Photograph of Benzion Gorodyansky with his grandchildren in Piryatin (Pyriatyn), Ukraine, 1939. Back row, left to right: Aaron Meyer Gorodyansky, Luba Novgorodsky, Schmuel Novgorodsky; Middle row, from left to right: Leonid Gorodyansky, Benzion Gorodyansky, Anya Gorodyansky; Front row, left to right: Gregory Gorodyansky (Gregory Gordy), Nora Gorodyansky.
Gregory Gorodyansky (Gregory Gordy) was born in Piryatin (Pyriatyn), Ukraine in 1929. His family moved to Moscow after a famine but visited Piryatin during the summer. He lived in Moscow during World War II. Most of his relatives stayed in Piryatin. His relatives who had stayed tried to escape the Piryatin ghetto but were killed when the Nazis liquidated the ghetto on April 6, 1942. He lost Benzion Gorodyansky, his grandfather; Leah Gorodyansky, his grandmother; Esya Novgorodsky, his aunt; Mikhail Novgorodsky, his uncle; Luba Novgorodsky, his cousin; David Gorodyansky, his uncle; Fanya Pogulyaevsky, his aunt; Samuel Pogulyaevsky, his uncle. In total, about 6,000 Jews were killed at Piryatin. Gregory Gordy immigrated to the United States in 1981.
