I was surprised that there was no anti-Semitism in Latvia. Perhaps, this was another demonstration of the negative attitude of Latvians toward everything that was Soviet. Stalin was an idol for us, but a barbarian and an aggressor for them. If Stalin and his alliances persecuted Jews, it meant that Jews were worth respecting.
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Displaying 38431 - 38460 of 50826 results
Grigoriy Kagan
This was what Latvia thought about the ‘Doctors’ Plot’ 27. This persecution started in January 1953 and caused an outburst of anti-Semitism in the USSR.
Stalin, the ‘father of all people’, as he was called, died in March 1953. Many people cried and grieved after him. I also felt the bitterness of this loss. My generation was growing up with the name of Stalin. We sincerely believed Stalin to be the ‘best friend of children’ and the ‘beloved chief of all people’ that the official propaganda called him. Even the people who had been affected by Stalin’s persecution could not believe that Stalin was connected to this.
However, I cannot help mentioning here that when I heard Khrushchev’s 29 speech on the 20th Congress of the party in 1956 [Twentieth Party Congress] 30, I was very happy about it. I thought that if the party was brave and committed to the acknowledgement of mistakes and recognition that the Stalin’s regime was a criminal regime. I also believed that our life would improve significantly. I believed everything Khrushchev said at once and unconditionally. Everything Khrushchev said was a revelation for me. How mean Stalin was! He exterminated all those whom he believed to be more intelligent than he was. There were many such people. Nobody could say a word against Stalin. There was a wide network of his volunteer informers. They reported everything to NKVD 31. There were decision of ‘great’ Stalin, the ‘best friend of all children’ kept in the archives. In those documents he signed his execution verdict for over 40 thousand people, including children under 12. I think Stalin was worse than Hitler, at least with regards to his attitude toward Jews. Hitler did it openly while Stalin exterminated Jews on the quiet, covering himself with crackling phrases about the ‘revolutionary need’ and falsified trials. Now it’s no secret that he had barracks for deported Jews installed in Siberia. There was a mass deportation prepared and this was not his first experience. He had deported the Crimean Tatars, Chechen and Ingushi people [Forced deportation to Siberia] 32 before. Jews were to follow into their steps and there were already trains for them prepared. Stalin died on the Jewish holiday of Purim. Could it be that his evil deeds overfilled the God’s cup of patience?
One way or another I benefited from Stalin’s death. Shortly afterward I was offered the post of communication chief in Moscow. It was a significant promotion for me. I finished the war in the rank of chief of division communication. A corps included 3 divisions. Of course, I gave my consent and did not even ask where this corps was located. Actually, this was the Northern Air Defense in Belomorsk, between Murmansk and Petrozavodsk, 6000 km from Moscow.
By that time the relations between my wife and me were misbalanced. Maria took after her father Pyotr Akimov, who was an officer of the czarist army during WWI. She had a strong character and accepted no objections. She even tried to resolve our family disagreements by means of fights and scandals. I wanted to divorce her several times, but divorce was not appreciated in the army. Chief of the political department warned me that if I applied for divorce, I would be expelled from the party and demounted in my position at best. I divorced her immediately after I resigned.
My cousin Israel Gershtein, my aunt Olga’s son, introduced me to my second wife Asia German. Asia was about to marry Yakov Tsegliar, a composer, but when we met we understood instantly that we were to be together. I remember how Asia and I were preparing to visit my parents. We were both concerned about how they would meet us. My father had a character and had a negative attitude toward divorce. However, everything went very well. My parents liked Asia. We got married. We had a common wedding. Of course, a traditional Jewish wedding was out of the question: I was a member of the party and we were both atheists.
I started experiencing anti-Semitism immediately after I joined the civil life. It was hard for me to ignore it, though it did not refer to me directly. Those were anti-Semitic talks in transport means and in lines. One day something happened that I could never forget. In spring 1964 the Ukrainian Soccer federation authorized me to take command of the parade dedicated to the opening of a season on the Olympic Stadium in Kiev. This was a match between the Kiev and Moscow Dynamo. The teams lined up before the gate of the stadium. I was to lead them onto the field where they were to line up facing the main tribune and then I had to give them this direction: ‘Align! Attention! Eyes …’ and then I was to enunciate my words clearly: ‘Commander of Parade Colonel Kagan!’ When I was already at the head of the column, the master of ceremony approached me and told me to not say my surname! This as unequivocal: my Jewish surname was not to be said at the stadium! This made me angry, of course, but I knew that the parade commander should stay in line whatever the circumstances. I did not object. I don’t know whether I was right.
