I was born December 31, 1915, in Warsaw the capital of Poland. I had four sisters and two brothers. The oldest was Sonia, later Yichiel, Pola, myself, Shraga, and Rose.

My father was born in Warsaw and his family lived there. My paternal grandfather Abram-Zamvel died when I was a baby. My grandmother Menucha used to visit us very often. My father was the oldest and always helped the family financially and with advice. His oldest sister Rachel went to Israel in 1929. She had ten children. She was the only one from a big family to survive. My father, Kalman Besser was a very smart and intelligent man. He was loved by the family and business-people. They often came to him for advice. He was a very religious man and was very educated in the bible. He believed in education and sent us to the best schools.

My mother Frayda Popaver was born in Otwock a resort place not far from Warsaw. My grandfather Shlomo died when I was very young. We used to spend all our summer vacations with my grandmother Rachel and aunts and uncles. It was a beautiful place, and we had a lot of fun there. My grandmother had a store, and we loved to be there and help her. My mother was very loving and warm. She was a devoted wife and mother. She didn’t rely on the maid and got up early every morning to make sure we had our breakfast and that we took our lunch to school. She was the greatest housekeeper. We had a wholesale grocery store, and my mother was with my father all day there.

Pola, myself, Shraga and Rose did our homework together sitting by a big table. We used to help each other, and this gave us a felling of closeness. Afterwards we played all kinds of games. Pola and I were very close. We love each other very much. We were almost always together. In 1925, our oldest sister Sonia got married. When her first child Rena was born she moved away to a smaller city, Grodusk not far from Warsaw. I used to visit them very often. Sonia and her husband were very good to me. I adored their little girl. Four years later their second child was born. His name was Abram. The children loved coming to visit us. When their parents came home, they used to hide. It is a pity that I didn’t see them grow up. When I went to Israel, then Palestine, Rena was eight years old and Abram was four. I never saw them again.

In 1933, I graduated from high-school and decided to immigrate to Israel. It was very difficult for Jews to be accepted to a University in Poland. Most of my friends went to study in other countries. Israel at that time was still Palestine and was under British mandate and it was almost impossible to go there. I applied to the University in Jerusalem and as a student I could get a visa. I was accepted to the University, but in the same year, 1934, my brother Yichiel went to Israel as a pioneer. My parents didn’t want to send two children away at the same time. I had to wait another year. At this time the British made it more difficult for students to receive a visa. I had to apply again and pass a Hebrew test. I was lucky because 75% of the students failed the test.

In the meantime, my father closed his business and became a president of a corporation which imported merchandise from all over the world and distributed it to local merchants. Pola and I helped our father in this new business. In the two years between my graduation from high-school and going to Israel, 1933-1935, I was very busy. I studied in the French Institute, went to night school to study Hebrew and English. It was a busy but good time. In November 1935 I left my beloved family and went to Israel. I never saw my family again.

That was the first time in my life that I travelled so far alone. I went by train to Konstanza in Rumania and later, on a ship, to Haifa. My brother Yichiel’s wife Hela was waiting for me there and later we took a train to Tel-Aviv where they lived. From the first minute I stepped down from the ship I fell in love with the country. It is still my beloved country and every time I am there it is like coming home. In December 1935 my sister Pola and her husband Pinchas came to Israel. Pinchas received a certificate from a Zionist organization which made it possible for them to emigrate to Israel.

I studied at the University in Jerusalem for a short time. It was difficult to study and work, and I didn’t want to take any more money from my parents. My father was very disappointed and later I was sorry that I didn’t make the effort to continue my education. I worked in a cigarette factory in Tel-Aviv. I made very good friends there and the friendship lasted for years.

This was the time of the pioneers in Israel. Everything was very simple. A few friends got together with a record player, and we danced and had a party. We didn’t plan official dinners or cocktail parties. Saturday morning, we used to go to the beach and spend half the day there. In the evening, we went to the movies, dances, or played cards. Looking back on the twenty years that I spent in Israel, they were the best years of my life.

