Sasson: On 1 February 1968, after a long wait, Isaac was born, and we finally became a family. Although German doctors advised Gollar not to have more than one child, she risked her life, and gave birth to our daughter Nannette after only one year; seven years later Allon came to our family.
Gollar: Isaac was named after Sasson’s grandfather, and Nannette — after his late mother. Each of the children was also given a middle name, so each would have a Jewish name and an international one. We gave Isaac a Russian-sounding middle name — Alexey — because I was in love with Russian literature. Nannette didn’t have enough of a Jewish sound, so I chose the name Daniela, because I loved it. When Allon was born, Aziz wanted us to name the baby after him, but I vetoed the name Aziz as a first name for a child who would grow up in Europe and maybe Israel. I told Sasson that I’m entitled to name one child as I wish. Aziz remained as a middle name, and because it means “dear” in Persian, when Allon was little, I called him “Allon Aziz” (dear Allon) anyway.
With Isaac, my eldest son, I had a very difficult time. He is a highly intelligent person, but he had a colossal rebellious phase. He himself now tells me, “I was a rebel without a cause.” As a child, everything was a piece of cake for him and he never had to try hard, but moving to Switzerland presented him with difficulties that he wasn’t prepared for.
In Switzerland, there are no schools for gifted children. Looking back on my life, I think we should have insisted that Isaac come with us to the States (where we lived for only five months), and we should have stayed and sent Isaac to a school for highly intelligent children. It would have been better for us, and especially for Isaac.
My daughter had different difficulties. She was always the shortest, thinnest girl in class, and being so small, she had to fight to prove herself. She still is tiny in size, but great in everything she does.
The same for my youngest. Allon also had some difficulties and his childhood was all struggle, but he managed very well.
Children who have to fight when they are young, learn how to struggle and succeed in life. Without any effort, nothing happens.
Our beloved children have been keeping our lives interesting for the past half century. Each one of them could write a whole book — a real page turner — about their own life. In the following pages, you can read what we, as their parents, would have written on the back covers of these books. We also asked them to write something about each of us.
