Semyon Nezhynski with his wife Irina Nezhynskaya and daughter Olga Nezhynskaya

My wife Irina Nezhynskaya, nee Razumnaya, I and our daughter Olga. This photo was taken in Leipzig, Germany, in 1946. On 19th January 1944 Irina and I got married in Noginsk near Moscow. In 1944 I was at war in the CrimeaM Irina stayed with me until March. Then she left for home. She had to finish her studies. She passed her graduation exams successfully. She finished the Pedagogical College in summer 1944. Upon graduation Irina volunteered to the front. My regiment was at the Finnish Front at the time. Irina got an assignment to my regiment. When she arrived she was assigned to the position of artillery armaments lab assistant. A lab assistant was to watch that cannon shells of one series were delivered to each battery. Of course, during military action Irina and I were at different locations, but we stayed together during intervals. We were both on military service and had meals at the field kitchen facility. As an officer, I received additional food packages of tinned meat, tea and cookies or chocolate that I shared with my wife. My wife was with me until late March 1945. She got pregnant. Of course, I didn't want to have my baby born in a frontline hospital under bombardment. When the baby was due I sent my wife to her parents in Ordzonikidze. Our daughter Olga was born there. Irina and our daughter joined me in June 1945. We?ve been together since then. After the war our regiment stayed in Germany in the so-called group of Soviet troops. In January 1946 I received my first leave after the war. My wife and I went to visit my parents in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo region, in Siberia. Our trip lasted for two weeks. We stayed with my parents for a week. My parents were religious and they needed time to get adjusted to the thought that my wife was not a Jewish woman. However, they saw that we loved each other and we had a daughter. They accepted the fact that I was married, but when they got to know Irina they began to love her as their own daughter. Irina also loved them. When my leave was over Irina returned to her parents and I returned to my regiment.