Jewish generals in the Red Army. Jews in the Soviet army and the KGB

Alex Chulman

Another fake that has become widespread among anti-Semites is the widespread lie about the supposed non-participation of Jews in the war.
This brazen lie is easily refuted by facts and documents, testifying to the great contribution to the Victory made by the Jewish citizens of the USSR. This contribution is many times greater than the percentage of Jews in the population of the USSR.
More than 500 thousand Jews fought in the ranks of the Red Army, 167 thousand of them were officers. More than 200 thousand Jewish soldiers and officers died in the battles
I summarized some data about the Jews in the Red Army during the Second World War and this is the picture

During the Second World War, 1 million 685 thousand Jewish soldiers fought in the troops of the anti-Hitler coalition on the Soviet-German front, in Europe, in North Africa, in Asia and the Pacific Ocean, on land, in the sea and in the air. More than 500 thousand Jews fought in the ranks of the Red Army, more than 200 thousand of them died in battle.

Jews in command of the Soviet Army:

Combined arms generals - 92;
aviation generals - 26;
artillery generals - 33;
generals of tank troops - 24;
generals of the signal troops - 7;
generals of technical troops - 5;
generals of the aviation engineering service - 18;
generals of the engineering and artillery service - 15;
generals of the tank engineering service - 9;
generals of the engineering and technical service - 34;
generals of the quartermaster service - 8;
generals of justice - 6;
admirals-engineers - 6.

Jews were:
9 commanders of armies and flotillas,
8 chiefs of staff of fronts, fleets, districts,
12 corps commanders,
46 divisional commanders of various branches of the military,
52 commanders of tank brigades,
In total, during the war years, 305 Jews served in the armed forces of the country with the rank of generals and admirals, 219 of them (71.8 percent) took a direct part in the hostilities, 38 died ...

Jewish commanders of units and formations of the Soviet Air Force in the Second World War:

Lieutenant General of Aviation twice GSS Ya. Smushkevich - Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army Air Force in 40-41 (shot in November 1941)
Lieutenant General of Aviation GSS M. Shevelev - Chief of Staff of Long-Range Aviation
General-Major of Aviation of the GSS Z. Pomerantsev - Deputy Comm. Front Air Force
Lieutenant General of Aviation GSS A. Rafalovich - Commander of the Air Force of the Army
Major General of Aviation B. Pisarevsky - Commander of the Army Air Force
Lieutenant General of the GSS Aviation A. Zlatotsvetov (Goldfarb) - commander of the 1st Guards.
mixed air corps
colonel GSS B. Bitsky - commander of the 56th aviation division
Colonel GSS Yu. Berkal - commander of the 282nd aviation division
colonel GSS I.Udonin - commander of the 261st aviation division
sub-nick GSS H. Khashper - commander of the 7th guards. air regiment
Major R. Lyakhovsky - commander of the 75th Guards. air regiment
under-nick A. Tseygin-commander of the 16th Guards. air regiment
sub-nick GSS Ya. Kutikhin - commander of the 156th Guards. air regiment

Jewish commanders in the Red Army cavalry in WWII:

Major General Tsetlin - commander of the cavalry. corps
Colonel Demchuk - commander of the 9th Guards Cavalry Division.
Colonel Roytenberg - commander of the 37th cavalry division
Colonel Moskalik - commander of the 75th cavalry division
Colonel Popov - quarter of the 31st Guards Cavalry Regiment
Mr. Nidelevich - 37th Guards Cavalry Regiment
P-K Factor - K-R 170 Cavalry Regiment.

Jewish commanders of units and formations of the Soviet armored forces in the Second World War:
Marshal of the Armored Forces M.E. Katukov - Commander of the 1st Guards Tank Army
General Lieutenant Binovich. - Commander of an armored tank. and mechanized troops of the 2nd
Ukrainian front
Major General Rabinovich - Commander of the Armored Troops
2nd Belorussian Front
Lieutenant General Chernyavsky - Commander of the Armored Troops
2nd Baltic Front
General Lieutenant Hasin - Commander of the Armored Troops
Leningrad front
Major General Raikin - Commander of the Armored Troops
4th Ukrainian Front
General-Major Preisman - Head of Armored Tank Directorate
Northwestern Front
Major General Eht - Deputy. commander of armored troops
3rd Ukrainian Front
Major General I.S.Zaltsman - People's Commissar for the Tank Industry (1942-43)
Colonel General Zh.Ya.Kotin - tank designer, deputy people's commissar of the tank industry (1941-43)
General Lieutenant Weinrub - Commander of the Armored Troops of the 8th Guards Army
Major General Suprian - commander of the armored forces of the army
Major General Schneider - commander of an armored tank. and fur. army troops
regiment. Vishman - Commander of the Armored Troops of the 37th Army
Major General Safir - commander of an armored tank. and fur. army troops
Lieutenant General Krivoshein - commander of the 1st mechanized corps
Major General Khasin Abram Matveevich - commander of the 2nd mech. corps
Major General Khatskilevich - commander of the 6th mechanized corps
regiment. Bibergal - Chief of Staff of the 1st Tank Corps
Major General Dukhovny - Chief of Staff of the Tank Corps
Major General Kreizer Yakov Grigorievich - commander of the 1st Panzer Division
regiment. Temnik - commander of the 21st Guards. fur. brigades
regiment. Kremer - commander of the 8th Guards. fur. brigades
p / Colonel Egudkin - commander of 16 mech. brigades
p / colonel Livshits - commander of 19 mech. brigades
p / Colonel Goldberg - commander of the 55 mech. brigades
regiment. Shpiller - commander of the 3rd Guards. tank. brigades
p / Colonel Mindlin - commander of the 1st Guards. tank. brigades
regiment. Krichman - commander of the 6th Guards. tank. brigades
Major Pechkovsky - commander of the 14th Guards. tank. brigades
regiment. Klinfeld - commander of the 25th Guards. tank. brigades
regiment. Dragunsky - commander of the 55th Guards. tank. brigades
regiment. Cheryapkin - commander of the 50th Guards. tank. brigades
regiment. Butman-Doroshkevich - commander of the 10th tank. brigades
regiment. Lieberman - commander of the 50th tank. brigades
p / Colonel Kochergin - commander of the 78th tank. brigades
regiment. Secunda is the commander of the 95th tank. brigades
regiment. Vishman - commander of the 110th tank. brigades
regiment. Oscotsky - commander of 152 tanks. brigades
p / Colonel Levi - commander of 195 tank. brigades
regiment. Kirnos Avraam Solomonovich - commander of the 12th tank. brigades
Major Kaufman Shaya Shmerkovich - commander of the 17th tank. brigades
p / p-to Golant Ovsey Iosifovich - commander of the 24th tank. brigades
regiment. Rabinovich Leonid Yudelevich - commander of the 47th tank. brigades
p / p-k Paykin Zalman Grigorievich - commander of the 98th tank. brigades
p / p-to Gorodetsky Moisei Isaakovich - commander of the 99th tank. brigades
p / p-k Aizenberg Isaak Ilyich - commander of the 110th tank. brigades
regiment. Granovsky Isaak Naumovich - commander of the 111th tank. brigades
p / c Dvorkin Boris Lvovich - commander of the 154th tank. brigades
p / p-to Motskin Yakov Lvovich - commander of the 166th tank. brigades
Major Golzer Munya Yakovlevich - commander of the 191st tank. brigades
p / p-to Dukhovny Efim Evseevich - commander of the 196th tank. brigades
p / p-k Vainrub Evsey Grigorievich - commander of the 206th tank. brigades
regiment. Shulkin Lev Moiseevich - early. intelligence of the 3rd Guards. tank army
p / p-k Goldberg - commander of the 55th Guards. tank regiment