Israel at that time was under English mandate and was surrounded by hostile Arab nations. They resented the fact that Jews were coming to settle and build the country. When I came to Israel, half of Tel-Aviv was desert. We were always in danger, especially the borders and the kibbutzim were not safe. The factory where I worked was located in Jaffa next to Tel-Aviv where almost everybody who lived there was Arabic. In the beginning of 1936, one day when we were at work, the Arabs circled around the factory, which was owned by the English. The majority of the workers were Jews. We were frightened and the English police escorted us back to Tel-Aviv. My family was glad to see me back safe. Later they moved the factory to Tel-Aviv.

Our family in Israel got larger. Hela and Yichiel had a baby named Menucha and a year later Pola and Pinchas had a boy named Shlomo. In 1938, at a dance, I met my husband, Leon. He was the famous and good-looking brother of my girlfriend Sara. We worked together in the factory. We started to date and took English lessons together. Sara was very fond of me and told Leon that I was the best girl in the factory. Sara and I are the best-loving and getting along sister-in-laws. Later, we shared an apartment for five years and never quarreled.

We got married on June 4,1939. The ceremony was at my aunt’s house. After the ceremony, which was performed on the roof (the roofs in Israel are flat), we had a family dinner. That same evening, we had a party on the roof for the family and friends. My brother Yichiel worked hard to decorate the roof with lights, tables, and chairs etc. Everybody enjoyed themselves. I was sorry that my parents and sisters and brothers couldn’t participate in this joyous occasion. They all sent telegrams and letters with good wishes.

Leon was working in a beauty shop, and I continued working in the factory. We had a small but pleasant apartment. We had a lot of friends and had a good time. We were very happy and everything was fine until September 1, 1939, when the Second World War began. On the first day of the war the Germans attacked Poland and bombed Warsaw where my Parents lived. I worried constantly about them. We couldn’t get any news about them. We lived in Tel-Aviv and on September 1, 1940, the Italians bombed Tel-Aviv. In a few seconds 180 people were killed. I was home at the time and ran fast to the shelter. Leon was at work and a bomb fell not far from the beauty shop. He was slightly injured. We left Tel-Aviv and moved to Kfarsaba, a small town. We opened a beauty shop there.

In March 1941, our son Joseph was born. We were very happy with our new addition. When he was 11 months old, we moved back to Tel-Aviv and shared an apartment with Leon’s mother. She was a lovely and warm person, and we got along very well. At the same time Sara got married to Mordechi. My sister Pola had another boy, Shraga.

At this time, we received a letter from my family from Poland through the Red Cross. They were still alive in the Warsaw Ghetto. This was in 1942. In 1943, the Germans decided to liquidate the Ghetto. The Jews fought back bravely, but the Ghetto was burned down and destroyed completely. I never heard from my family again. From a large family, only one cousin survived.

Leon went in as a partner into a big beauty shop which was located on Ben-Jehuda St., one of the main streets in Tel-Aviv. During the war, Israel was in a bad situation economically. There was a shortage of food, and almost all the products were rationed. We had to stay in lines for meat, fish, etc. Sometimes I used to get up at 4 o’clock in the morning to stay in line for our ration of meat. Worst of all was the rationing of bread. From time to time, Leon’s brother Abe used to send us a care package from the U.S.A., and we divided it up between the family. The bread and sugar were brown. Once when Joe saw a piece of white bread, he thought it was a piece of cake and that white sugar was candy. We were still better off than other European countries and the people in concentration camps.

On October 25, 1944, our daughter Nili was born. The name Nili is the initials for four words meaning: The eternity of Israel will not die. This was a passage word for the underground during the war in Israel between England and Turkey. We loved and enjoyed our little girl. Joe loved his sister and their relationship was unusually good. They were the most loving brother and sister. Joe used to take care of her, and she used to defend him always. They had a beautiful childhood. We used to spend a lot of time with them. Saturday was a special family day. In the morning, we went out with the children. In the summer we went to the beach and in the winter to the zoo, on boat rides or for walks in the park. After dinner, we went to visit the family, or they came to visit us. On weekdays in the summer, we picked up Leon from work and went to the movies, for walks or to a restaurant.

