Shimon Treistman Riva ( née Geyzer ) Yosef Gita ( née Dascal ) Sara Livshin Izia Livshin Sonya David Brailovsky David Asher

Sara Livshin was born on October 23 1928 in Tarutino, Bessarabia, ( part of Romania at the time, today in the Odessa Oblast, Ukraine ) to the Jewish family of Riva ( née Geyzer ) and Shimon Treistman. Tarutino, at that time, was a provincial town of mixed German-Jewish population ( 1546 Jews reported on the eve of the World War II ) with the Germans mostly involved in agriculture and the Jews in commerce.

She grew up in a middle class family - her father was a technician at the soap factory and her mother was a housewife active in volunteer work for the Jewish poor. The family rented a four room apartment and kept moderately religious life style. Sara attended Jewish school "Tarbut".


Life was quite comfortable until June 1940 when the region became part of the USSR. They ( 5 individuals ) were moved into one room of their four room apartment, Shimon Treistman lost his job and family fell on hard times.

On the 21st of June, 1941 the Soviet Union was attacked by the Nazi Germany and on the 12th of July, 1941 Sara and her family left their home and moved East. First they stayed in the village of Kalach ( on the Don river ), but as the Germans were approaching the family continued East. That was an arduous and dangerous journey, just ahead of the advancing German army. Constantly under attack, on one occasion they missed the train they were assigned to and, when continued on another one, saw their train bombed with most of the passengers killed or severely wounded. In Stalingrad they crossed the Volga river and in the late autumn of 1941 arrived in Zhanybek, Kazakhstan. Sara's father and older brother ( Yosef ) were transferred to the city of Chkalov and Sara, together with her younger sister ( Sonya ) and her mother, worked on the local collective farm.

In the early November, 1942 by pure luck and coincidence, the family was able to unite in Chkalov ( today Orenburg ) - a city on the Ural River in central Russia. In the winter of 1943 Sara went to work on "Kirov" military factory relocated during WWII from Leningrad ( she was just 14 at the time and because she wasn't tall enough she had to stand on a box in order to operate the equipment ). At the same time she attended evening classes at the local school.

In 1948 the family returned back to Bessarabia. By that time her mother had passed away ( in 1944 ) and her brother was studying in Kishinev. Sara, her father and sister settled in Izmail - a town on the Danube river in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. Sara began to work as an accountant/economist at the regional water supply company and continued her education attending evening classes.

In 1952, while on vacation in Chernivtsi ( a city in the western Ukraine ), she was introduced to Izia Livshin. In the summer of 1953 the couple married in the town of Besarabka and settled in the near by town of Chadir-Lunga ( located not far from Tarutino where Sara was born ). On August 21, 1954 David, their first son, was born.

In 1960 the family moved to Izmail where on May 19, 1960 Asher, their second son, was born.

On 21th of November 1964 Izia Livshin passed away. Sara Livshin began to work as an accountant attending two children. Life, most of the time, was difficult and tough.

On 28th of February, 1978 Sara Livshin and her two sons immigrated to Israel. After studying Hebrew for 5 month ( at ulpan ) Sara settled in Azur ( a suburb of Tel-Aviv ) and ( at the age of 50 ) began to work as an accountant for the Amidar company in Tel-Aviv. That was an exciting and gratifying time for Sara when she enjoyed relative prosperity and immersed herself into a rich and eventful life attending theater, concerts, movies and travelling all over Israel and abroad. Her professional career sky rocketed, she was held in highest regard and was quickly promoted becoming the head of the department ( which she initially joined as an entry level accountant ).

Unfortunately her health deteriorated forcing her to retire in 1989.

While retired she still tried to be active and involved but as the time went by it became more and more difficult.

Sara Livshin passed away on February 16, 2010 survived by her two sons and two grandsons.

Contact Us
Created by David Livshin 2010. All rights reserved.