Jewish infantry commanders in WWII:
gene. Army Kreiser - Commander of the 2nd Guards. army
Colonel General Shtern - Commander of the Far Eastern Front
Major General Gorodinsky - Army Commander
gen.-leit. Dashevsky - army commander
gen.-leit. Skvirsky - commander of the 26th army
Major General Katsnelson - early. Headquarters of the Kalinin Front
Major General Stelmakh - early. Headquarters of the Leningrad Front
gen.-leit. Belkin - early counterintelligence department SMERSH of the Baltic Front
gen.-leit. Rubin - head of intelligence of the Southwestern Front
Major General Sorkin - Head of Intelligence of the Far Eastern Front
Major General Beilin - early. headquarters of the 3rd Shock Army
Major General Birman - early. headquarters of the 12th army
Major General Berezinsky - early. headquarters of the 42nd army
Major General Bragin - early. headquarters of the 32nd army
Major General Golovchiner - early. headquarters of the 8th Army
Major General Markushevich - early. headquarters of the 19th army
gen.-leit. Rogachevsky - early. headquarters of the 28th army
gen.-leit. Rogozny - beginning. headquarters of the 40th army
Major General Siminovsky - early. headquarters of the 39th army
Major General Sosedov - early. headquarters of the 10th Guards. armies
gen.-leit. Andreev - commander of the 43rd rifle corps
major general Babich - commander of the rifle corps
regiment. Blank - commander of the 15th Rifle Corps
major general Khmelnitsky - commander of the rifle corps
Major General Shteinman - Commander of the Rifle Corps
p / regiment. Portnov - commander of the 1st Guards Rifle Division
regiment. Levin - commander of the 4th Guards Rifle Division
regiment. Moretsky - commander of the 7th Guards Rifle Division
p / regiment Klebansky - commander of the 13th Guards Rifle Division
Major General Shafarenko - Commander of the 23rd Guards Rifle Division
regiment. Maksimovich - commander of the 34th Guards Rifle Division
regiment. Smolin - commander of the 35th Guards Rifle Division
p / regiment. Shtrigol - Commander of the 39th Guards Rifle Division
regiment. Bransburg - Commander of the 40th Guards Rifle Division
regiment. Levin - commander of the 96th Guards Rifle Division
regiment. Kreizer - Commander of the 1st Moscow Rifle Division
regiment. Grossman - commander of the 25th Infantry Division
regiment. Yankovsky - commander of the 30th Infantry Division
regiment. Steiger - Commander of the 32nd Rifle Division
regiment. Vasilevsky - commander of the 53rd Infantry Division
regiment. Levin - commander of the 62nd Infantry Division
regiment. Bobovich - commander of the 67th Infantry Division
regiment. Lebedinsky - commander of the 85th Infantry Division
regiment. Blank - Commander of the 87th Rifle Division
regiment. Tsukarev - commander of the 97th Infantry Division
regiment. Sorokin - commander of the 126th Infantry Division
regiment. Gershevich - commander of the 161st Infantry Division
Major General Rogachevsky - commander of the 169th Infantry Division
regiment. Tsyplenkov - commander of the 170th Infantry Division
p / regiment. Gorelik - commander of the 174th Infantry Division
Major General Kronik - Commander of the 178th Rifle Division
regiment. Maloshitsky - commander of the 180th Infantry Division
regiment. Shekhtman - commander of the 185th Infantry Division
regiment. Melder - Commander of the 200 Infantry Division
regiment. Makhlinovsky - commander of the 211th rifle division
regiment. Roitenberg - commander of the 216th rifle division
regiment. Birstein - Commander of the 251st Rifle Division
p / regiment. Levin - commander of the 258 Infantry Division
regiment. Gorshenin - commander of the 260th Infantry Division
Major General Fishman - Commander of the 263rd Rifle Division

Jews - Heroes of the Soviet Union
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to 157 Jewish soldiers, three Jews - Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force of the Red Army, Lieutenant General Smushkevich, Colonel General. tank. Troops Dragoon and Marshal armored. Katukov troops - received this title twice, 14 more became full holders of the Order of Glory, which was equated to the title of Hero. In terms of one hundred thousand Jewish population, 6.83 Heroes are obtained. Only the Russians are ahead - 7.66 Heroes per hundred thousand, then, after the Jews, Ukrainians go - 5.88 and Belarusians - 4.19.
In total, the title of Hero was posthumously awarded to 45 Jewish soldiers, that is, almost a third of those awarded this title, eight more died, having already become Heroes in the course of further battles.
The Jewish heroes were distributed as follows:
private and non-commissioned officers - 39,
junior officers - 71,
senior officers - 33,
generals - 6
and one civilian - the secretary of the Minsk underground city committee of the CPSU, the head of the sabotage group I. Kazinets. On March 27, 1942, he was captured by the Gestapo. Shooting back, he killed two fascists and wounded three. He was tortured for a long time, his eyes were gouged out, but he did not betray anyone or anything. On May 7, Isai Kazinets was hanged in the city square. The title of Hero was awarded to him ... May 8, 1965.
http://ilsys.net/Alex_N_Studio/hero/list.asp
According to the types of troops, the alignment of the Jewish Heroes is as follows:
infantrymen - 36,
artillerymen and mortarmen - 38,
pilots - 28,
tankers - 21,
political workers - 12,
sappers - 7,
sailors - 6,
signalmen - 1,
underground workers - 1.
Of the 157, exactly two-thirds (106 people) came from working-class families, 12 from peasants, the rest, as they say, commoners. Among the Heroes, there is one orphanage, a village teacher and even an artist, a member of the Union of Artists
The awarding of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Jews was associated with various anti-Semitic discriminatory restrictions.
Many Jews did not receive high awards only because of the anti-Semitic policy of the Soviet authorities.
So, during the war years, Matrosov’s feat was repeated by four Jews, and ordinary Abram Levin lay down with his chest on the embrasure a year before Matrosov, on February 22, 1942, during the liberation of the Kalinin region (he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, I degree posthumously ... after 15 years), and the sergeant Tovye Rise managed to stay alive, although he received 18 wounds, and was awarded the Order of Glory III degree.
The feat of Nikolai Gastello was repeated by 14 Jewish pilots. The title of Hero was awarded only to two, and even then, Shik Kordonsky - only in 1990 (!) Year, although the entire squadron was the witness of his feat on September 28, 1943. Four Jewish pilots made an aerial ramming - not a single one was given a Hero. Let me remind you that Viktor Talalikhin, who rammed a German plane in the sky near Moscow on August 7, 1941, was awarded the title of Hero literally the very next day.

http://shaon.livejournal.com/26187.html

These are the stories of infantrymen, artillerymen, tankers, partisans, pilots and many other Soviet soldiers of various branches of the military. They recalled many things, but now I will deliberately quote only what concerns the "Jewish question."

With the outbreak of the war, German propaganda drove it into people’s heads that “The Jew is to blame for everything, that the war is because of the Jews, that the Germans came to Soviet soil only to slaughter Jews and Communists, and to dissolve the collective farms,” etc., etc. (On the left - a typical German leaflet of those times. - Ed.) There were a lot of people in the infantry who were illiterate, so they took such German propaganda at face value ... Barking at Stalin is dangerous, cursing Hitler, because we do it every day - already not interested. And here you are: On, please, the "duty" culprit of all the troubles in the world - the Jews. And away we go... And often Jews were shot in the back in attacks. I know several such reliable cases. Well, in captivity, there was often a “good Ukrainian friend” who, with a light soul, and not even for a bowl of gruel, gave a Jewish comrade to the Germans for execution ... There were those who saved ... There were all sorts ...

