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Part Two: The Braverman Family 71 From his mother Rosa, the main lesson he received was the importance of education. Aleksander absorbed this lesson well. He received a PhD in mechanical engineering om the Russian Academy, and works as chief technology officer for a Pittsburgh company. Aleksander's brother Sam married Alla (Alice) Bonder, and the couple had their first son, Danny, in 1975. In October of 1979, the family le Russia for Pittsburgh, where they were sponsored and greeted by Lev Volsun. Danny was a very good companion on the long journey that took the family through Austria and Italy. He was an exceptionally smart kid, and he loved to travel across the country to visit all the relatives. He attended Hillel Academy, where he was adored by faculty and remembered by his fellow students for his violin playing and imagination. Tragically, Danny died a month before his 10th birthday. Sam and Alla had two more children, Joshua and Benjamin, and the family lives in Cleveland, Ohio. Sam's mother Rosa spent the last part of her life in Israel. Her younger sister Zhenya is proud that she persuaded Rosa to leave Russia for Israel. Zhenya is certain that the move saved her sister's life. Rosa was not well, and doctors in Russia had told her she had less than two years to live. On one of Rosa's periodic visits to Russia, Zhenya, who had moved to Israel in 1966, noticed how very ill her sister was. Zhenya insisted that Rosa come live with her. "Rosa, you have to get out of Russia!" her sister said. "Even if you have to leave everything behind and come to Israel as naked as the day you were born, you must do so!" It was 1973, the year of Dmitry's death, the year of the Yom Kippur war. Nevertheless, Zhenya brought her sister to Israel, where Rosa recovered her health and lived another 25 years. Aleksander Braverman Aleksander Braverman Aleksander (Zelik) Braverman was born in Kamenets-Podolsk. He fought the Germans in World War II as a Soviet soldier, and then Above le: Aleksander (Zelik) Braverman in Moscow, 1946. Top: Danny Kiderman in Moscow, 1977. Above: Zelik in Moscow, 1948. Facing page top: Aleksander (Sasha) Kiderman in Pittsburgh, PA, 2006. Facing page middle: Sam Kiderman at Oka River, 1966. Facing page bottom: Rosa Braverman Kiderman in Cleveland, OH, 1991. Facing page right: Rosa's husband Dmitry Kiderman and their kids Sasha and Sam in Kraskovo, Russia, 1956. finished university with a degree in sales and management. A natural teacher who liked to educate people, he taught at a trade school for most of his career. Aleksander also loved music and played the clarinet. Aer the war, Aleksander managed a store in Malakhovka. On November 7, 1950, in Moscow, he married Rebecca (Riva) and they had two daughters, Natasha and Lena. In 1979, with the help of her aunt Zhenya, Natasha le Russia for Paris, where she still lives. She married Gerard Gonnet in June of 1979 and they have two children, Stephanie and Nickola. Lena was born in Moscow, as was her daughter Masha. No one knows who Masha's father is, but it was not Vadim Gendelsman, whom Lena married in 1984. Lena immigrated to the United States with her mother, husband, and daughter in January of 1991, where Riva and Lena settled in Pittsburgh and later moved to California, where Lena tragically died. In an episode of domestic violence, Lena's husband

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