A Russian Childhood in Northern China
| Baby Ossya (Joseph) at 4 ˝ months in Harbin, Manchuria, where he was born in 1927. |
| His parents, Rachel Sineikin and Nathan Froomkin. (They, too, were young once…) |
| Joe loved his Russian "Nyanya," (nanny) "a very important person in my life." Later on, "Mademoiselle," a remarkable Swiss governess, taught him French. |
| "Misha," the family cook, was Chinese but spoke fluent Russian. "A great cook and a good friend," he gets credit for Joe’s well-known love of good cuisine. |
| Joe’s best friend, Yura, was Russian. So were all the family’s friends. As a result, Joe learned no Chinese in Harbin. However, he did learn some English at school. |
| He improved his English during one year at the Tientsin Grammar School, in Tientsin—see the handsome young man in coat and tie in the back row, 2nd from left. |