One soldier fought with me. You know, the kind of bastard who always gets the first fat morsel and the last bullet. He fought in our company for quite a long time, three months. I had to save his life twice in battles and save him once from a penal company. They took us to the second echelon. In the evening, nine people, the remnants of a machine-gun company, sat down by the fire, cooking something in a bucket. I tell the fighters - “Now we’ll chop the delicious, wait. I’m going to go and pick up additional rations from the foreman. ” I go back and hear how this “bullshit”, choking with joy, recites a German leaflet aloud - “A Jew shoots from around the corner from a crooked gun, sleeps in the rear in Tashkent with the wives of front-line soldiers, and looks for his last name in the list of awardees in the newspaper” Truth"... ". I went up to the fire, the “uhar” was delighted, “Now let's feast! ". I answer him - “You bastard, you will wipe your face with an overcoat, but you will not feast on it! Get out of the company before I shoot you! ". After all that I have done for this man, how could he pronounce this German crap aloud! And I heard enough of this in the war more than once ...

When the war began, no one could have imagined what a terrible fate awaited the inhabitants of my town. We did not have any reliable information about what was happening at the front, there were terrible rumors, but we did not believe in them. The Germans were rapidly approaching the old border, and then my mother collected a knapsack for me with some provisions for the road and said: “Run, son!”. And I went east. My heart still bleeds when I remember how my mother looked after me ... I never saw my relatives again ... Only it was not the Germans who shot the Jews, the inhabitants of our town ... The Ukrainian policemen, former neighbors of the doomed victims, shot. Two policemen were hanged after the war by the verdict of the tribunal, but many policemen who participated in the executions, having served a "ten" for treason, returned after the camp to our village and calmly walked along its streets, and even bared their teeth when they saw how by some miracle a Jew who survived the war came to look for the grave of his relatives.

Together with the second platoon commander, Vitya Andrievsky, they decided to arrange a halt for the soldiers in the forest. I went with a rifle for reconnaissance in Proskurov. And there is complete chaos, pogrom. I did not find anyone either in the military registration and enlistment office or in the city committee. Everyone has already fled ... The locals laughed in my face and shouted "Your Jewish power is over!"

Relations between soldiers of different nationalities were fraternal. There was no enmity between Latvians, Russians, Jews on ethnic grounds in the division. And I don’t remember any outright anti-Semitic attacks against me. In our regiment, half of the rifle companies in 1942 were commanded by Jews: Leonid Wolf, Meer Deutsch, Joseph (Yazep) Pasternak, and so on, every third soldier walking with a rifle in his hands, in a rifle chain, to certain death, in an attack on German machine guns , there was a Jew, and no one said a bad word about us then, everyone saw how we were fighting and sacrificing ourselves. My comrade Pasternak became the first holder of the Order of Alexander Nevsky in the division.

I remember that there were vicious short Mongolian horses in the school, and we were obliged to learn horseback riding. Why does a machine gunner fighting in the front trench, who has only a week of his life at the front, horseback riding? But, because of someone's bossy whim, "cavalry" classes began. All these “Budyonnovsky” wisdom did not work out very well for me. Kramarenko lined us up and said - "You will see how I will make a good Cossack out of this Jew!" In the morning he came up to me - "Sorry for the word" kike", it's just that we all say so on the Don, I didn't even want to offend you," and shook my hand.

In my platoon there was a cadet Dikhel, a "white ticket" due to heart disease, a man of two meters in height and looking like a skeleton covered in leather. He, the patient, was nevertheless taken into the army, apparently in the military registration and enlistment office the plan for conscription was “burning”. Let's go cross-country skiing. Five kilometers later, Dichel fell into the snow and could not get up. I went up to him, took his duffel bag. The cadet Donets, who had managed to unlearn at a circus school and become a magician before the war, took a rifle from Dichel. But the cadet could not get up. Suddenly, a commander from a neighboring cadet company flies up and yells: “Get up! Your mother! and beats Dichel on the back with a stick! I tell him, “Comrade lieutenant, it’s not for me to tell you this, and it’s not for you to hear this from me. What are you doing! ? Why are you beating him? ? You are the commander of the Red Army, aren't you ashamed?!” He replied, “Shut up! I wanted to go to the penalty area! ", and obscenities in my address. Hit Dikhel again. . . About twenty more cadets drove up to us. Suddenly, this lieutenant peers into Dichel's face and asks, “What is his nationality? ". I told him, “What does this have to do with the case? ". Lieutenant - "on the hind legs" - "I asked a question! Reply!". I answered him, “He is a Jew. And I'm Jewish too." Donets, who had previously concealed his nationality and was recorded as Russian in documents, also says to this lieutenant: “And I am a Jew! ". Another cadet, a Russian guy, says - “And you, lieutenant, what the hell is his nation interested in? ". He shut up for a moment, only looks at us with hatred. I said - “Listen, you, commander's nit, although you are reluctant to go to the penal company for such shit as you, but now we will definitely tear you to pieces!” He started holstering. Like a “hell from a snuffbox”, our company commander Mikhailov suddenly appeared, and did not allow us to continue the showdown, “hushed up” this matter, as they say - “let it go on the brakes”.

I have not come across overt anti-Semitism. I had a friend, so he liked to joke: “Matvey, you are the only Jew sitting in the trenches.” I immediately “boiled”, they say, look around. Next to us is a regimental battery, as Kaufman commands it, in the battalion there was also a platoon commander Katz and a machine gunner named Berman, if I remember his name correctly. And my friend rolls around with laughter, pleased that I "got crazy." No, I don’t remember the events when I was discriminated against in the army on the “fifth point”. Maybe someone spoke on this topic behind my back, but never in front of me. Most of the soldiers were Slavs, but there were always many fighters from the Central Asian republics in the infantry. We also had a lot of Tatars and Bashkirs. I remember Buryats. At the forefront, no one is interested in your religion, nation, etc. Yes, and they did not have time to talk about these topics. There are only one thought, how to survive until dawn, but about rye cracker and a pot of pea concentrate.

Anya Schmidt met a German in the same battle, so she took him prisoner, but then she died in the same battle. She not only took him prisoner, but when our infantry went forward, she loaded a machine gun on him, he carried the machine gun forward. The only thing I know about her is that she is from Vitebsk. I do not know from which division she came to the machine gun courses. She was a desperate girl. She was Jewish by nationality, but very brave. Since I was a draftswoman, she asked me to forge for her the column "nationality" in the Red Army book. She told me: “You yourself understand that there is no such trust in Jews as in Russians, change my nationality to Russian.” I shrugged my shoulders - but I forged the inscription for her.

Nationality did not affect the attitude towards a person at the front. Who was interested in it in the trenches, when after a week or two everyone was killed and maimed. Counting Jews by head was a favorite pastime for the rear. But once the phrase of my second number killed me on the spot! A guy from the Siberian outback, fought with me for two weeks. They dug out a firebox, sat down, lit a cigarette, and then he declares: “Kids don’t fight!” How painful it was for me to hear this!... The company at that moment was commanded by a Jew, Senior Lieutenant Shvartsur, in the neighboring machine-gun crew, fifty meters from us, was the Jew Anshel, and I walk next to this Siberian under death every day and share everything with him misfortunes, but for him it's all the same - "Kids don't fight!"... I swore at him.