In September 1947, Joe started school and violin lessons. Leon also played the violin and helped him practice. When Joe was 3 years old and Nili 3 months, Leon’s mother passed away. She had cancer in the spine, and nothing could be done to help her. It was a big loss for everybody. She was an unusually good and kind person. We lost a parent and the children lost their only grandparent.

In October 1947, we moved to our own apartment on the north side of Tel Aviv. Shortly afterwards, Israel became an independent state. Everybody was listening to the radio (we didn’t have a television at that time) for the results of the U.N. election. People went out on the streets and were dancing with joy. The English were supposed to leave Israel in May 1948. From the time Israel was declared an independent country, the Arabs started to riot. On May 15, a Saturday morning, we heard airplanes and the explosions of bombs. The War of Independence had started.

We lived near the seaport and other important institutions and were scared that the Arabs would throw bombs there. For a few days, we stood with my sister where it was safer. Then, we came back to our apartment which became a shelter for our neighbors because we were on the basement floor. The children’s room was a real shelter because we put sacks of sand outside the window. As soon as there was an air raid all of our neighbors would come down to stay with us. Some nights, they had to stay over, and we gave them a place to sleep in the children’s room while the children slept with us. We had very nice neighbors and we were like a one big family. One neighbor brought down a piano from the 4th floor and put it in our hall.

Winning the war was a miracle. The Jews were not ready, they didn’t have guns or ammunition and they were outnumbered: a hundred million against 600 000. There were a lot of casualties. The Arabs bombed the cities, and we were scared to leave the house. The schools were closed. After a few weeks of fighting the U.N declared a temporary cease fire. Peace was never really declared because the Arabs never recognized Israel as a Jewish nation and country.

Life was going on. In 1949, Nili started kindergarten. When she was in the first grade, she started piano lessons. I used to stay with her during the lesson and this way I learned music and was able to help her with practice. Often, Leon and Joe played the violin, Nili the piano and the neighbors used to come down to listen to the concert. We were a very happy family, spending a lot of time together. We had a lot of good friends and had a very nice social life.

In 1955, Leon decided to go to the U.S.A. and in May 1955, he left Israel. He flew to Paris and from there he took the ship Queen Elizabeth and went to New York. From New York he went to Chicago where his brother Abe and his family lived. He found a job right away as a beautician in one of the biggest beauty shops: Helena Rubenstein. I was alone with the children for 8 months. My family and good friends helped me a lot. Everybody took care of us, and I was never left alone. We were not happy to leave Israel. It was like starting all over and Israel was very dear to our hearts.

In January 1956, with broken hearts, we left for Haifa and from there we went on the beautiful ship Israel to New York. The trip on the ship lasted two weeks. We stopped in Italy for a day and in Halifax Canada. From New York, we took a train to Chicago where Leon and the family waited for us. In the beginning it was very difficult to start a new life. It was hard to get used to the cold climate. After sunny and bright Israel with blue skies, everything was different. We came in January when it was cold, cloudy and grey.

Joe started high school and Nili started the 5th grade in grammar school. She didn’t know English yet. The teachers and children were very nice to her and helped her a lot. I knew English and was able to help her with her homework. She worked hard and graduated with honors. They wrote an article in the school magazine on how good she did in school. Joe was an excellent student and helped his friends in math. In a short time, they had a lot of friends.

On October 28, 1956, our youngest son Keith Alison was born. We were very happy with our new addition. He was a joy to the whole family. The ten o’clock feeding was a major event. Joe and Nili were a great help to me. They baby sat whenever we needed it, played with him and took him for walks.

In June 1959, we moved to our new home. It was a beautiful home. We loved it and enjoyed it very much. At the same time Joe graduated from high-school and was accepted to the University of Chicago, which was one of the best Universities. Nili graduated from grammar school and started Niles West Highschool. In September 1959, Joe left home and moved to the dormitory at the University. He used to come home every weekend with some friends. Our home was always open to our friends and the children’s friends as well.

