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My mother Raissa Goldwar and her brothers. My mother is on the right, next to her is Grigoriy and on the left is Misha. The picture was taken on my mother’s fourth birthday in 1904 in Odessa.
They received a good education: they had music classes and private teachers at home. Grigoriy Rabinovich was born around 1892. He was a brilliant and purposeful man. My mother recalled that he decided to learn to play the horn in his teens. It was too loud and all neighbors were unhappy about it, but he learned to play the horn. He finished grammar school in Odessa with honors and entered the Physics and Mathematic Faculty at Moscow University before the revolution of 1917. After the revolution he lectured at the same university Uncle Grigoriy didn't have children of his own. He was married for the second time. His wife Ania had two sons of 11 and 12 years of age. Later he divorced Ania and married again. He had a son - Alik. In 1937 uncle Grigoriy was arrested. He was accused of an attempted encroachment on Stalin. He went on hunger strike in jail of which he died.
Misha was born in 1898. He finished Realschule at the same time as my father did. He was as talented as Grigoriy, but he had a different character - he liked entertainment and was easy-going. He played the piano and sang. He was very handsome. Misha invited my father to his house where he met his sister Raissa, my mother. After finishing school Misha entered a shipbuilding college in Nikolaev. Upon finishing the college he began to work at the shipyard in Nikolaev. Misha made a career - he became construction manager at the plant. Uncle Misha had to be a party member to hold such high position. His older brother's arrest didn't have an impact on his career. He must have been a highly valued employee at his work and nobody dared to do any harm to him. During the Great Patriotic War uncle Misha and his family evacuated to the Urals where all defense enterprises were evacuated. After the war he continued his work at the defense plant. Uncle Misha died from stomach ulcer in 1962. His son Emmanuil born in 1928 also graduated from the shipbuilding institute. In 1990 he moved to Israel with his children.
