Sholom Kurnov as a soldier

Sholom Kurnov as a soldier

This is my mother's most beloved brother Sholom Kurnov in 1941 in Tikhvin.

Sholom, my mother's youngest brother, graduated from the Technological Institute in Leningrad and worked as a manager at a large plant. He married a Russian. Her name was Zina. They had two girls, twins.

One of them died when she was one year old. The other, Galina, lived with him. Sholom left for the front and perished in 1942. While his daughter was small, we helped Zina to raise her and took the girl with us to the summer house.

Aunt Frida bequeathed her apartment to her. Galina and her husband are still alive, they live in Leningrad now, they are retired.

Sholom volunteered for the Leningrad frontline at the age of 25, though he didn’t have to go to the army, and perished in 1942. I came across his grave in 1974.

I was going to pay a visit to my friend. So I was passing the city-memorial not far from the railroad station. There was a construction site right on my way. Suddenly I came across 20 pink marble graves. ‘Sholom Mendelevich Kurnov’ was written in large golden letters on one of the plaques. This was my mother's brother. My uncle was buried there! I didn’t have a camera, I was shocked and surprised.

My aunt, who lived there, didn’t know about it. She wrote an inquiry to the Tikhvin military registration and enlistment office, asking, why had they sent her a notification about him missing? If there was his grave? They sent her a reply, stating that he was on the list of those who were deemed missing.

Soon after that our friends went there and told us that there was no such cemetery any more. It was razed to the ground, nothing was left. I don’t know what they did with it. We immediately wrote to that organization again, but never received any reply.

Open this page