In 1961, I went to Israel with Keith for six weeks. It was the first time I went back to Israel, and it was great to see the family and friends. Pola’s son Shlomo was getting married and Kalman, Yichiel’s son was being Bar-Mitzvad. It was a great visit, and I was happy to attend the two happy occasions.

Keith was spoiled by everybody. At 4 1/2, he spoke perfect English and Hebrew. He was the youngest member of the family. He started kindergarten in 1961 and school a year later.

In 1963, Nili graduated from high-school and was accepted at the University of Chicago. She left home and moved to the dormitory. Both Joe and Nili were excellent students and received scholarships.

In June 1965, Joe got married to Joan. He continued his studies in physics and music at the university. He was working on his PhD. In September 1966, Nili got married to Tom. A year later she received her bachelor’s degree. We were lucky to have the children in Chicago. We used to spend all the holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries together. Everybody enjoyed the Passover holiday. The children used to invite their friends, and we ended up with about 30 people. We had a lot of fun.

In 1969, our first granddaughter, Daphne, was born. In May, of the same year, Joe received his PhD in physics and a masters degree in music. He got a job at Bell Labs in New Jersey. They were the first to leave Chicago and we missed them a lot, especially the baby. In the summer, we went to visit them. They had a nice house in Gillette N.J.

In September 1969, Nili and Tom had a boy Sean-David. We spent a lot of time together. When he was 6 months old, Nili went to Europe for two weeks and we took care of him. It was a pleasure to see him grow up. When Sean was 2 years old, they moved to N.J. We used to visit Nili, Joe and their families twice a year. In the summer they used to come to visit us in Skokie. We continued to spend Passover together in N.J or in Illinois. With the little ones, it was more meaningful.

In 1973, Nili and Tom had a baby girl, Maggie. At that time, Nili was teaching nursery school. She was also studying bookkeeping. It was not satisfying enough and in 1977, having two children, she went back to school for a 15-month intensive course and received her masters in business administration. She got a great job at Nabisco.

In 1974, Keith graduated from high-school and went to the University of Chicago. He received an honorary scholarship and was on the Dean’s list every year. In 4 years, he received his bachelors and his masters degrees. In 1981, he got his PhD in physics. He was one of the youngest to receive his PhD in such a short time. He got a job at Harvard and after 7 months, he went to Geneva, Switzerland to do research at CERN. In the summer of 1982, we went to visit him and at the same time, we took a beautiful trip to Italy.

In 1977, Joe and Joan got a divorce. In 1979, Joe married Virginia. She had a little girl Tara. In 1981, they had a boy Jordan and in 1983 a girl Aliza. They are very happy and a very loving family.

In 1980, Nili and Tom got a divorce. Nili remarried Jerry. He had a boy, Stephan. They too are very happy.

In 1980, after 23 years, we closed our beauty shop in Glencoe Il. For the last 12 years 1968-1980, I had been working with Leon in the shop. It was very pleasant to work together. We started to take our vacation in the winter. We used to go away for four months.

In June 1983, Keith got married to Silvana. He met his bride in France and they got married there. They came back to Chicago where Keith had a job at Fermilab. Silvana was very brave to leave her family and friends, a job, and come to a new country knowing only her husband. She was very bright and in a short time she learned English, went to the university and made new friends. Right away, she was part of the family. For 2 years they were in Chicago, and we spent a lot of time together. Afterwards, Keith got a job at the University of Minnesota, and they moved to Minneapolis. In March 1986, they had a boy, Jonathan.

In August 1986, we sold our house in Skokie and moved to Desert Hot Springs in California. We bought a beautiful mobile home. We love the desert with the blue sky and good air. We have a great family here and made good friends. The children are coming to see us often.

This covers my life until December 1988. I had and have the most beautiful life. We have been married almost 50 years, and I wish my children and grandchildren should have a life as happy as I had. I have a great husband, the best children any parent can wish, and beautiful grandchildren. I would like this story to be passed on to future generations.