We had a Jew, the commander of a neighboring platoon. Well, nothing man, like, so. Good man. And they are cunning smart, and a Russian person will be fooled, like this. What a crest, what a Jew. So for the whole war that I went through there, I saw crests: or a foreman on a battery; or warehouse manager; or head of the OVS; or the head of the OPS, which means that such all positions were occupied. And Russian Ivan: blizzard, oppression, does everything. And these are such cunning peoples, and there arises a feeling, somehow, unfriendly towards these nations. You think: “But why is a Russian peasant oppressing his back !?”

There was always a double demand from the Jews. Tired of hearing jokes about "Jews fighting in Tashkent", or "about Abram with a crooked gun from around the corner." I was nervous and abruptly cut off such narrators: - Don't I go to intelligence with you?! Didn't they give Vaiser the Hero?! The guys reassured me - “Come on, Senka, don’t take it to heart, we just do it, we poison jokes.” In battle, even in moments of mortal danger, I had to risk myself, to climb first into the thick of it, in order to refute this vile slander. I had just arrived at the 111th Tank Brigade, when my comrade, submachine sergeant Mishka Davidovich, said to me, “We’ll cover at least five machine-gun embrasures with our chests, they’ll still say that the Jews have sat out in the rear depots and headquarters.” My Siberian intelligence comrade Taiganov, seeing my feelings, said - "Senka, whoever offends you, I will kill him in the first battle!" ...

He came to this control platoon to the former penitentiaries. All the soldiers are drunk as an insole. I say to the foreman Kosobryukhov - "Build the personnel of the platoon." Thugs in tattoos slowly crawl out of the dugout, and, staggering, take their place in the ranks. I “pushed a speech” - “My name is Lieutenant Gruzman. Jewish by nationality. I am your new commander. So, boys, you successfully survived Korovkin's platoon, you can survive me too. But even though you will stand on your ears, they will still send a new commander. So let's decide right away whether we will work together or not. A soldier by the name of Livertsev, who was considered a "godfather", immediately declared - "Vagabonds, this is like a normal kid." And this platoon became my family.

The party organizer of the regiment was not a coward in battle, but more than anything in the world he was afraid that someone would tell him that he, a Jew, treats his compatriots liberally or somehow helps them in the war. And Major Shapiro, wishing to be holier than the Pope, preferred to "pressure" the Jews of the regiment at every opportunity, in order to show everyone his "impartiality and party principles on the national question." Malkov did not want to get in touch with him and only silently watched as the party organizer once again “fuck” the award lists either on me, or on my commander of the thrust department, Mishka Shterman, and so on. In general, the party organizer “hardly digested” my battery, in my battery, besides me, there were four more Jews, and for some reason this commissar was very hurt. And so there were enough anti-Semites in life, so there is also “his own cadre” to them “contracted to be assistants”.

There was a good attitude towards the Jews in the regiment, I don’t remember any serious “anti-Semitic episodes”. There were many Jews in the regiment. I well remember the platoon KVU Yuda Zeldis, the commander of the firing platoon Sasha Lahmanlos, the gunner Boris Rozenson, the fighter of the crew Yakov Gambraykh, the medical instructor Efim Kolodovsky, and of course Misha Shterman. No, we, specifically in our regiment, did not have skirmishes between fighters "on the national issue." But immediately after the war, such a wild, unbridled anti-Semitic Sabbath began at every turn in the country that the late Goebbels would have been pleased with. "Proletarian internationalism" in the Soviet country ordered to live long...

An extremely brave fighter and a man of principle, Pozhidayev stood up at a party meeting and said, “Roitman was not given an award because he is a Jew!” A week later, at the headquarters, they “accidentally found again” my award sheet for the medal “For Courage”.

After we arrived in Ukraine, we had some kind of foreman. Man, 35 years old. We made a fire in the funnel, we cook something for ourselves, and he came up with a bowler hat. He carefully looked at me, and suddenly said, “And you will be a soldier from the Jews. I know your brother. Let’s go into battle, you’ll quickly become a hero with me, I’ll look after you, you can’t hide with me. ” I answer: "Only together with you, comrade foreman." "What's with me?!" he fumed. Then I tell him: "I will become a hero with you, you will go on the attack next to me." He swore. We had a former cadet, a Gomel Jew, who had already spent a year at the front before going to school. He came up to me and said, “Naum, calm down, and don’t pay attention to this nit. If he “twitches,” I will calm him down in the first battle, ”and points to his rifle with his hand. Only my comrade did not have to spend a cartridge on this foreman. The bombing started. A village burned to the ground nearby, nowhere to hide. We fell into some kind of funnel, one on top of the other, we lie silently, waiting for death. And this foreman, out of fear, kicks everyone with his feet, “works” with his elbows, everything tries to go deeper, into the compressed mass of people at the bottom of the funnel, like a corkscrew to enter. His eyes are insane, he grabbed my tunic with his hand, yelling - "Zhidonok!". Then from the explosion of the nearest bomb, a fragment flew into his back. Not to death.

The company was purely Jewish, with the exception of a few people, "Siberian Lithuanians", and the political instructor of the company, a former Lithuanian underground communist. Our platoon lieutenant was also a Lithuanian, from the old-timers of the Air Force. The company was commanded by my countryman and former neighbor, a graduate of the Vilnius Infantry School, Lieutenant Katz. He begins to give commands - “To the right! To the left!”, so I told him out of order, “Itzik, the whole company of Jews, command in Yiddish.” Everyone laughs and Katz smiles too.

There were ten Jews in the regiment, but for some reason many had Ukrainian surnames - Chernyak, Chernenko, Tkachuk, etc. We did not bunch up on a national basis, at the front, few people were interested in your nationality. The regiment commander's cook was a hefty man, already in years, the former chef of the Odessa restaurant Tkachuk. I passed by the headquarters of the regiment, he called me and began to speak to me in Yiddish, and not in Russian. He fed me scrambled eggs with bacon and poured two mugs of moonshine. Here I was even “happy” that I was born a Jew.

The clerk Voronin somehow began to persuade me to sign up as a Russian, they say we’ll write in your middle name “Ivanovich”, and “it's in the bag”, otherwise God forbid you get captured or something. I answered them, “I want to die a Jew”... Anti-Semitism was at the level of gossip, I often heard jokes on this topic. And of course, they were pinched in awards, not without it. But such a joke, like: “Eldash is a dugout, a Jew is a pantry, Ivan is an advanced one,” we didn’t have in the brigade. The neighboring 637th artillery regiment of our brigade was commanded by 22-year-old Major Mikhail Libman. He was killed in February 1945 in Poland. Posthumously received the title of Hero of the Union. But about the "blat" when receiving orders and so on, I will say the following. I was nominated for the award for the war seven times, and received only three awards. You don't even have to guess about the reasons. But you quickly lose interest in these regalia on your chest. There is okay, but no - and God take it off. The main thing remained alive.

I did not hide my nationality at the front, on the contrary, I often emphasized and emphasized it ... I did not feel much anti-Semitism on the part of the authorities, I personally was not squeezed in awards. According to the national signs, after the first battles in the infantry, they did not bunch up. After a “good” attack, no one had any fellow countrymen left, but the USSR national team was obtained. But anti-Semitism in the infantry was felt and very serious, and this is a fact. Anti-Semitism is generally zoology, and cannot be rationally comprehended. A lot of Jews with "neutral", with not "explicit" surnames, fought in the infantry, recorded as Russians. Let's just say that for every "official" Jew in the infantry, there were two of his compatriots, walking according to the documents, like the Slavs. This is my personal impression. I had several of these soldiers in my company. And I didn't blame them. The point is not that they wanted to become Russians or Ukrainians. Here the reasons are different ... But when, for example, a fighter Gutman came to my platoon, then with such a surname at least sign up as a Tatar, everything was clear to everyone in any case ...

