My father worked at the aviation plant before the war, which was evacuated to Kuibyshev [900 km east of Moscow] and he went there too. My mother and sister were evacuated to Ulyanovsk [today Simbirsk, Ulyanovsk region, 700 km east of Moscow]. My institute was evacuated to Central Asia.
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Displaying 3841 - 3870 of 50826 results
marina sineokaya
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In April my group was sent to the suburbs of Leningrad to the second attack army. We had to walk a hundred kilometers to the train station. Most of our way was across the icy Volga, which was when the ice began to melt. We got to the station hungry and worn out. We took a train to Moscow. We were supposed to go to the personnel department of the military ministry and then to the Volkhovskiy front. Leningrad was blocked [see Blockade of Leningrad] [28] by German troops.
Finally, the army managed to break through the siege with colossal casualties. General Gromov was the head of the intelligence, and so he gave orders to his subordinates on how to get out of that quagmire. In the end they saw a group of people, but it wasn’t clear whether they were Russians or Germans. The General told his personal aide that he would go to and check out the situation. If that group was German, the general’s aide was given an order to shoot him so that he wouldn’t be captured by the Germans. Luckily, they were Russian troops. I joined that army after it had broken through the siege. When Marina died they remained without a translator. It was the start of my front-line experience.
For our army to succeed in the battle, it was necessary to join the other army located across Ladoga Lake on Oranienbaum bridgehead. [Оranienbaum was the name of the town of Lomonosov before 1948, in Leningrad district with a dock on the Southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. Oranienbaum bridgehead was built in September 1941 during defense actions at the Leningrad front.] I took part in the Oranienbaum operation and still remember the details of it. Our army was supposed to cross Ladoga Lake right under the German’s nose. When it was pitch dark at night, the headquarters of the army and military personnel were loaded on several barges. We weren’t even allowed to strike a match. We were placed in the holds and were supposed to sit still for the German observers not to notice our transport. The German bank sentry had their searchlight switched on. I have no clue how they failed to notice us.
The first captive I was to interrogate happened to be a German pilot, whose plane was brought down in the suburbs of Leningrad. He was a tall broad-shouldered, handsome blue-eyed blond. He was aware that he was in captivity and it cooled his pride. But when he saw that there was a frightened and embarrassed girl in front of him, he decided to use another tactic, which worked very well. He started to talk about his family, showed the letters from his wife with the imprints from her lipstick.
At the beginning of the interrogation he said that he began to fight in Italy and only recently he was sent to Leningrad. He said that he hadn’t participated in the bombing, and that he wasn’t able to release even a single bomb and that his plane had been brought down. His story made me feel sympathetic towards him, as I thought he was suffering for no purpose. I jotted down all his answers. Usually the interrogated were sent to the camp, but that one was sent to the headquarters for some reason. During the cross-examination in the headquarters it was found out that he was a double-dyed German officer, who took part in the siege of Leningrad from the first day as well as in constant bombings of the city. When I got to know that I got so frustrated that I told the headquarters commander that I was ready to do any other job - to type, wash the floors, but not to cross-examine the captives.
At the beginning of the interrogation he said that he began to fight in Italy and only recently he was sent to Leningrad. He said that he hadn’t participated in the bombing, and that he wasn’t able to release even a single bomb and that his plane had been brought down. His story made me feel sympathetic towards him, as I thought he was suffering for no purpose. I jotted down all his answers. Usually the interrogated were sent to the camp, but that one was sent to the headquarters for some reason. During the cross-examination in the headquarters it was found out that he was a double-dyed German officer, who took part in the siege of Leningrad from the first day as well as in constant bombings of the city. When I got to know that I got so frustrated that I told the headquarters commander that I was ready to do any other job - to type, wash the floors, but not to cross-examine the captives.
I joined the intelligence. I was to take part in reconnoitering and cross-examining of captives on the spot. When we had defense positions the work of reconnoitering was very hard. We were supposed to make stakeouts. It wasn’t an easy job to take a captive to the headquarters. We tried not to capture privates, but the officers. But when there was a need we captured privates as well. We used different methods - sometimes stakeouts, but there were times when we had to go to battle. It was easier when we were attacking. We didn’t have to seek captives. In the siege the Germans surrendered themselves. We had a tough directive not to be captured by the Germans alive. It was not the case with our adversary. They were willing to do anything to remain alive. One or two captives were brought to the interrogation department of the division.
I talked to the prisoner face to face; otherwise there wouldn’t have been an atmosphere of confiding talk. I had a lot of work to do. I was to cross-examine the captives and process the documents, too.
I talked to the prisoner face to face; otherwise there wouldn’t have been an atmosphere of confiding talk. I had a lot of work to do. I was to cross-examine the captives and process the documents, too.
In the winter of 1944 we were on the territory of Poland. We could feel the turning point of the war and there were no doubts in our coming victory. Sometimes the Germans surrendered by their entire divisions. Common soldiers were demobilized and they didn’t want to perish at the end of the war, but the German officers fought desperately. Our intelligence cross-examined the captives almost every day. There was another translator who joined us as I couldn’t cope with that volume of work. We didn’t have to get much data such as where they came from, the assignments and dislocation. Often I had to take the captives to the headquarters via the forest. Then we went to a hamlet. We didn’t waste time on small settlements with the Germans. They weren’t strategically important for us, but there are casualties in any battle. That is why we just circumvented them and went on.
