Monument on the communal grave of soldiers in Prudy

This photograph was taken in 1990 in the Prudy settlement of Vyborg region. I took it. The photo shows the monument on the communal grave of soldiers who perished at the Leningrad front during the war. My brother Mendel Rivkin is among the buried soldiers - his name is inscribed in the list (the third line from the right). In 1942 we received a notification about my brother Zussya's death. In July 1944 another notification was received: it was about Mendel's death. We kept it from our parents. It happened the following way. It was necessary to go to the regional military registration and enlistment office to re-register officers' certificates. Aunt Mussya also received a certificate from Mendel, but at that time she wasn't able to go there and asked me to go instead. The manager of the financial department told me, 'It's good Mussya Yakovlevna hasn't come. Mendel Borissovich has been killed.' I cried, 'Tomorrow my parents will come here to receive their certificates. If my mother gets to know that her second son is gone, her heart will break.' I was sobbing so painfully that they decided to call the chief. He ordered his subordinates not to show Mendel's documents to my parents when they came. The employees of the regional military registration and enlistment office hid Mendel's documents so meticulously that when these documents were required for putting his name on a memorial board of the College, where he studied, they couldn't find them.