The party organizer of the battalion comes to the front trench. We are on the defensive. Approaches my calculation and says - "The machine gun, then you probably have a malfunction?". I answer: "Everything is normal, as a Swiss watch works." Party organizer - "And you give the queue, we'll check." I immediately warned him that after I fired at the Germans, they would mix us with the ground here, the position was unsuccessful, actually open, 150 meters from the enemy. He nods his head - shoot, they say ... He fired half a tape at the Germans, and immediately in response such a shelling began that "the sky seemed like a sheepskin." The party organizer lies nearby at the bottom of the trench and says to me: “Well done, even though you are a Jew!” I could not stand it and started yelling at him: “I'm not interested in your opinion! Shame on you, you are a communist and an officer. How embarrassing you are!" I wound up with one word, after the concussion, my nerves went to hell. The party organizer quickly darted into the nearest communication channel and disappeared out of sight. He avoided me after that incident. And maybe he was right...

In April 1942, during the formation, tankers from our corps went to the Khomyakovo station to receive a tank column built at the expense of believers and donated to the Red Army from the Orthodox Church. Thirty drivers and thirty tank commanders from the 1st Guards were selected for acceptance of the tank column. TBR and the 89th TP, which were then part of our corps. The commissar of the corps, Colonel Boyko, came out to admonish the tankers, and it seems that there was also Chief of Staff Kravchenko. They looked at the line of tankers, and then Boyko swore at his political officers - “The column of tanks is given by the Russian church, the Metropolitan himself consecrated it! So why in the ranks of tankers going to accept a gift from the Orthodox, half are Jews?! Do we have no Russians in the corps?”

Jewish was the first battalion of Vilensky. He was cunning. He selected all the brave, nimble Jews. And in his battalion there were about 70% Jews and 30% Russians and Lithuanians. His companies were led by Jews. I remember the commander of the 9th company, Captain Grossman. His company was the most combative in the regiment. All special tasks, breakthroughs and crossings were entrusted only to her. Vilensky tried, apparently, to give Grossman a Hero, but it did not work out. Although Grosman had four orders.

There is another factor that encouraged me to always be at the forefront, in the thick of it. The notorious "national question". At the front, in the tank units, it was almost not felt, but you find yourself in the rear hospital, and there ... I lie in the hospital without movement, my whole body is "chained" in plaster, and here, in the ward, some regular performances sometimes begin wretched nits on "a favorite topic for dispute" - ... "Kids, kikes, kikes." And I can't even hit him.

After the end of the Crimean battles, the command of the brigade decided on the issue of rewarding those who distinguished themselves, and they decided to present our entire crew to the rank of GSS. The political officer “has reared up”, they say, the Hero should not be given to a Jew! For a long time they argued and rowed there. finally sent documents to the entire crew. but the political officer did not calm down, he even went to the army headquarters to "influence the issue." As a result, only Myasnikov was given the Hero, and Mishin and I were given the Order of the Red Banner of War. If I had the surname Ivanov, everything would be different. And so.

I also did not hear any insulting words about my nationality in the tank regiment. Everything for me in “this aspect” was limited to one “favorite dubious compliment” in conversations between tankers, they say, you Sashka are not a Jew, you are brave, you are ours, Russian. A Jew from a neighboring platoon was told the same thing. So, I did not feel much anti-Semitism at the front. But when I returned home from the war, I was scared when I often heard - "It's a pity that Hitler didn't cut you all." You can’t imagine my shock when I, an armless invalid, with orders on my tunic, walked down the street and a drunken dud rushed at me shouting - “Jewish muzzle, where did you buy the orders ?!”. Once I was on the bus, and the same drunken trash, with a knife, rushed at me and yelled - "I'll kill you, zhidyar!". And everyone around saw that I was an invalid of the war, and there were medals on my chest, but the whole bus was silent ... Nobody interceded. After this incident, I finally realized that in the “friend or foe” coordinate system, I apparently am in a “foreign” field ... It hurts to talk about it ... There were four close comrades of us at school, in the class: Lazar Sankin, Misha Rozenberg, Semyon Fridman and me. Only I was lucky enough to return alive from the war. So why did my friends die? So that, after the war, every bastard would shout to us - "Jews" ...

Outwardly, I look more like a Russian and I almost had to beat my chest with my fist, proving to the Siberians Rogozin, Shestemirov and others that I was a Jew by nationality, at first they did not believe. There was no anti-Semitism. Other nationals, for example, the Central Asians, had a much harder time. It was more difficult for them to adapt to the war, and not only poor knowledge of the Russian language played a role here. I had a carrier of cartridges Khaliyarov in my calculation. There is a fight, I shout to him - "Khaliyarov, go ahead!", I look around, and he spread a rug in the trench and prays.

I come to the battalion. And we have a new battalion commander, "just a minute", - the nephew of the division commander. Three officers of the battalion stood in a separate group together with the battalion commander. There were no more commanders in the battalion. I was noticed from afar, and someone apparently whispered to the battalion commander - "Look, Lieutenant Schwartzberg is coming back." I approached the commanders and did not even have time to report my arrival. I immediately heard from the battalion commander - “Where have you been, you Jewish muzzle ?! All Jews are cowards!” Other officers immediately told him - “You, Comrade Captain, how dare you say such a thing ?! We know Schwartzberg well, he has been from the first battles in the battalion! Battalion Commander - "Silence! You are talking to the battalion commander, not to the collective farm Dunka! And you, Abram, let's get ready for reconnaissance! To be ready in half an hour! ”... I realized one thing that this “comrade” would not calm down until I was killed. A day later, this battalion commander was killed. Of course, if such relations would last not 24 hours, but a month or two, this issue would have to be radically resolved somehow. But the battalion commander is difficult to "clean up". I would have to kill a few more people from his entourage along the way, but what are they to blame for? And after a few months in the infantry, for any soldier to kill a man, it's like swatting a fly ... Could I kill him? I don’t know... According to the circumstances... But would I do it?.. Just once again they showed me my place, and explained that all my patriotism, my courage, etc., are not needed by anyone, and anyway I will stay "Jewish muzzle"... But you can't kill all anti-Semites.

During the war years, the supreme leadership of the combat operations of the Armed Forces of the USSR was carried out by: the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, the People's Commissariat of Defense, the General Staff and the main headquarters of the Air Force and Naval Forces. In all these bodies in different years of the war, 16 generals and admirals served - Jews, who, therefore, are directly involved in the strategic leadership of the war as a whole.

The highest position among them was occupied by Colonel-General Lev Zakharovich Mekhlis, who was born in 1889 in Odessa. All his education consisted of 6 classes of the Jewish school and the Institute of Red Professors. He was a participant in the Civil War, in which he was the commissar of a division and a group of troops. Before the war and at the beginning of it, Mekhlis was the head of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army, the first deputy people's commissar of defense, an army commissar of the 1st rank, which corresponded to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. After the failure of the Crimean operation in 1942, Mekhlis was demoted to a lieutenant general, but in 1944 he became a colonel general. Awarded 10 orders. He died in February 1953.

Colonel-General Leonty Zakharovich Kotlyar before the war and until April 1942 was the head of the engineering troops of the Red Army. It has been described in detail in previous essays.

