My mother Rachil Risman with her fiance (name unknown) in Makarov in 1916.. My mother had this photo taken to send it to her brothers at the front.
These are my relatives on my mother’s side. From left to right: my grandmother Tsyvia Risman, grandfather Leizer Risman, my uncle (my mother’s brother) Ruvim Risman. Makarov, 1914.
My uncle (my mother’s brother) Moisey Risman. He sent this photo home to Makarov from the front during WWI, I don’t know from what location he sent it. Signed on the backside: ‘To my dear mother, Father, Toiba, Ruvim and Rochel from their son and brother Moisey’.
From left to right (upper row): my mother Rachil Kotliar and her sister Tania (Toibl) Risman. Lower row: I with my brother Roman Kotliar. My mother had returned from hospital (she had breast cancer and had a surgery). We were having a stroll in a park and had this photo taken by a photographer in Kiev, 1927.
My brother Roman Kotliar – cadet of a military school in Ashkhabad. He sent this photo to his relatives in Denau. Ashkhabad, 1943.
This is a photo of me during my service in the army in Panevejis, 1941.. I was senior telephone operator of the training battery of an artillery regiment. I sent this photo home in Kiev.
This is a photo of me in an ostarbeiter camp in Germany. Stuttgart, spring 1944.
On the left is my friend Alexandr Pohitelyuk and me in Germany. After the Victory we worked at the Soviet car repair plant ‘Porsche’. I sent this photo home signed on the backside: Here is a proof that I am alive. To my dear parents from their ‘prodigal son’. Stuttgart, summer 1945.
The last peaceful summer of 1940 when I was staying in a children’s tuberculosis recreation center before the war. I am in the second row the second from the left; the fourth from the left – director of the recreation center Pyotr Mitselmakher, the first from the right is my future wife Ghita Kaplunovich.
On the left is my wife Ghita Kotliar holding our granddaughter Vlada Kotliar and me with our grandson Anton Kotliar. Vlada and Anton were spending their summer vacation with us and we were photographed in our yard. This picture was taken in Polesskoye, 1982.
This is my wife Ghita Kaplunovich with her parents: her mother Anna Kaplunovich, her father Avraam Kaplunovich. This photo was taken on Ghita’s 15th birthday. Kiev, 1937.
Leonid Kotliar’s wife Ghita’s grandfather Yakov Lopatnik
From the left on the foreground this is me with 8th grade pupils of secondary school #55 in Kiev. Kiev, 1961.
My brother Roman Kotliar, sent this letter from Ashkhabad to Denau where my father, Tania and Cecilia and Manya and Fania with their children were in evacuation. Letter dated 30 March 1943.
Certificate issued to me at the Soviet car repair plant in Germany. Stuttgart, 4.08.45: “Certificate. This is to certify that presenter of this Leonid Kotliar worked at the Russian car repair plant ‘Porsche’ in the town of Stuttgart, from 6 May through 3 August 1945 as document control supervisor. Chief of car repair plant Rogovoy.”
In early 1945 my father stopped receiving letter from Roman from the front. At my father’s request commander of the military unit where my brother served sent him this certificate dated 8.02.46.
This is a photo of me near our house in Kiev. My wife photographed me and I sent this photo to my sister Cecilia in Israel. Kiev, 2003.
Leonid Kotliar locuiește împreună cu soția sa Ludmila Jutnil într-un apartament cu 2 odăi într-o casă modernă cu multe etaje într-un cartier nou la periferiile orașului Kiev. Apartamentul este mobilat modest, dar putem spune că cuplul o duce bine. Leonid este un om vioi, drăguț şi foarte deschis de statură medie cu un păr des şi cărunt. Are ochi cenușii şi un zâmbet atrăgător. Sunt foarte multe cărți în odaie: de clasică mondială şi de autori moderni, de scriitori evrei, preferații lui fiind Sholem Aleichem[1] şi Erenburg[2]. Aici, bineînțeles că, sunt şi cărțile pe care el le utilizează în activitatea sa profesională: manuale de literatură, manuale, dicționare şi enciclopedii. Leonid Isaacovici se ocupă de traduceri şi de scrierea memoriilor. Pe polițele de cărți după vitrinele din sticlă sunt multe poze de-ale rudelor sale. Pe pervazuri dar şi pe standuri sunt multe ghiveciuri cu flori. Ludmila e pensionară de foarte mulți ani şi acum poate să se dedice pasiunii sale de a crește plante. Leonid a adus albumul familiei cu pozele celor dragi şi noi facem o excursie în trecut. Dumnealui povestește cu drag despre membrii familiei sale numeroase.
