Yevsey Kotkov's brother Isaak Katkov

This is my brother Isaak (Itsyk) Katkov. The photo was taken in Kiev in 1927. There were five of us kids in the family. I was the second child. My mother called me Senechka. Izia (Isaak) Abramovich Katkov was born in 1910. He lives in Canada. When we were children, we lived with our parents in a basement in the main street in Rovno. There was some hay on planks that served as a bed for my mother and her children. The remaining area served as my father's shop. He made whatever he had orders for, like tins, cups, buckets, cans, etc. They used a bucket for a toilet. Life was not much fun. It was cold, and we didn't have enough to eat. My father was a typical failure. He was a rough and wild man. He was always dirty. Mommy used to cry a lot in that basement. Father beat us. My mother told him off and cursed him for beating us so hard. We loved our mother. She always stood upfor us and cared for us. My father used to go and ask some rich Jewish family whether they had anything they wanted to give away. He used to bring back a huge bag and we were so happy that there were so many clothes for us. In the early 1920s my brothers and I changed our last names. We didn't think it sounded very nice to have the last name Kot , which in Russian means Cat.