Lieutenant General Aron Gershovich Karponosov was born in 1902 in the village of Verkhnee, in Ukraine. In the Red Army since 1920. He graduated from the infantry school and the academy. Frunze. Throughout the war, he held one of the key positions in the General Staff - he was the head of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate, which was responsible for the formation of units and formations and their staffing. In the light of the colossal losses of the first years of the war and the urgent need to replenish them, the role of General Aron Karponosov, thanks to whose titanic work the front received more and more divisions and corps, seems truly outstanding. He was awarded nine orders. Retired in 1958, died in 1967.

Major-General Aron Davidovich Katz was born in 1901 in the town of Ryasny, in Belarus. In the army since 1919, he graduated from the military engineering academy. Since 1942 - Head of the Department of the formation of the Red Army troops.

Thus, these two generals, two Aron, Karponosov and Katz, played one of the main roles in the mobilization, formation and manning of the Armed Forces during the war years. That, however, did not prevent Lieutenant General Karponosov from being appointed to a colonel's position in the Volga Military District already in 1949, and General Katz was dismissed from the army in 1947, and then imprisoned as a member of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. He miraculously survived, was released and rehabilitated. He died in Moscow in 1971.

The rest of the Jews in the central command of the Armed Forces served in the leadership of certain types and types of troops. The first of them I would like to mention Mark Ivanovich Shevelev, who was born in St. Petersburg in 1904, graduated from the Institute of Railway Engineers, a well-known polar pilot, one of the first Heroes of the Soviet Union. Like many polar pilots, he joined combat aviation from the beginning of the war and became deputy commander of the first long-range bomber division. This division became the basis for the deployment of long-range aviation, and Shevelev was one of those who formed this branch of aviation.

Long-range aviation was created in 1942 as part of eight bomber corps, and Mark Shevelev became its chief of staff. In less than a year, he was promoted to the ranks of major general and lieutenant general, he was awarded 10 military orders. Retired in 1971, died in 1991.

Major General Mikhail G. Girshovich was born in 1904 in Kutno (Poland), in the army since 1920, graduated from an artillery school. During the war years - Deputy Commander of the Air Defense Army, in 1944-1945 - Head of the Central Headquarters of the country's Air Defense. He died in this position in 1947.

One of the key positions during the war years was occupied by Major General Boris Lvovich Teplinskiy. He was Chief of the Operations Directorate of the Main Staff of the Red Army Air Forces. In 1943, he was arrested and accused of intending to kill Stalin, but no amount of torture could force him to take on this heinous accusation. He spent time in prison until the death of the tyrant, after which Teplinsky was released and rehabilitated. He died in 1972 in Moscow.

Lieutenant General Yakov Lvovich Bibikov was born in Dnepropetrovsk in 1902, graduated from a pilot school and the Air Force Academy. During the war, he was a section chief at the Air Force General Staff. Dismissed in 1961, died in Moscow in 1976.

Lieutenant General Mikhail Aronovich Levin, who was born in 1903 in Gomel, served in the same Air Force Main Headquarters as head of the Directorate throughout the war. In the army since 1921, graduated from the Air Force Academy, holder of 10 military orders, retired in 1952. Died in Moscow in 1975.

In the same place, since 1943, Lieutenant General Alexander Mikhailovich Rafalovich served as head of the Air Rifle Service. He was born in 1898 in Volkovysk, in the army since 1918, graduated from the Higher Flight School and the Air Force Academy. At the front - combat pilot, master of air combat, ace. Cavalier of nine orders. Dismissed in 1950, died in Moscow in 1971.

Rear Admiral Alexander Yakovlevich Yurovsky was the head of the Directorate of the Main Staff of the Navy during the war years. He was born in 1904 in Batumi, graduated from the Higher Naval School, and served on ships. He was transferred to the reserve in 1952 at the age of 48, died in 1986.

The head of the Main Technical Directorate of the Navy from 1937 to 1945 was Vice Admiral Alexander Grigoryevich Orlov. He was born in 1900 in Orsha, graduated from college and the Naval Academy, served on ships and in fleet headquarters. He had a reputation as a very promising admiral, but died in a plane crash a month before the Victory.

Major General Anatoly Iosifovich Brovalsky during the war years was the head of the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Directorate at the Main Headquarters of the Red Army Artillery. He retired in 1952 and died in 1985.

Major General Mikhail Pavlovich Safir was the head of the Directorate of Armored and Mechanized Troops of the Red Army from 1943 to 1952. He was born in 1895 in St. Petersburg, in the army since 1919, graduated from the Academy. Frunze, dismissed in 1954, died in 1981.

Major General Genrikh Alexandrovich Leikin served as the head of the Directorate in the Main Directorate of Communications of the Red Army throughout the war. He was born, perhaps, earlier than the rest of the Jewish generals - in 1886, he graduated from the school of ensigns and fought with the Germans in the First World War. In the Red Army since 1922, he commanded communications units. Served until 1950, died in 1953.

Finally, Major General Boris Solomonovich Paleev, Deputy Chief of the Main Quartermaster Directorate of the Red Army. He was born in 1898 in the town of Uzda in Belarus, graduated from the military department of the Institute of National Economy. He was considered one of the leading specialists of the People's Commissariat of Defense, in which he served from 1935 to 1959, when he was dismissed. He died in Moscow in 1983.

In previous essays, I did not talk about military doctors, of whom there were many and who also occupied key posts during the war. They played an outstanding role in saving the lives of soldiers and in ensuring that a significant part of the wounded returned to duty. I did it quite consciously, for the reason that Jewish doctors are known to the whole world as talented, sometimes brilliant healers.

The facts and names given in these essays allow us to reasonably assert that Jews were in the Soviet-German war at all levels of tactical command, operational and strategic leadership of the Red Army. And in all positions, from the commander of a platoon to the chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff, Jewish commanders, Jewish commanders showed a high level of military competence. They skillfully and valiantly commanded huge masses of warriors and military equipment. Under their leadership, brigades, divisions and corps were the first to break into the Nazi lair, in Berlin, and finished off the executioners of our people there.

All 279 Jewish generals and admirals and the marshal (!) in this war showed high standards of military skill, and those who did not take a direct part in the hostilities did everything possible and impossible to ensure the defeat of the Nazis. We can proudly say: Jewish commanders, Jewish commanders in the ranks of the Soviet armed forces did not drop the military honor of their Jewish name, did not drop the military glory of their long-suffering, but courageous and valiant fighter people. They fully paid the executioners, murderers, exterminators of their brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers. They beat the Germans and their various lackeys, using all the speed, mobility and depth of the best natural computers - hardened by thousands of years of testing Jewish brains. They fought with all the steadfastness of steel Jewish courage, with the ruthlessness of blood avengers, with the courage and self-sacrifice of ideological enemies who hate the executioners of Israel.

I do not know if these commanders believed in God, but I am sure that the thousand-year-old cry of our people - LISTEN, ISRAEL! - was in their hearts, ringing in their ears when they led their regiments, divisions, corps and armies into battle. No, it was not in vain that these hundreds of general ranks were awarded, it was not in vain that military orders shone on the uniforms of Jews, it was not in vain that general stars multiplied on shoulder straps! We Jews don't get anything for nothing! We Jews get honors and awards, distinctions and posts only for a cause, a hundred times harder than anyone else.

But it was during the war, when blood and death, nevertheless, somehow leveled the difference in nations and abilities, skill and courage came to the fore.

However, an hour passed, the military suffering ended. What is the further fate of the Jewish generals, how did their service develop? We cannot trace the fate and service of tens of thousands of Jewish officers, so at least we will try to do this with respect to our generals.