There was a SMERSH [32] department in each squad. They had nothing to do with our intelligence department. Officially, they were supposed to divulge German spies and actually they followed our soldiers, especially those who were in the siege. Frankly speaking I strongly loathed the SMERSH. If they heard about my interrogation method, my friendly attitude towards the captives, they would go after me. God had mercy on me and the SMERSH weren’t interested in me.
In April 1945 we had a hunch that the war was about to end. We had battles in Berlin. The battles were held all over the country and the Germans were fighting fiercely. They tried to linger our troops and also tried to stop the American troops from going any further. We were held out so we could capture as little land as possible. That is why by the end of the war the territory of the GDR was so small, as almost the whole of Germany belonged to the FRG.
I joined the party when I was in the lines. At that time everybody was applying for party membership. It went without saying. I wasn’t forced by anybody; it was the way I was brought up. I thought it was necessary for me to be a party member if I were a patriot of my country, who loved her country, defending it from the foes and wishing it prosperity. Besides, I was an officer and all officers in my surroundings were communists. So, I had no doubts of becoming a party member.
In the post-war period I got married in Germany. During my service in the army I had a lot of wooers, who confessed their feelings, and proposed to me, but I didn’t like anybody, I was only ready for friendship. My husband-to-be, Colonel Pavel Sineokiy, was assigned the commandant of Greifswald. Later Pavel told me that he fell in love with me at first sight. In fall 1946 we got married in Greifswald.
In 1946 I was demobilized from the army and went back to Moscow. My husband stayed on in Germany. My parents came back from evacuation in 1946.
As I had the certificate that I had finished one course at the Foreign Languages Institute, I was enrolled for the second course. In September 1946 I resumed my studies at the institute.
There were Russian and Jewish girls among my friends. It didn’t matter to my parents. That is why I could strongly feel anti-Semitism during the post-war times. In 1946 anti-Semitism was considerably displayed and was felt in every day life.
In 1948 it became anti-Semitism on a state-level. Cosmopolitan processes commenced [see campaign againt ’cosmopolitans’] [36], almost every day there were abominable articles in the newspapers about scientists and people in the Arts of Jewish nationality. They were vituperated against and the emphasis was put on their nationality. Jewish students were expelled from the Institute and Jewish teachers were fired. I wasn’t a victim, and finally it turned out that I was the only Jew left in the institute. I don’t know why I was left in peace, maybe because of my front-line experience and military awards or my husband’s position. I can’t say for sure, but my name wasn’t mentioned at all.
I still remember those teachers and students; they were very good and intelligent people. I was aware that it was an organized baiting of Jews, but I couldn’t believe that it had been organized by Stalin. When many Jews were fired from important positions at the Academy of Science, I merely thought that the Russians were after those positions. Dignitary positions were taken by Jews, and ignoramuses and untalented people couldn’t achieve that. So there were new opportunities opening up just to get rid of a Jew and take his place. That was the only explanation I could find for that. I knew a lot of cases where the place of a brilliant scientist was taken by a mediocrity, who took advantage of the fruitful work of his predecessor. I was deeply affected by those events as well as my husband and my relatives. There are always a lot of mean people who are ready to achieve the stated goal at any cost, getting rid of those in their way. Such people were happy that the Jews were ousted and took advantage of the situation by taking over their place. I thought that the implication of those people was in the betrayal and maliciousness. I didn’t think it to be political.
It was the time when the term Zionists was introduced. The term was used as an aggression towards Jews; before that in the USSR the word wasn’t associated with anything bad. Many people who used that term didn’t even know what it meant. The term was used along with Yid [derogatory term in Russian for Jews]. I remember the time when a party activist held a lecture and declared that Zionists forced our great military leaders to marry Jewish women. I was furious and said that they married Jews because they were intelligent and beautiful, and that they weren’t forced to get married. After such words I was awaiting big trouble, but it didn’t come to it.
In 1949 I graduated from the institute. I was given a mandatory job assignment [38] in the Moscow Physics and Technology Institute to teach German. I had worked in the Foreign Languages Department for forty years and retired in 1989.
In January 1953 the Doctors’ Plot [39] started. It was a real horror – unconcealed anti-Semitism. I really took it hard. I didn’t believe that those doctors were guilty. It was a continuation of the cosmopolitan struggle, and organized baiting of Jews. Maybe the doctors’ cases wouldn’t have been the last thing in streamlining anti-Semitism if Stalin hadn’t died in March 1953.
At first I was shocked and sorrowed by Stalin’s death. Then I thought it was for the better. I was tired of hearing Stalin’s name no matter whether it was relevant or irrelevant. All success was connected to him as if he was the only person who was able to think and make decisions. Stalin’s portraits were everywhere. Even in the apartments of the people Stalin’s picture was a mandatory piece of furniture. Stalin’s cult was ubiquitous, and I was annoyed by that.
