Ilya Sneerov

This photo is of my father - Ilya Abramovich Shneerov. He was born in 1911 in the town of Lyubavichi in Smolensk region, Rudyansk district. Initially the family name was Shneerson, but the well-known Lyubavichi [Lubatvitch] rebbe Shneerson lived in the same district and all correspondence came to his address, so father's father, my grandfather Abram Leibovich, changed his surname to Shneerov, to avoid confusion. Until he was 10 Daddy lived with his parents in Lyubavichi. According to his stories, they had their own house of two or three rooms. Dad unfortunately cannot remember what his father's occupation was. His mother, Sarra Movshevna, did not work outside the home - she brought up her children. The family was religious; everyone spoke Yiddish. They surely lived in a religious way - prayed, observed Sabbath and all Jewish holidays. Daddy's family moved to Leningrad from Smolensk district in 1934, but I do not know under what circumstances. They lived in a shared apartment in Communications Union Street, block 11, near the main post office. They had 2 rooms in that apartment, and Dad lived there with his parents, brothers and sister. Father's father Abram Leibovich, born in1876, had tuberculosis and died before the war [1935]. In 1938 Daddy went to work in Vasiliesky Island, at a defense industry factory. It was a secret enterprise and he worked there uninterruptedly until he retired in 1994 -- 56 years! He worked as a mechanic, a shop foreman, and also in the supplies department. It was from that factory that he was called up to the army, and after the war he returned to the same plant. Daddy fought on the Leningrad front. He is an invalid of the Great Patriotic War . He was wounded twice: the first time in his chest - a penetrating wound, and the second time in his leg. Also, he had to have three fingers amputated.