Photos of Erwin and Riva Baker and the Burko Family
Born: Izak Bebczuk, Born: Rivka Burko

1). Mordechai (Motel) Burko,
Rivka's father, as a young man.

2). Rivka Burko and friends taken in Mezeritsh in 1929. Rivka is standing, the second one from the right. All of the friends are similarly dressed and all wearing the same style of shoes. This photo was sent to Israel Zinman, a landsman (a fellow Mezeritsher) by his last surviving uncle, Jacob Appel, his mother's brother, in New York. The first girl standing on the left is Doba Appel, Zinman’s aunt and one of Rivka's best friends. The first girl standing on the right is Riva Tessler Tannenbaum. Both perished in the Holocaust.

3). This was Rivka's favorite picture. She had it framed and spoke of it often. She told me that her mother wanted to have a photo taken of the single children with the parents. Standing from left to right: Bracha, Nuchim, Rivka, Yidel and Zelda. Parents Motel and Faiga Burko are sitting.

4). This is a photo of the Okeiylo-Burko family. Joseph (Yossel) Okeiylo was the nephew of Faiga Okeiylo Burko and first cousin to Rivka. Joe Okell (as he later became known in Canada) was the only family member who immigrated to Winnipeg, Canada in 1929. He was the youngest of five children. Economic conditions forced him to emigrate. He returned to Mezeritsh each time his sisters married. On his last trip to Mezeritsh, his mother cried and told him this would be the last time she would see him. It turned out to be true. The Nazis murdered his entire family. Rivka identified the following people:

• Standing in the back row are Noah and Leah Okeiylo, the parents of Joe Okell and the uncle and aunt of Rivka. Next to them are Rivka's parents, Faiga and Motel Burko.
• In the next row are Joe Okell's oldest brother, Simcha Okeiylo and his wife Beilah. Next to Beilah is Joe's sister Gesia and her husband (?). I am not certain but I believe that next to Gesia's husband is Joe’s other sister, Chasya and her husband. On the end sitting in the chair is Joe Okell.
• In the following row under Gesia is Rivka.
• On the far left in the front row are Nuchum Burko and his friend.

5). Back row from left to right:
Rivka's sister-in-law, Golda, nephew Gedalia (nicknamed Dasha), and brother Ben-Tzion. The front row contains Bentzia's daughter Minda and friends. However, I cannot remember which one is Minda.