As one would expect, the age-old principle immediately began to operate in relation to them: the Jew has done his job, the Jew must leave. Such a manifestation of black ingratitude should not be surprising, it is typical in relation to the Jews. I have already mentioned Stalin's unspoken directive: not to present to high awards and not to appoint Jewish military leaders to high posts. This directive was given at the end of 1943, when the Soviet troops launched a general offensive. At the cost of terrible losses, in no small measure due to the efforts of Jewish soldiers, time was won, new commanders gained combat experience, and the need for Jewish military leaders lost its acuteness.

And we no longer see them from that time in the positions of chiefs of staff of the fronts, they no longer become commanders and commanders, there are fewer and fewer Jewish divisional commanders, commanders of brigades and regiments are dying and failing. So in the second, victorious part of the war, only those who held them before remained in key positions, new Jews were not nominated. For example, General Krivoshein fought for what skillfully and valiantly, and as he was a corps commander at the beginning of the war, he finished it in the same post. And here the usual stereotype of state anti-Semitism, its military version, prevailed.

According to the latest data from my research, during the Second World War, 290 Jews had the highest military ranks in the Soviet armed forces, 10 of them died, 280 survived to the Victory. I will try to analyze who these military leaders were. Of these, there were 278 generals and 12 admirals, including:

Marshal of the Soviet Union - 1;

Colonel generals - 9;

Lieutenant generals - 48;

Major Generals - 220;

Vice admirals - 1;

Rear admirals - 11.

First of all, I will allow myself to distinguish between them, separating those who did not take a direct part in the command of troops or the operational leadership of hostilities. There are 70 such generals. Among them: 32 medical chiefs, 2 general aviation designers, the people's commissar of ammunition, 10 directors of the largest military factories, military lawyers and generals who served in non-military people's commissariats.

175 top Jewish military leaders took direct part in the leadership of the fighting. By the beginning of the war, most of them were relatively young people. The oldest (58 years old) - Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kreichman, in 1943 - major general, 50 years old and older - 7 people, from 45 to 50 - 23 officers, from 40 to 45 - 75 (most), from 35 to 40 (the second largest group) - 56 people, 34-year-olds were 9, 33-year-olds - 4, 32-year-olds - 2 and one general was only 31 years old.

Thus, the main mass of Jewish military leaders were mature people, from 35 to 50 years old, full of strength and with considerable life experience and military practice, out of 175 of them there were 154 people. These people already had sufficient combat experience of this particular war, all the more valuable, but most of them fought before: 107 people were participants in the Civil War. Surprisingly, 7 more former tsarist officers, warrant officers of the First World War survived: David Veniaminovich Vasilevsky, Genrikh Aleksandrovich Leikin, Yuri Ilyich Rabiner, Mikhail Pavlovich Safir, Lev Borisovich Sosedov, Alexei Germanovich Elsnits and Pavel Semenovich Trainin, Rear Admiral.

In addition, almost all of these commanders had experience of participating in armed conflicts: in Spain, the Far East, Mongolia, Finland and Eastern Poland. And if in the Civil War almost all Jewish commanders were not professionals, now they were all professional soldiers, mature, educated and experienced officers.

There is one more feature. In 1936, before the campaign of repressions, in the Red Army, out of 134 senior Jewish military leaders, there were 57 commanders of all degrees, and 87 political workers, i.e. e. one and a half times more. But during the Soviet-German war, the situation changed radically, and for 175 military leaders there were only 11 political workers, i.e. 0.8%. I emphasize this because to this day there is talk that de Jews did not command the battles at the forefront, but commissars in the rear, sending Russian Ivanovs into the fire. It was this point of view that A. Solzhenitsyn adhered to in the book "200 Years Together".

And one more thing needs to be clarified. Among the Jewish generals and admirals there are a lot of people with non-Jewish surnames, names and patronymics. This, however, should not be surprising. As for surnames, there are not so many purely Jewish ones at all, if we talk about their origin. The main mass is made up of surnames of a German root. In addition, many surnames have Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Lithuanian roots. After all, they were given arbitrarily, during the campaign in the second half of the 19th century, when Jews in Russia received surnames. As for first names and patronymics, the realities of Soviet society were already in play here. Often the Jews themselves changed them so that they did not cut the ear with their surrounding Jewish sound, sometimes they were persuaded to do so in one way or another.

Let us analyze, for example, the surname, name and patronymic of one of the military leaders, Hero of the Soviet Union, Rear Admiral Vladimir Konstantinovich Konovalov. It seems like a completely Russian person. Everything, however, is explained simply. In the village of Nadezhnoye, in Zaporozhye, where he was born, the name Konovalov was known for many years. And it comes from the first person who received it, the son of a village veterinarian (konoval, as they say in common parlance). And the names of the Hero-submariner and Rear Admiral before the Naval School were Velv Kalmanovich. It was when he entered the school that he was renamed. I can’t judge whether he himself asked, whether the personnel officer took the initiative. And it's not funny, it's tragic. Such is our lot as a Jew that brave military leaders had to put up with the need to hide their family names.

Despite the outstanding achievements in operational excellence, which the Jewish commanders clearly demonstrated during the war, almost immediately after the Victory they began to be removed from the Soviet armed forces.

Shortly after the war, from 1948, when the notorious struggle with the cosmopolitans began, Jewish commanders began to be fired in batches, regardless of their military merits and professional merit. This campaign intensified by 1953 and continued after Stalin's death. Its peak came in 1961-1962 - a major reduction took place in the army. And when they began to build up "military muscles" again, the Jewish military leaders practically did not take part in this: only a few remained in the ranks. And already in 1991, not a single general or admiral - a Jew remained in active service in the armed forces of the USSR.

Judging by what I know about the topic, this is an absolutely correct description of the position of ethnic Jews in the Soviet army during the era of stagnation.

“…At different levels, anti-Semitism manifests itself in different ways. The Jewish soldier was disciplined, but physically often lagged far behind his peers. As a rule, this is a city dweller from a family of teachers, technical intelligentsia, a young man with a secondary or incomplete higher education. These were enlisted in the asset, appointed agitators, editors of wall newspapers and combat leaflets, elected Komsomol organizers, and even secretaries of company Komsomol organizations. These positions did not give privileges, they did not cause envy among colleagues. And if a Jew is not envied, then they often forget that he is a Jew. In units where service and combat training were normally established, representatives of all nationalities had equal difficulties. But Gd forbid, if a Jew - a soldier or a sergeant - was appointed a clerk, a warehouse manager, a bread cutter, a cook. This has always been a reason for reproaches: these “Rabinoviches” know how to get along! Moreover, they will not say it in the eyes, because one can benefit from a Jew "in office". And if a Jew in such a capacity is even the only representative of his nation in a unit, talk about cunning, dodgy Jews occupying "warm places" will gradually be implanted, penetrate into the consciousness of the personnel.

I do not recall a case when a Jewish officer, whether he was in a subunit or at headquarters, would take a Jewish soldier or sergeant into his direct subordination. They were afraid to give rise to talk about Jewish “mutual pulling”.

The Jews have always treated each other with sympathy, observing, however, the principle known for a long time: do not gather more than three. In the army, this was not a problem. They tried not to gather Jews together.

In the first years of my officer service, for a long time I did not notice any prejudiced attitude towards the Jews in general and towards myself in particular. Platoon - Jews, Russians, Armenians, Tatars sat in the same trench during the exercises, lived in the same officer's dormitory, were equally provided with clothing and monetary allowances and were equally deprived of rights in front of senior commanders. But further service made it clear that those whose “fifth column” was not spoiled by the disloyal word “Jew” had the main advantage.

