This is Uncle Ruvim, he is dead now. He was a military officer, you can see it here. You can see the stripes, shoulder straps were not in use then yet. He was a senior lieutenant.
Uncle Ruvim [brother of Abram, Valentina's father] came to visit grandmother Tamara in Vladikavkaz, he lived in Leningrad. Uncle received a military education, was at the front, and when he arrived on leave in Leningrad he was killed at the railway station.
It was in 1942. A bomb exploded there. I think it was at the Moscow railway station, I can't say for sure. That's how he died. He was a military, wore those strips, there were no shoulder straps then. He was a senior lieutenant.
All relatives on the side of grandmother Faina, my Leningrad grandmother, the wife of grandfather Zorakh, died during the blockade and are buried in Piskarevsky 11 cemetery.
Of them I remember the small grandmother, named Feiga. She was very tender and kind, of very small height, and that's why I called her "the small grandmother".
We met when I came to Leningrad [1930s]. And then, later, we did not communicate any more. I was about 7 years old then.
They lived in 16 Zagorodny Avenue 12, near the post-office. When Aunt Maryasya was alive, she knew their grave, and she had shown it tome. Only, this year I skipped going to Piskarevka, because of my leg, otherwise I go there [to Piskarevsky cemetery] every year.
