Gonikberg Family

Anna Gonikberg, daughter of Iosif and Esther, wants to share the following: 

Wolf and Chaya had three daughters - Fanny (b.1898), Hannah and Revekka (b.1901 or 1902), and three sons - Ber (Boris) (b.1895), Iosif (b.1908) and Abram (b.1910). Fanny married and left for America in 1918. Hannah, who had beautiful long hair, played in an amateur theatre. On a cold day, she left home for a rehearsal with her hair still wet, got sick and died. The other children moved to St.Petersburg in the 1920s. Iosif, my father, eventually brought his parents to live with him in St.Petersburg. When I was born in 1934, at Chaya's request, I was named Anna after Hannah. We had two connecting rooms in a five room apartment where the kitchen and bathroom were shared with two other families. My parents and I lived in one room and my grandparents had the second room.

After Wolf's death in 1935, I moved in with my grandmother, Chaya. I have some childhood memories of Chaya. My younger brother, born in 1940, was named Wolf, in honour of his grandfather. Chaya died that same year.

My brother, Wolf, and I still live in St.Petersburg, as does our cousin Iosif, Abram's son. Descendants of Wolf and Chaya Gonikberg live in Russia, USA, Israel and Canada.