I went to work in the ‘Liftmontazh’ [elevator assembly] trust in 1964. I was chief mechanic. Shvetsov, chief of the trust, employed Jews willingly, particularly as key personnel. Jews are decent employees and do not drink. Unfortunately, drinking at work was quite common. It was not even persecuted. I didn’t like my job due to poor organization and lack of order. It depressed me, particularly considering that I was used to the order in the army. I was lucky again: my former fellow comrade Zakharov, who was a lieutenant in my regiment, became a supervisor in the ‘Gosradioproject’ [state radio project] design institute. We met incidentally and he offered me the position of a design group supervisor. Some time later I was offered the position of chief of department. I could not accept this position for financial restrictions considering that I was receiving a military pension already. I went to work as supervisor of a design group for fire safety automation and communication in another design institute. I wanted to retire in 1975, but my management convinced me to keep working. I finally retired in 1995.
I kept in touch with my sons in Arkhangelsk. My older son Oleg wanted to enter the Aviation College in Tomsk, but he failed the exams. Oleg was rather upset. He arrived in Kiev. The situation was critical. If he did not enter a higher educational institution he was to be regimented to the army. I called my friend, the dean of Mechanical Faculty of the Arkhangelsk Forestry College. They admitted Oleg without exams. After finishing the college he worked as chief of the department of urban and rural young people in the regional Komsomol committee in Arkhangelsk. He went on frequent business trips. Oleg was married. His wife did not like it that Oleg was away from home a lot. She left Oleg and remarried. The regional committee declared they could not tolerate that Oleg had divorced. However, they helped him to get a job at the gas department of the town. He was a smart guy and it didn’t take long before he was promoted to chief of the department.
I, my friends and my family, besides our professional holiday which was the Air Force Day, celebrated Soviet holidays: 1st May, 7th November [October Revolution Day] 36, Soviet Army Day, Victory Day 37. Traditionally on this day officers got together in the division headquarters to go to a restaurant. We celebrated these holidays at work and at home. We also celebrated New Year and family members’ birthdays. We had guests and enjoyed the celebrations.
Perestroika brought this time. However, I did not consider Gorbachev 38, the leader of the Communist Party, to be a serious politician at first. He gave many promises, but there were few actions, but he managed to accomplish some things. Gorbachev removed the ‘Iron Curtain’ 39, which separated us from the rest of the world for many years. He allowed the freedom of speech and the freedom of press. This is true. But it is also true that the poor and unemployed appeared during his rule. Pensioners could not live on their devaluating pensions. The breakup of the USSR [1991], which crowned the Perestroika, was painful for me. The USSR was a strong and powerful state. What do we have instead? We could save the USSR, had we refused from the leading role of the CPSU and socialist ideas. May capitalism have replaced socialism. May the Baltic Republics have separated: they had been forcefully annexed to the USSR and were occupied and they never accepted this, but all other republics may have stayed with the USSR. We would have been strong together.
The break up of the USSR terminated my membership in the CPSU. I did not join the Communist Party of Ukraine.
I started going to the synagogue. At first I just wanted to recall my childhood, when my father took me to the synagogue with him, but now it has become a necessity for me. I go to the synagogue every Saturday. On my relatives’ death anniversaries I recite the Kaddish for them.
A number of Jewish societies were established during the Perestroika. There is also Jewish press. The Jewish life is gradually developing in independent Ukraine. We have gatherings in the association of Jewish veterans twice a month. We know each other well. I also work in the section of Jewish veterans of sports at the Jewish cultural center. I am deputy chairman of this section. Our chairman is a former Olympic champion in fencing. On 24th September 2004 we celebrated the 82nd birthday of Ludmila Yakir-Kogan, the 6-time chess champion and 10-time finalist of Ukraine.
There is another Jewish organization in Ukraine, and that is the Hesed 40. I think, it is a very important organization for us. Many Jews would not survive, if it hadn’t been for the Hesed’s assistance. It’s no secret that pensioners are below any poverty lines. Hesed is also involved in another important activity, and that is, attachment of Jews to traditions, to the religion and giving back our spirituality, lost during the Soviet rule.
