This is the only photo my mother has from her childhood.  It is a family photo taken in her village, Kniazhe, in the Volyn’ region, around 1937.  Her parents are seated.  Her older sister, Nina stands between them.  My mother, Sonia, stands off to the right.  In front is their youngest sister, Hannah, who died in childhood. 

We’re not sure who the older woman in a scarf is.  My mother thinks she may have been a maternal great-aunt.  Someone removed her from the retouched photo.