Jemma Grinberg's father Moisey Grinberg

My father, Moisey Grinberg. This photo was taken in Kiev in 1924, when my father was 21. My father Moisey Grinberg was born in 1903. After he finished his studies at a cheder and at the Jewish primary school, he worked for some time in his father's shop, helping him repair shoes. In the early 1920s my father attended a trade union activist's school and for some time was involved in trade union activities. My father did not receive any special education, but took a number of different courses and attended several workshops. He studied German and got a job as a German teacher at a school. In 1925 my father was arrested for some reason and was imprisoned for a few months. When he was released, my parents, who had been corresponding by letter, realized that they couldn't live without each other and got married. I mean, they just began to live together, because civil registration was considered to be a vestige of the past. On the 1st of October, 1941, my father had received a subpoena to appear at the recruitment office on a certain date. He was to be sent to the front to fight. The night before he was to go, my mother told him to go and stay with some of our acquaintances in Moscow so he could get a good night's sleep. My father obeyed and went there. On that very night we managed to get on a train that was leaving. We couldn't even say 'good-bye' to my father. And we never saw him again. He perished in December 1941 in the battle for Moscow.