This is my paternal grandmother Rosa Ostrovskaya (sitting in the center), my father's sister Babl Pertsova, my father's brother Abram Ostrovski (sitting in the front), my father's cousin brother whose name I don’t know (standing on the right). This photo was taken in Alexandria in 1915.
My paternal grandfather Shlyoma Ostrovski died when he was young and I have no information about his date or place of birth. He lived in Alexandria, in Kherson region. [Alexandria is a district town in Kherson region. In 1897 there were 14,007 residents; 3,735 were Jews.] My paternal grandmother Rosa stayed with her three children after her husband died. Grandmother Rosa died a sudden death in 1915 after she received a notification that her son Isaac (my father) was in German captivity and there was no information about whether he was alive or not.
My father's sister Babl was born in the late 1890s. After my grandmother Rosa died in 1915, some relatives brought her to Kremenchug where she found refuge with my mother and her sister. Babl had no education. In 1924 she married Moisey Pertsov, a shoemaker. He was a Jew. In 1925 Babl and her family and her brother Abram's family moved to Tashkent. In Tashkent their son Syoma was born in 1928 and in 1934 Matvey was born. When the Great Patriotic War began Babl's husband Moisey was mobilized to the front. He served as a shoemaker in a special unit. He died during an air raid when a splinter injured his back. I saw Babl occasionally in Tashkent. She was a beautiful woman of average height. She had her hair plaited and done in a wreath around her head. She was religious, but I don't know any details. Babl died in Tashkent in the early 1950s. Babl's sons moved to Israel in the 1990s. Syoma died in 1996. As for Matvey, I have no information about him.
I know very little about my father's younger brother Abram Ostrovski. In his teens he became an apprentice of a hat maker. He married a Jewish girl named Tema. In 1925 they moved to Tashkent where their son Semyon was born. During the Great Patriotic War Abram was at the front. After the war he returned to Tashkent and worked as a hat maker in a shop. Our families didn't have any contacts for some reason. All I know is that Abram died of cancer in 1960.
