Frieda Stoyanovskaya's brother Semyon Stoyanovskiy

This is my younger brother Semyon Abramovich Stoyanovskiy. The photograph was taken in Kiev in 1939. Semyon also studied at a Jewish school. He took to liking Jewish literature and photography. The boys made cameras guided by their favorite teachers. One couldn't even dream about a real camera. This hobby determined his future profession: he became an outstanding cameraman and an apprentice of the famous Roman Karmen in Moscow. [Karmen is an outstanding film director and cameraman, who captured with his camera some of the most important moments of 20th century history, like the Spanish civil war, the opening of the concentration camps, the Cuban revolution, etc.] Semyon was mobilized to the front. He went through the whole war with military units. He had finished the Russian State Institute of Cinematography, the famous VGIK, in Moscow by that time, and was sent to serve in the army at the beginning of 1940. He was on the front line until his tragic death in Vienna at the end of April 1945. Almost on Victory Day, on May 5 1945 we received notification about Semyon's death, a military cameraman. So, this day of everybody's joy and happiness became the day of deepest sorrow for us. We found out that he was buried at the cemetery of Soviet military in Vienna. Later his colleagues brought us the video that they took during his funeral in the end of April 1945. The only thing that disturbs me is the cemetery in Vienna where my brother was buried. The Soviet authorities never allowed my husband and me to go there and put flowers on his grave. I feel guilty about it.