Zina Gasko photographs

Zina Gasko was born Zina Feldman on May 30, 1914, in Krzemieniec, Poland. Her father, Jakub Feldman, owned a pharmacy in town, and her mother, Rachel Sojbel Feldman, was a housewife. Rachel Sojbel had nine siblings but was closest to her four sisters: Ena Rares, a nurse who lived in Lvov (L’viv), Ukraine; Mania Gercberg, who lived in Rovno and had two daughters, Ada and Raya; Bronia who lived in Radziwiłów; and Genia Roztaczer, who had two daughters, Ada and Runia. Both of Zina’s parents and her brother, Jefim Munia Feldman, born in 1918, were shot by the Germans in July 1942 in Krzemieniec. All of Zina’s aunts and cousins perished as well. Zina Feldman fled her hometown on June 26, 1941, a few days after the German invasion of the Soviet Union. She spent the war years being constantly moved by the Soviet authorities, from Kiev via Charkov, Dniepropertovsk and Kujbeshev to Mary, Turkmenistan. In May 1946, Zina Feldman returned to Poland. She lived in different cities, and finally settled in Warsaw where she taught at the Warsaw University. In 1970 Zina Feldman Gasko left Poland for Sweden. The collection consists of photographs of Zina Gasko, her brother, Jefim, and her aunts and cousins in Krzemieniec, Poland, before World War II.