Zinaida Turovskaya’s mother's brother Gershko Gorodetskiy's family

This is my mother's brother Gershko Gorodetskiy's family: he and his wife Manya, his older daughter tsylia and two younger children. Photo made in Kiev in the middle of 1930s. Manya and her two children persihed in the babiy Yar. Gershko perished on the front. Only his older daughter Tsylia survived (standing on the right).

Nusim and Tsylia had 7 children. Pesia-Lieba, the oldest, was born around 1895. the next child was brother Moishe (1897). Then came Gershko, born in 1899. The next was Basia (a girl), born in 1902, and my mother Hava was born in 1905. Zina came after my mother. She was born in 1909. Dora, the youngest, was born in 1914. Their family was moderately religious. My grandfather had a book of prayers, but he opened it rarely. However, he went to the synagogue every Saturday. Like each respected Jew, he had a seat of his own there.

Moshe, the oldest brother, learned to make shoes from his father. Gershko had finished the Jewish school in Radomyshl by that time.

My mother's brothers Moishe and Gershko married Jewish girls in Kiev. Moishe's wife and Gershko's wife had the same name - Manya. Moishe was a shoemaker and Gershko was a Shop Manager at some plant and a member of the Communist Party. They had children, but I don't know their names. Moishe was in the army during the war. He was wounded, but survived. Gershko was a political leader on the front. He was the one to lead soldiers to attack. He perished around 1942 in Ukraine. Their families staed in Kiev (they didn't want to evacuate) and shared the fate of other Jewish people. Moishe's wife with her 5 children and Gershko's wife with 3 children were shot in the Babiy Yar. They probably went off together on his mournful road. Only Tsylia, Gershko's older daughter that had been sent to the Donetsk steppe with other Komsomol members to harvest, survived.