Evgenia Shapiro's uncle Lipa Shapiro

My father's brother, Lipa Shapiro, on 5th June 1928. The photo was taken in Leningrad where he was working. My grandfather on my father's side, Isaac Shapiro, was born in Borisov in 1876. He was deaf and dumb and had no education. He was a tailor. He was a very good tailor, but he didn't have many clients, as it was difficult to communicate with him. He was a very kind and nice man - one could see it in his eyes. My grandfather had a drinking problem, though. My grandmother, Nehama Shapiro [nee Dokshytskaya], was born in Borisov in 1890. She could read and write a little. Her parents forced her into marriage in 1907 when she was 17. They were very poor and so they were keen to see their daughters married off at a young age. They made Nehama marry the first man that agreed to marry her. Her wedding party was small. It was a traditional Jewish wedding with a huppah. They borrowed a gown for the bride and a suit for the bridegroom from their neighbors. My grandfather was 14 years older than my grandmother. They had three children: my father Jacob, Lipa and Rebecca. Lipa was born in Borisov in the 1910s. He studied in cheder and finished Russian grammar school. In the late 1920s he moved to Leningrad where he worked and studied. I have no information about his occupation. He lived in a small room that he received from the office where he was working. He was recruited to the army in 1941 and got in German captivity the same year. The Germans executed him by tying him to two tanks that went in opposite directions. My father heard this story from somebody that witnessed this execution.