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 in 1915. 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. My brother was a wonderful actor. He acted in the school theater. All girls in his class liked him. He was not tall and very charming.
This is a photo of me during my service in the army in Panevejis (Lithuania), 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. We, a group of 300 people, were taken to Stuttgart on 15 December and were put in Sleutwitz camp in a small forest. There were long barracks for Slavic ostarbeiters. On the morning of 16 December we went to work from the camp. I was taken to a joiner shop.
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. My group mate signed this photo: ‘You have a wonderful influence on your friends. Stay as good as you are. 30.07.40. Larisa’. Budayevka, 1940.
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 in Kiev in 1936.
From the left on the foreground this is me with 8th grade pupils of secondary school #55 in Kiev. Kiev, 1961. In 1956 I entered extramural department of the faculty of Philology of Kiev Pedagogical Institute. I finished it in 1959. After finishing this Institute I worked in a school in Kiev several years and then I worked in village schools of Kiev region.
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.
Леонид Котляр живет со своей женой Людмилой Жутник в трехкомнатной квартире в современном многоэтажном доме на окраине Киева. Леонид – яркий, добрый и очень дружелюбный мужчина среднего роста с густыми седыми волосами. У него острые серые глаза и привлекательная улыбка. В комнате много книг: классика и современные издания, еврейские писатели (его любимые Шолом-Алейхем [1] и Эренбург [2]) и книги, которые ему нужны для работы: учебники по литературе, учебные пособия, словари и энциклопедии. Леонид Исаакович – переводчик и мемуарист. За стеклом книжных полок стоят фотографии его родственников. На подоконниках и на полках много комнатных растений. Людмила уже несколько лет на пенсии и посвящает себя уходу за растениями. Леонид выносит фотоальбомы, наполненные фотографиями близких людей. Он с удовольствием рассказывает мне о жизни своей семьи. Вместе мы п утешествуем назад во времени.
Читайте полное интервью c Леонід Котляр здесь (на английском).
