Irena Beilinson with friends

Here you can see my first wife Irena Beilinson, nee Klas, with her friends. She is the first from the right. This amateur picture was taken in our apartment in Tallinn in 1975. I got married in 1948. My wife, Irena Beilinson, nee Klas, was a widow. Her husband had served in the navy and died when the war began. She lived with her mother and her seven-year-old son Mikhail. Irena was brought up in a Germanized Jewish family and graduated from a German gymnasium. Her family spoke German to each other, but all the members of her family could also speak Russian and Estonian since most of the other people around them spoke either one of those languages. Before the war her family had owned a haberdashery selling fashionable things. Her family wasn't religious. During the war they were evacuated to the Urals. I met Irena when she visited my friends whom I rented my room from. The second time I was deported, Irena went with me although she was considered free and could remain in Tallinn. After the deportation was over, we returned to Tallinn and initially lived with my mother-in-law. Irena died in 1980.