the Jews' 40 year stay in the Sinai desert. I remember my father put a piece of matzah without salt in a big cloth napkin and he put it on my back, as a symbol of how the Jews quickly baked their bread so that they could get on the road to the Red Sea and Sinai during the night.