I sighed with relief after Nikita Khrushchev [40] had given a speech and divulged Stalin’s crime at the Twentieth Party Congress. I hoped that our country would change and have a better life. I believed every word spoken by Khrushchev. Everything was clear.
I remembered the peoples’ enemies’ processes very well. There were constant messages of newly disposed plots. I had doubts when in 1937 [Great Terror] they started to exterminate outstanding military leaders. It was hard to believe that those people who put their lives at stake when defending their motherland turned out to be betrayers and spies working for the intelligence of several countries simultaneously. I couldn’t help having doubts. Before the war the top commandment of the army was exterminated. Of course, I understood that Stalin did a lot of harm to the country, but I still unfalteringly believed in the party. I thought that the Party should be given the credit for divulging Stalin’s crimes and exonerating innocent convicts. I thought that the Party was setting order in the country.
I was always involved in the elections [see Elections of the Soviet Union] [41] as per the assignment of the Party. During elections I was supposed to organize canvassers, was on duty at the district polling station, located in our institute and followed the vote count. But I didn’t think that we weren’t electing anybody, as there was only one name in the vote list.
We marked all Soviet holidays at home – 1st May, 7th November, Red Army Day [Soviet Army Day] [42]. Victory Day [43] and New Year’s Day were my favorite. People always used to come to us. On 9th May, our family had a tradition to go to the Grave of the Unknown Soldier. We took flowers there and met with front-line friends.
Sergey was an excellent student at school. He was raised as a patriot of the USSR. He was an Oktyabryonok, a pioneer and a Komsomol member. After finishing school, Sergey entered the Moscow Physics and Technology Institute. He had excellent marks and became a post-graduate student. Sergey became a candidate of science [see Soviet/Russian doctorate degrees] [44] and was employed by the Scientific Research Institute of Genetics and Microorganisms. Sergey liked his job very much. He wrote and defended his doctorate thesis and became a professor. At present Sergey is the head of the institute laboratory.
When the state of Israel was founded in 1948 it was a big joy for me. I always used to look for bits of information about Israel in the press and was so happy for the success of this country. Finally the Jews had their own state after wandering for so many years. When the neighboring countries started an aggression campaign against Israel during the Six-Day-War [45] and Doomsday [Yom Kippur] War [46], the term ‘Israeli military clique’ was introduced in our press. I was worried for Israel and wished it victory. I understood that those wars had nothing to do with the things written in our press. I understood that Israel was an original territory. It wasn’t Israel that attacked the adjacent countries to obtain extra territory. It was another case - people were fighting for their lives and for their right to exist. That struggle is continual; the topical issue is in the existence of the state.
I was rapt by perestroika. We were able to feel free. We weren’t used to that, but at the same time it was very pleasant. We were able to get books, which had been banned by censorship and if they were found, people would be imprisoned. We were interested in reading the newspapers as there was no libel and the information we got was true. Finally there was democracy. I could really feel it, when for the first time the dean of our department was elected democratically. I welcomed all those things. Then gradually we came back to the things which were before. At the end of the 1980s I went to Israel at invitation from my friends. God is helping this country. I worship those first settlers who took every effort and made a blooming garden out of a rocky dessert. They created such a country themselves.
When the guide took us on a tour in Tel Aviv, I was delighted that that there wasn’t a single house without flower beds. People had to work hard for that - bring the earth and water the plants for them not to wither. The whole city is a huge, well-kept garden with palms, roses, tropical flowers. Tel Aviv isn’t the only city like that, the rest of the Israeli cities are similar. Israeli people deserve a peaceful life, and they will be able to make it good. I admire Israeli people and the country itself, but I understood once again that I wouldn’t be able to live there. My place is in my country.
At first I was happy for the breakup of the USSR [1991]. I thought that Russia was a strong and self-sufficient republic, and the rest of them are just pulling money from it either for construction of plants or railroads. I thought that our life would become much better after Russia gained independence. Then I understood that the USSR was one body, which functioned well while it was sole. Some things were given by Russia to other republics, and certain things were obtained from them. It shouldn’t be cut drastically. It wasn’t only the economy which interlaced; people’s lives were interconnected too. So many relatives of almost every Russian man remained in different republics. Now it turns out that they live in different countries. Now I’m sorry for the breakup of the USSR.
Revival of Jewish life started during perestroika, and the development trend remained even after the breakup of the USSR. Different Jewish communities emerged. People got a chance to go to the synagogue and adhere to Jewish traditions openly. The books written by Jewish writers and poets are published now. Movies about Jewish life appeared. Jewish papers and magazines were issued. The attitude towards Jews changed. Before, people were embarrassed to say the word Jew trying to speak it in sotto, and the word wasn’t even heard on radio or television. Now people talk about it calmly and naturally. Then the passports were changed, and the new ones appeared without a line on ‘nationality’ [see Item 5] [49], and there anti-Semitism was in the wane. How will Jews and Russians be defined now? Before, the documents of the Jews were put aside when they entered university. Now it is more difficult to do that. The most important thing is that people aren’t trying to conceal that they are Jews, and I think this is a real determiner that the society has changed its attitude towards Jews.