The Dream
It's hard to lose your parents when you lived with them for many years. It's awful to think that you will never see them again. And if you've never seen your father, because you were born a few months after his death, it's even harder to survive! My husband Kim Iosifovich Rabinovich was born in the village of Amurzet of the Jewish Autonomous Region on May 21, 1942, and his father, Joseph Fayvelevich Rabinovich, died on the battlefront on January 10, 1943. He left his wife four young children in his arms.
The fate of the children of the Rabinovich family was not easy. My brother Felix remembers: “It happened in the autumn of 1941, in September or October. Late at night, someone knocked at our door. The children (and there were three of us) woke up and wondered who had come to us so late. It was a messenger, who brought a draft notice that our father had to go to war. I remember that we were all crying, my mother, too, all in tears, collected the father’s clothes in a backpack. Dad lifted me and Lisa in his arms and kissed us. Saying goodbye to his family, he left, and we never saw him again. He wrote letters from the front, but unfortunately, they did not survive. The father died honorably during the Great Patriotic War, but my mother and I did not believe it for a long time and waited for him to return, alive and healthy. Unfortunately, Dad did not return, and we suffered many troubles and misfortunes.”
More than 70 years have passed since the death of Joseph Fayvelevich Rabinovich. Nobody ever hoped to find the grave of the father. The children dreamed of meeting with their father. And then, Kim, in a conversation with his cousin Vladimir Rabinovich (Joseph's nephew), said that the notice of his father's death mentioned the Rostov region, specifically, the Russian village in the Kuibyshev district, as the burial place—this was near where Vladimir lived. So, Vladimir and his son Oleg went to this village. And on the stele around the mass grave they found the engraved name: RABINOVICH JF. Imagine the feelings of the children who had found even the grave of their father, although the children were already elderly and do not even remember his face. Of their father, they were left with only two photos and vague memories. Felix remembers that, after receiving the funeral from the military commissariat, a man came to them, who served with his father. That man told the family that Joseph, before he died, very much wanted him to meet his family.
And so, Kim decided to go to Russia and visit the burial place of his deceased father. The son himself had already celebrated his 70th birthday, but the dream to see at least the grave of his father has survived! And he went on a long journey (given that his whole family already lived in America with two sisters and a brother who already lived there). The meeting was memorable. With tears flowing, the son looked at the burial. He also visited a museum dedicated to the memory of those who died during the Great Patriotic War, and left additional information about his father and photographs of his father's children and grandchildren.
Three years later, Kim again visited this memorable place for the family. Mentally talking with the father, he conveyed greetings from the family and assured that he will forever remain in our memory.