Yevsey Abramovich Kotkov

This is a picture of me, Yevsey Abramovich Kotkov, taken in Kiev in 1923. In those days, I as working as a tinsmith in a private tinsmith shop. I bought myself a bicycle and gave rides to girls to the stadium. I had many friends and many girlfriends. I loved them and our feelings were mutual. There was a dancing club on the second floor of a building on the corner of Bessarabka. I didn't miss one single night. I was very popular with the girls. I was a handsome young man, always clean and neatly dressed . It was at that time that I changed my last name. It didn't sound very nice to say my last name Kot (Kot in Russian is 'cat'). It was easy to change one's name at that time. There were no passports. I went to an office and asked them to add 3 letters to my last name ? and it became Kotkov.