Larisa – “I think my repatriation to Israel was successful.”

“I was born at the end of 1941. My father went to the front and was killed in April 1942, when I was three months old. I never saw him. My mother, who was a military doctor, managed to leave Kharkov on the last evacuation train before the occupation. After the war, my family stayed in the Ural region. I did well in school, went to medical school, and worked as a doctor all my life. I got married, and we lived together for 50 years until my husband passed away. Family has always been my top priority—my children and grandchildren.”

“My mother and my grandmother were the women who influenced me greatly. During the times of World War II, when many men were killed, our family had four of my grandmother’s daughters who survived, four aunts, and only one of them had a husband. My grandmother herself was widowed at a young age and raised seven children alone. Throughout the war, we lived together. My grandmother didn’t allow them to live in separate apartments. Our whole lives, we were together…”

“In 1942, when we received my father’s pension after he was killed, my grandmother said, ‘Don’t waste the money, save it, and when Larisa grows up, buy her a piano.’ At the age of six, they bought me a piano. I still go to the conservatory and love music. I think my move to Israel was successful. I arrived when my grandson was born here, and when I saw Haifa, the mountains, and the white houses on the hill, I immediately fell in love and felt that this was my city.”

“From my life wisdom, I can give two pieces of advice: First, spend less time dwelling on illnesses; everyone has health problems, but it’s important not to get fixated on them. Second, always stay active; I walk 2-3 kilometers every day.”