Faces of the Community

Vladimir Mahlis

Please, tell us about the origin of your family. I was born with the name Vladimir, and in the official documents it was written that way. But my grandfather and my grandmothers called me Velvl. My family on my father's side were all Lubavitcher Chassidim. My father's father, Aron Makhlis, was from Odessa. He lived only until the age of fortyfive. His profession was originally Jewish – he was a shoemaker. His wife, my grandmother, Leya Alterovna (maiden name Tenenbaum), was born on the border between Ukraine and Poland. She spoke Russian very poorly, because her native language was, of course, Yiddish. It was very difficult for me to communicate with her, since I only spoke Russian, and she only spoke Yiddish. If she even tried to say something in Russian, it came out very funny and incomprehensible.