My friends—I call them friends without a shadow of a doubt—were given priority in being sent to study, in being promoted to a higher position, in selecting candidates for service abroad. At first I took it as luck. But time passed, and I saw a clearly and rigidly operating system of relations with officers of different nationalities. Looking ahead, I will say that only many years later I was explained the provision on the percentage quota for representatives of one or another nationality, which had to be observed when appointed to command or political positions. Jews, for example, were most readily admitted to engineering and technical positions, cultural enlightenment workers, political officers of divisions, and teachers. They were promoted to higher positions up to certain limits. Even those who went through the war and managed to get a higher military education in the first post-war years rarely rose above the rank of colonel. In 34 years of calendar service, I have not met a single Jewish general. Probably just bad luck.

There was and, I think, exists to this day a kind of Pale of Settlement, for which Jews were forbidden to enter. This is full-time study in higher military educational institutions, this is admission to a certain category of documents and equipment. You could serve as an example, receive gratitude and valuable gifts, but for years "sit" in one position, in one garrison, or, in extreme cases, move horizontally. However, sometimes vertically, but within the line.

Do you know that in the second half of the last century, Soviet officers used to fight each other - for real, in the course of real hostilities? Don't believe? However, recent history is fraught with many seemingly strange white spots. And here's one more thing: it was Soviet officers who created the Israeli army and special services, but 20 years later they were forced to fight with their comrades-in-arms during the "six-day war" against Egypt, for which their former brother-soldiers fought. It's unbelievable, but that's exactly what happened.

How did it happen that Red Army officers Isser Galperin and Naum Livanov became the founders and first heads of the Israeli intelligence services Mossad and Nativa Bar? How did it happen that the famous "three captains" - Nikolsky, Zaitsev and Malevanny - created the Israel Defense Forces special forces literally from scratch? Defectors? Traitors? Nothing like that - they were just doing their duty and the orders of the Kremlin. The thing is that the state of Israel itself was originally a “Soviet project”, and not at all American or British, as some historians claim today. In March 1947, adviser to the Soviet Foreign Ministry Boris Shtein prepared a memorandum on the “Palestinian question” for First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Vyshinsky, which, in particular, stated: “The Soviet Union cannot but support the demands of the Jews to create their own state on the territory of Palestine. ". Vyshinsky passed the report "upstairs". Some time later, the permanent representative of our country to the UN, Andrei Gromyko, voiced Stalin's position at the session of the General Assembly - there will be a Jewish state.

"Stalin's Falcons"

Solomon Lozovsky, the former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, was supposed to head this very Jewish state. Stalin read twice Hero of the Soviet Union David Dragunsky as Minister of Defense. It was assumed that Grigory Gilman, a senior intelligence officer of the Soviet Navy, was to become the Minister of the Navy. But during the negotiations with the participation of London and Washington, Stalin had to give in, and as a result, Israel was headed by the protege of the United States, Ben-Gurion, also, by the way, our former countryman. Nevertheless, tripartite agreements did not prevent Moscow from sending a significant number of its officers to Israel - the army of the new state, created from scratch, needed well-trained personnel. And who could be better trained than those who won the most terrible war two years ago?

The British and Americans armed the Arabs to the teeth, vowing that they would burn any sprouts of a Jewish state in the Middle East with fire, while imposing an arms embargo on local Jews. Stalin had to arm Israel - arm with what was considered the "Soviet military reserve." As a result, So, Galperin became Harell, and Livanov became Levanon.

As for intelligence, by that time the USSR had accumulated considerable experience in working in the Middle East. Back in the 20s, the first Jewish self-defense forces Israel Shoikhet were created by a resident of the Cheka with the pseudonym Khozro - Yerakhmiel Lukacher - together with the famous intelligence officer Yakov Serebryansky on the personal order of Felix Dzerzhinsky. According to State Security General Pavel Sudoplatov, "the use of Soviet intelligence officers in combat and sabotage operations against the British in Israel began as early as 1946." And in connection with this, a lot of curious situations arose.

Rabbis trained Russian spies

If the future creator and head of the Mossad and the Shin Bet counterintelligence, Red Army captain Isser Galperin, was a Jew, as they say, without fools, then his colleague named Nikolai Livanov, who later headed the Nativa Bar intelligence, was, according to some evidence, a purebred hare . Livanov knew neither Yiddish, nor Hebrew, nor even English at all and could only speak Russian. In connection with this specific circumstance, the personnel with which Livanov-Levanon staffed his service were entirely Russian-speaking.

On this topic

Even though there were many Jews in Soviet intelligence, about a third of the service had to be staffed by ethnic Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. They regularly crammed Hebrew and Yiddish, but they could not know everything that any more or less literate Jew knows. “Some of the intelligence officers got into piquant situations,” testifies Valery Yaremenko, a leading researcher at the Institute of Military History of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. - So, one Soviet agent infiltrated the Orthodox Jewish community, and he himself did not even know the basics of Judaism. When this was discovered, he was forced to admit that he was a personnel Chekist. Then the council of the community decided: to give the comrade a proper religious education. Moreover, the authority of the Soviet agent in the community has grown dramatically: the USSR is a fraternal country, the settlers reasoned, what secrets could there be from it? In Moscow, the creation of Israeli security services was supervised by State Security General Pavel Raikhman. Together with Sudoplatov, he also came up with Jewish names and surnames for the newly-baked officers of the Israeli army, and at the same time new biographies.

There was Misha - became Moshe

Those who were invented by Soviet intelligence and sent to the Middle East had to cut off all ties with relatives in the USSR.

In the memoirs of the former deputy general director of the Dneprodzerzhinsk car repair plant, Yakov Sibiryakov (Shvartsburd), there is a story about how, many years later, he accidentally found his brother. “After the war,” Sibiryakov wrote, “in response to an inquiry about the fate of my brother, we received a notice “missing.” In the late 80s, close friends of my Moscow friend went to visit their relatives in Israel on a visitor visa and there they accidentally got into a conversation with an elderly man who said that he had been living here since 1947, and his whole family died during the war. His name used to be Mikhail Shvartsburd... My friend “clung to the surname”, because it is quite rare. They told me about it, got the phone of this elderly man, and I decided to call him. As soon as he picked up the phone, I immediately realized that this was my brother Michael, who changed his name to Moshe Ben-Ami in Israel.” As it turned out later, he went through the entire war, and in 1947, after a series of checks, he was sent "to a new duty station", taking a non-disclosure agreement from him. A group of 200 young Soviet officers, experienced Jewish front-line soldiers, were secretly transferred on fake Polish passports to Palestine. It is difficult to say how many such groups there were, but, according to some estimates, at least a hundred.

After 20 years, these youngest Soviet officers became venerable warriors. Many of them by that time led the combat units that took part in armed conflicts with Egypt, including the famous "six-day war". An emergency situation has arisen. On the one hand - the Egyptian military experts from the USSR, on the other - the Israeli military, but also from the Union. One of the leaders of the Mossad, Meir Slutsky (Amit), by the way, a cousin of the famous Soviet poet Boris Slutsky, recalled how once during a battle two military men - from the Egyptian and Israeli sides - recognized each other, examining enemy positions through binoculars. The incident, according to Slutsky, was that the officer who fought for Israel was an ethnic Russian, and his colleague, who helped the Egyptians, was a Jew. Their names were Anatoly Kazakov (Nathanel Kazan) and Leonid Belvedere. Together they fought in the Great Patriotic War in one battalion. At the end of the "six-day war" colleagues met and commemorated their fallen comrades. There were at least a hundred of those, according to Meir Slutsky, on both sides.