Abram Karmazin’s mother Eidia Karmazina and his older sister Fania

My mother Eidia Karmazina and my older sister Fania. My mother Eidia Karmazina (nee Balahovskaya) was born in Korsun in 1871. Mama never told me about her childhood. She was very beautiful, very smart and witty. She was always cheerful and ready to laugh. I remember our youngest sister Sara tickling her to make her laugh. She was well loved in the town. Mama took good care of her appearances. She had a good taste in clothes. She didn't cover her head. Her hair was done nicely. She received a good education at home. Mama was not religious. I don't know why Mama stopped observing Jewish traditions having grown in a religious family. Perhaps, she was influenced by the revolutionary books that my grandfather or father brought from Boguslav or other towns. She read newspapers. Faina was born in Medvin in 1896. She finished Russian grammar school in Korsun and a dentistry school in Odessa. She married a student of Kiev Polytechnic Institute in 1918. They were introduced to one another by matchmakers. They had a big wedding party with the huppah. I didn't go to the wedding, because I didn't want Faina to get married and leave our home. I was very attached to her. After the wedding Faina moved to her husband in Kiev. They rented a room from their friends. In 1920 Faina went to her friend's wedding in Medvin and stayed in the house of our former laborer, a Jew. He lived in a Ukrainian village. That night the pogrom bandits broke into the house and killed all of them: the host, his pregnant wife, their 4 year old son and my sister. My sister was only 24 years old.