Rahil Shabad
Having graduated school I decided to enter medical institute. I made up my mind to become a doctor because mother’s health was feeble and I hoped that I would be able to help her get better. There was a tough competition in Moscow Medical Institute. I did not enter the institute like many other entrants. I went to Kursk [about 480 km to the south from Moscow] and entered Medical Institute there. The institute was newly founded, viz. 2 years. It was in the premise of former prison. I lived in the hostel. I was keen on studies. Student’s life appealed to me. In a year and a half I got ill. My elder brother Evsey came and took me to Moscow. In a year I transferred to Moscow Medical Institute, but I was in the first year again. Remarkable people, best doctors of the country, great scientists taught us medicine. They did not only teach us mere medicine, they nurtured good human qualities in us, to be responsible for our actions. Consequently I worked in Moscow municipal committee of the peoples’ control before it was reformed and my boss once said that I would become a good attorney as I fought for the justice and the right cause. I told: ”I would not make a bad doctor either”. We were taught to write the history of the patient thinking that a criminal investigator was behind us. We were very responsible for our actions. There were Jews in the institute but we did not cluster together by national groups. We chose friends by interests.
In 1936-1937 repressions [Great Terror] [18] commenced. Fortunately it did not refer to my kin, but everybody understood that there was no guarantee that we would be safe from them. There was a Jew Evgeniy Katsnelson among my fellow students. He was from Voronezh. His father was the head of Voronezh military command. Evgeniy was a tall and handsome blond. At that time he was friends with the doctor of archbishop. Maybe it was the reason for his arrest. He was arrested in the middle of the lecture. He was 18 at that time. He was released in some time. My friends saw him and said that he changed a lot. He was asked what it was like in Gulag [19], and he replied: ”Those who were there, would never forget, and those who weren’t would never understand”. Children of ‘peoples’ enemies’ [Enemy of the people] [20], whose parents were arrested, studied with me. They looked worried but they did not speak of their anxieties. We did not want to hurt them and did not broach the subject about their parents. I was too young and it was hard for me to understand what was going on without knowing their parents. But at the back of my mind I did not fully believe that ‘peoples’ enemies’ were everywhere.
In 1941 I finished 4 courses of the institute and had practice in Vyshniuy Volochka [about 300 km to the north west from Moscow] together with 10 girls.
I clearly remember the outbreak of war, on the 22nd June of 1941 [Great Patriotic War] [21]. It was a warm sunny day boding no tribulation. We went swimming to the river. When we were on the way back from the beach we heard on the radio (there were loud-speaker outdoors) that the war was unleashed. We immediately began to think what to do. We went to the chief doctor of Vyshniy Volochek. He told us: ”It’s up to you”, he did not have time to bother with us. Then we decided that it was time for us to come back to Moscow.
At home it turned out that the organization where my father worked was evacuated to Kuibyshev [now Samara, about 950 km to the east from Moscow] together with the employees and their families. My parents left as well. Our family was scattered all over the country. Younger sister Maria was in the pioneer’s camp. All children from the camp were taken somewhere without parents preliminary being informed. It took pains for my mother to find out that the children were taken in the vicinity of Saratov. She went there to that pioneer camp, in a disastrous state, and took Maria to Kuibyshev.
I and my younger brother Naum remained in Moscow. In 1941 Naum finished the first course of Moscow Energy Institute, Automation Department. Almost at the same time we came to the military enlistment office and voluntarily joined the Soviet Army. Naum was in the artillery troops and in 1942 he was killed in action in the bounds of Kerch. Evsey was sent to tank troops.
I happened to be in Kuibyshev, where SES (Sanitary and Epidemiology Squad) #35 was formed. Each army had its own SES. Our squad was by 48th attack army and followed the army, sometimes even being ahead of the troops. Personnel and laboratories were in the emergency trucks covered with tarpaulin. I was sent to Elets [360 km to the South from Moscow] to get the emergency vehicles. I was assigned the head of the column and was to get the vehicles to Bryansk front [350 km to the south-west from Moscow].
