Rachel Gitelis' brother Berl Gitelis with friends

My older brother Berl and his co-students from the Machine Building College. Berl is the one standing first on the left. They were photographed after finishing the 1st year of their studies. The photo was taken in Odessa in 1932. My brother was born in 1916 in Ladyzhin. He finished secondary school in 1932 and entered the Odessa Machine Building College. He studied there several years, but then quit and went to work as a nickel plater with my father in the Caucasus. He fell ill in 1938 and died in 1940. He was a very talented and handsome boy. His death was a terrible blow to our family, and my father said that there wouldn't be any music or entertainment in our house for a year. After a year had passed, he turned on the music and said that life was to go on. My brother was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Slobodka. During the war the cemetery was ruined and we couldn't find his grave after the war.