Uncle Haim was born in 1908, in Turkey, to Ester and Yaakov Abravanel.
He had two brothers (Shmuel and Avraham) and two sisters (Vida and Ora).
He was also known as Vitali Abravanel.
In 1931, he married Aunt Sara Arav, in Ankara. They had four children: Yaakov, Ester, Carmela and Levana.
In 1934, the 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.
Uncle Haim (Vitali), Aunt Sara and the children immigrated to Eretz-Israel (Mandatory Palestine, under British administration) in 1943. First, they 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 toilet room).
Uncle Vitali, Aunt Sara and the children stayed in "House for immigrants" located in Nahalat Yehuda (a town near Rishon LeZion). A few years later, they moved to a better housing: to a shack in Ezra Ubezaron, a suburb of Rishon LeZion (The authorities changed the name of this suburb to Ramat Eliyahu, in 1966).
Uncle Haim worked as a carpenter at "Solel Boneh" (a well-known construction company in Israel).
In 1971, he and his family adopted a new, Hebrew surname: Nir.
Uncle Haim passed away on
November 4, 1981, in Ramat Eliyahu, Israel. His grave is in Rishon LeZion,
Gordon cemetery.
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