Naum Fabrikant and his son Yefim Fabrikant
This is my paternal grandfather, Naum Fabrikant, with my father Yefim Fabrikant. This photo was taken in Voznesensk in 1902.
My grandfather was born in the 1860s in Pinsk. He received an elementary education. In the early 20th century my grandfather and his big family moved to the town of Voznesensk in Nikolaev region. He was a tailor and started his own business. The family legend says that he got the surname of Fabrikant, when he opened a garment store. Besides, my grandfather owned a wedding hall that he let on lease. I never met my grandfather Naum and that's all I know about him. My paternal grandmother Shifra Fabrikant - I don't know her maiden name - was a seamstress in the garment shop. My grandfather and grandmother died in Voznesensk before the Great Patriotic War. They had five children: three daughters and two sons, all born in Voznesensk.
My father was born in Voznesensk in 1892. He studied in a grammar school. During World War I he was mobilized to the army where he was a hospital attendant. After the Revolution he joined the Red Army. He was doing well there and they sent him to study at Odessa Medical College. My father was lip-tight and didn't like to discuss his feelings, not even with the family, particularly regarding his past. All I know is that after finishing college my father stayed to work at the department with a popular Odessa physician, Buchstub. My father was his favorite student.