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My father's youngest brother, Meishke Joheles, was born in 1914. He followed into his father's footsteps and made his living by painting. Meishke kept his fondness of poetry a secret from his family. Many years after the Great Patriotic War I learned that Meishke was a member of 'Young Vilnius' [public organization uniting young Jewish people in Vilnius before WWII], the organization of young poets, writers and artists. He wrote beautiful romantic poems. The only living poet from this organization, Sutzkever [7], who was a witness at the Nuremberg trials, lives in Israel. I met with him and he spoke warmly about Meishke. In 1938 Meishke got married. His wife Niusia was an agronomist. Meishke and Niusia moved to Lvov in 1939. Niusia continued her education there and Meishke entered the Lvov Teachers' Training University. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War Meishke disappeared. Niusia evacuated to Uzbekistan. After the war she moved to Moscow, defended a candidate's dissertation [see Soviet/Russian doctorate degrees] [8], remarried and gave birth to two children. If my memory doesn't fail me, she died in 1998.
Interview
Fania Brantsovskaya