My first husband Mordko Vainer.
My husband was born in May 1911 too. His father Shaya Elevich, a shoemaker, lived in Berdichevskaya street in Zhytomir. Their family was rather wealthy and moderately religious. His mother Sura-Leya, a Jew, died from a disease in 1920. I never saw her. They had three sons: Grisha, Efim and Mordko. All 3 sons of this shoemaker from Zhytomir were very handsome, slim and tall. They finished the Jewish secondary school and became sailors.
My husband was away for six months. He was an artillery man and then commander of the ship. They sailed along the Dnieper, to the Black Sea and Danube. In 1941 when the war began my husband was on one his trips.
I had no news from my husband for a long time. In December 1941 I found out that the Fleet was encircled by Germans in September 1941. Some of the crew perished in the encirclement and the rest of them were captured. They were taken across Kiev to the Babiy Yar and shot. Then I understood that my husband had perished. Somebody told me after the war that some of my acquaintances saw my husband Mordko Vainer in the street when the captives were convoyed to the Babiy Yar.