When it was time for me to be discharged from the hospital they suggested that I should stay there for medical service as an attending physician of field mobile hospital of attack army #48. My military service was over in this hospital and my career was ended at the rank of acting head of the department. Being in the ranks of that army I went to Bryansk, Central, 1st attack army and Far East fronts. It was on the leading edge. Our hospital was called ‘first line’ hospital. It meant that we were in the immediate vicinity of the front line. The wounded were taken to us straight from the trenches. Moreover, we did not stay in one place longer than for 2-3 days. The hospital moved on trucks, sleighs and carts. Good thing if we managed to settle in any houses, but usually we lived in the tents, 25 people in each. We also operated in the tents as well. The entire medical staff lived in the tents, including the chief surgeon.
I also remember the episode in Bryansk forests when our troops were retreating. There were great many wounded. The hospital dislocated in the forest and was scattered it different huts. There was an aerodrome close by. Suddenly I received the order from the chief physician of the hospital regarding evacuation. I was supposed to stay with the severely wounded in lungs and abdomen, who could not be transported. I was given a truck but taking into account the state of the wounded I would not use it anyway. In the evening the aircraft landed by the hospital. I was so surprised when I saw the pilot, my Moscow acquaintance Anatoliy Kiselev, the former cadet of aviation school of Tushinskiy aerodrome. In 1939 being a student of the medical institute I had a part-time job on the aerodrome on the night duty. I met Anatoliy there. We had not seen each other since. Anatoliy said that Germans were expected here pretty soon and offered his help. I said that the most important task for me was to evacuate the wounded and Anatoliy promised to assist me in that. Before soon the whole squadron flew and they loaded the wounded in the planes. Hardly had we taken off, when the Germans occupied the place we left. We were taken to the hospital.
Battles in the vicinity of Kursk [Kursk battle] [24] laid an imprint on me as there was a large flow of the wounded. We hardly ate and slept as there were constant operations. My legs were swollen because I had been standing by the operating table for a long time. I will always bear in mind forced crossing of Dnestr in fall 1943. Our troops were attacking. Our army was supposed to undergo forced crossing. We turned out to be in Rechitse [about 1500 km to the South-West from Moscow]. By that time I was acting chief of the department. We settled at school, not far from the river. I still remember the school building, where our hospital was positioned. I vividly remember the layout. The entire 4-storied building was occupied with numerous wounded. The battles were fierce. Our troops managed to cross Dnestr, but could not go further as they were besieged. We operated on the school desks. We used kerosene or gasoline lamps instead of operation lamps. Suddenly one of the lamps fell and desks were on fire. I did not think of myself at that moment. I tried to admonish the wounded from knowing about the fire but they were panic-mongers. We tried hard to put out the fire by using our jackets and some of the convalescing patients were helping us. We managed to quench the fire and at that time the commandment came over to see us - army commander, front commander, several generals. I made the report on the situation. They looked at me and burst into laughter. I did not understand what was happening. It turned out that they were laughing at my face, dirty with soot. I was conferred Great Patriotic War Order of the second class [25] for quenching the fire.
There were 2 Jews in the hospital - I and doctor Maya Borisovna. Both the doctors and wounded treated us very well. We did not feel any anti-Semitism. During one of the hardest period – when our army was retreating – the chief physician told me not to leave far from the territory as I might get into trouble because of my nationality. Everybody knew that fascists were exterminating Jews. I had never heard any disrespectful word towards me.
I knew that Germans were exterminating Jews, taking them to ghettos, concentration camps, but I did not know the details. When the war was winding we liberated 2 concentration camps. I have not seen those camps. The army entered the camps, we just received the wounded and sick from there.
When I was in the front lines, I joined the Party. It stood to reason for me as I considered myself to be a true communist. Like most of people I believed in Party. I was involved in active social work being a Party member. When I was working in the hospital I was the chairman of the local committee [Mestkom] [26], the secretary of Party organization. I was rather industrious.
When Konigsberg [27] [about 1000 km to the west from Moscow] was captured by our troops in 1945 our army stopped. Battles were held on another front line, out of Berlin. We were in high spirits. It was warm spring and everybody understood that the war was coming to an end. We did not stay by Konigsberg for a long time. Then we got on freight cars and went to another destination. Nobody told us where we were heading. The commander of the hospital was given a package with the order. He was supposed to open it in certain point. We were on the road for a long time. When the train stopped we were told that we came to Moscow. We were rejoicing! They did not even let us take off the train. In Moscow the chief of the hospital opened up the package and we found out that we were heading for Far East. In Moscow we found about the capitulation of Germany on the 9th of May 1945.