My cousin Yaakov was born in 1932 in Ankara, Turkey, to Sara and Haim (Vitali) Abravanel. He was their first-born son. He had three sisters: Ester, Carmela and Levana.

In 1934, the Abravanel family adopted a new surname: Sunarli (a word in Turkish).

New family name in Turkish: In 1934, Turkey issued the "Surnames Law". According to this law, all families had to get a family name in the Turkish language. Consequently, Jewish families too had to accept new family names, in Turkish. The new family name Uncle Haim and his family received was SUNARLI.

Yaakov immigrated to Eretz-Israel (Mandatory Palestine, under British administration), in 1943, together with his parents and sisters. First, the family lived in a temporary residence, in a "Beit Olim = House for immigrants" (many families who just arrived in Eretz-Israel lived in such houses while sharing the kitchen and the toilet room).

Yaakov and the family lived in "House for immigrants" located in Nahalat Yehuda (a town near Rishon Lezion). A few years later they moved to a better housing in Ezra Ubezaron, a suburb of Rishon Lezion (The authorities changed the name of this suburb to Ramat Eliyahu, in 1966).

He married Tamar, and they had four daughters: Sara, Hagit, Dorit and Efrat.

Yaakov and Tamar Nir

In 1971, the family adopted a new, Hebrew surname: Nir.

Yaakov and Tamar Nir, in a family gathering

Yaakov passed away on October 20, 1998, in Ramat Eliyahu. His grave is in Rishon Lezion, Gordon cemetery.

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