Israel Rozenfeld

This is my brother Israel Rozenfeld. He sent this photo from Rovno where he served in the army in 1940. It's signed on the back with the words, 'To my parents from their son'. My brother is wearing a uniform of the time of the Great Patriotic War in the picture. My parents got married in 1920. They didn't have a traditional Jewish wedding since my father was devoted to communist ideas and rejected any Jewish rules or traditions. My older brother Israel was born in 1921. He was called Izia in the family. He went to study at a special artillery school after finishing secondary school. We knew about fascism from newspapers and films. We knew that Hitler strained himself to seize power. We watched the film Professor Mamlock, which described Hitler's attitude towards Jews. We realized we were on the verge of war. Even though the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed we couldn't help seeing that the country was preparing for war. There were military training sessions: test air raids or men gathering for military training terms. After finishing artillery school my brother Israel went to study at Kiev Artillery College from where he graduated in 1940. He got an assignment to serve in Western Ukraine. He served in Rovno and Lvov. He visited us for the last time in spring 1941. In August 1941 my brother Israel disappeared. We received a notification about this in late December 1941.