Ida Limonova's brother Izia Sneiderman

My brother Izia Sneiderman on the day when his son Alik was born. The photo was taken in 1938 in Kharkov. Izia was born in 1910. He studied at a Jewish school that was located far from our home. This school was called Tarbut. They studied all subjects in Hebrew. My brother studied old Jewish songs at home, and we often sang them together. In the late 1920s all Jewish schools were closed, and my brother Izia had to complete his education in a Russian secondary school. Perhaps Izia took after our father. He had a good ear for music. Our parents bought him a violin, but when he was 4 years old he fell from the roof and broke his hand. Playing the violin was out of the question after this incident, but a career in music remained his dream. Izia played the piano very well. He played pieces from operas and overtures. He liked operas best. He always made my friend Raya and me his audience and by the time we turned 15 we had heard many operas. He was a laborer at a factory, but his dream was to become a conductor. He decided to enter the Conservatory. He played an overture from Carmen at his entrance exam, and his examiners were so impressed that they admitted him after this first exam. He became a student of the Kharkov Conservatory in 1934. In July 1941 my brother Izia was mobilized. He died at the end of 1941. He fell ill with spotted fever at the front and was sent to hospital where he died. His wife, Katia, and his 4-year-old son, Alik, were in evacuation in Akhtyubinsk where Katia was working at a plant.