Boris Girshov’s sister and brother

This photograph of my sister and brother was taken in Usvyaty in 1939.

Parents had got 3 children, I was the eldest (born in 1922), and my sister Nina (Nekhama) was born in 1925.

We studied at the same school. She actively helped mother about the house: tidied up rooms.

In 1941 she was 16 when the war burst out. Together with parents and our brother she left for Kuibyshev. In Kuibyshev there lived my mother's aunt Blume Rosenfeld (a sister of grandmother Hana).

At first my parents lived at hers, later they rented an apartment. Soon (in 1943) father died of tuberculosis.

Mother was still a young woman (43 years old); she worked as an unskilled laborer at a warehouse. In Kuibyshev my sister finished school and entered the Pedagogical College (faculty of foreign languages).

Her profession was a teacher of German language. The College did not stop studies notwithstanding severities of war. Nina graduated from it and became a good teacher. She spoke fluent German (I guess because she knew Yiddish), and started working at a Kuibyshev school as a teacher.

They sent her to a German school, where German children (children of people sent to Kuibyshev from Germany on business) studied. She taught them different subjects in German: geography, history, Russian language.

Later that school was closed, and she worked at ordinary secondary school teaching German language. She was a good teacher, and was considered an authority. They often sent her to Germany as a head of school delegations.

In Kuibyshev my sister got married. Her husband is Zakhar Solomonovich Braynin (we call him Zolya). Their son Sasha was born approximately in 1950. Sasha became a doctor. He graduated from the Medical College.

He took his doctor's degree and at present works in Kuibyshev (now Samara) as a therapist. Nina's husband is a press photographer. He worked in Pravda and Izvestia newspapers and also in local newspapers.

He had a photo laboratory, worked at theatres of Kuibyshev, made highly artistic photos and photo advertisements. At present together with my sister they live in Israel. They left there in 2000, being already pensioners. In Israel they live in Ashkelon.

My brother Arkady was the youngest child in our family: he was born in 1935. Since his childhood he was aptitude for music. When a child, he played balalaika and guitar (he managed without any assistance), and at that time he even was not able to climb onto the chair.

When parents came to Kuibyshev, they sent him to musical school (it did not stop studies during the war time). There he studied in the violin class. He achieved much success in it and was their best pupil.

His teacher invited my mother and said 'If you want Arkady to become a musician, it is necessary to bring him to Leningrad or to Moscow. In Kuibyshev we cannot give him education of proper level.'

I lived in Leningrad and Mum brought him to me. At that time he was a pupil of the 4th or 5th class. I brought him to musical school at Conservatoire and they admitted him, because of his absolute pitch.

That was a boarding school. He finished it and entered Conservatoire. Mother supported him financially and he worked part-time.

I was not able to give him financial assistance him, because I had already got family. But he often visited us. He never was hungry. He graduated from the Conservatoire and was invited to work at the new Novosibirsk orchestra.

He left for Novosibirsk, and he still lives there and plays at that philharmonic orchestra. Though he is already 70 years old, they don't permit him to retire. He is a very conscientious person. He helps the conductor to rehearse young musicians.

Arkady is also very responsible. He often goes abroad on tour with his orchestra; he likes to travel all over the world. He has got a son and a wife. His wife is not a musician, therefore it is hard for him to have no close friend to talk about music.

So when we meet, we talk about music day and night long. My brother's wife is Russian. Her name is Galina. Their son Dmitry was born in 1965. Galina worked as a personnel manager at a large enterprise in Novosibirsk and she still works, though she is a pensioner.

Their son graduated from a Novosibirsk college as a physicist, but at present he is engaged to business. His family is well-to-do.