Table of Contents Item Transcript

Home , Staraya Russa

DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT

Alexander Arbisman. Full, unedited interview, 2006

ID G002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4gg2x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

TABLE OF CONTENTS ITEM TRANSCRIPT

ENGLISH TRANSLATION 2 CITATION & RIGHTS 9

2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 1/9 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT

Alexander Arbisman. Full, unedited interview, 2006

ID G002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4gg2x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

TRANSCRIPT ENGLISH TRANSLATION - Today is December 2nd, 2006. We are in Bremen, meeting a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Please introduce yourself and tell us about the family you grew up in. How did you come to serve in the Red Army and what was service there like during the war. Please, go ahead.

My name is Alexander (Izrail) Iosifovich Arbisman. I was born in Vinnytsia, Ukraine on August 9th, 1911 to a large family. I had four brothers. My parents had a small business. This is how I grew up and how I was raised. First I studied at a cheder and then attended a Jewish gymnasium for two years. My parents then moved to Odessa and I enrolled in school there in 1925. After finishing school I completed an apprenticeship and began working. I then enrolled at the Odessa Medical Institute in 1931 and graduated in 1935. In 1935 I was drafted but only received basic training. In 1937 I was drafted into an active military unit. I was drafted in 1937 after about half a year of studies at the Kirov Academy in Leningrad. Consequently I began my service in the Soviet Army, then known as the Red Army, in 1937. I was assigned to the Kharkiv military district and served in its namesake city. Our division was sent to the front during the war against Finland. Our division did not see combat, but we did provide medical assistance for wounded and frostbitten soldiers in Pskov. After the war our division was… I was the battalion doctor, then the junior regiment doctor, and finally the senior regiment doctor. After the war with Finland our entire division was sent to the Baltic States. Our division was headquartered in Daugavpils starting in 1940. This is where I became the senior doctor of the 89th Infantry Regiment, 23rd Kharkiv Infantry Division. On June 13th, our entire division set out on a march toward the German border. After seven days we stopped within 20 km of the German border near Tilsit, now Chernyakhovsk [sic. it is now called Sovetsk]. I was a level three military doctor with one bar on my insignia. Back then we did not have shoulder marks. The first wounded men began to arrive on the night of the 21st about 20 km from the border with Prussia, near Chernyakhovsk- Tilsit.

We were in disarray after our first casualties and began to retreat. For over two months our division, including our regimental field hospital, was surrounded. Only in late August were we able to break through to the rest of our forces near Ostashkovo [there are many settlements with this name all around Russia]. Our division then reassembled near Staraya Russa and joined the newly re-formed 53rd Army. Around Demyansk, near Staraya Russa, we were again surrounded. One of my most painful memories is witnessing the death of the medical chief of our division during our breakout from the German encirclement. We escaped on sleighs through the forests near Staraya Russa. Our division moved out in the final days of 1941 in order to surround a German unit. I was reclining on the right side of the carriage and my squadron commander was on the left. Trucks loaded with ammunition traveled alongside us. Suddenly we felt an impact from one of the trucks hitting us. My commander was killed on the spot. This was my first difficult moment. Then came 1941 and 1942 during which our army… first we were on the

2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 2/9 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT

Alexander Arbisman. Full, unedited interview, 2006

ID G002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4gg2x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

Northwestern Front and then on the 2nd Ukrainian Front. After that I was made the division’s chief doctor. In late 1942 I was transferred to an independent army unit, the so-called Sanitation and Epidemiology Squad. We had bacteriological, chemical, and hygienic laboratories. I was then made a level two doctor. Later our entire army was sent to the Battle of Kursk. After that… came 1943. I advanced through all of Ukraine with the 2nd Ukrainian Front… It was very difficult to see the bodies of executed Jews, which I saw for the first time in Kremenchuk in 1943. I was even… the chief of the army’s medical service assigned to a special investigative committee to document what had happened.

In 1944 we continued our advance from Ukraine. Our entire 53rd Army advanced through Moldova, Romania, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, finishing the war in Brno. I was made a major and eventually a lieutenant colonel in the medical service. After Germany surrendered our entire army was sent to Mongolia. I took part in the war against Japan along with the rest of the Transbaikal Military District. As you know, that war ended shortly after the American use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima. We were then sent back to Mongolia and then served in Manchuria for some time. After the war I served in the Transbaikal Military District in Irkutsk and then in Chita… Could we take a short break… In the Transbaikal Military District… as part of my work with the treatment of infectious diseases I visited Mongolia and Yakutia many times; I even made it out to Tiksi several times since there were military units stationed there. Later all of our labs were permanently based in Irkutsk. I was made the chief epidemiological doctor in the Transbaikal Military District. In May 1952, I was promoted to the rank of colonel and I continued to oversee all of my laboratories. Part of my duties was also to conduct disease prevention training in the military district. I retired in 1974 with a right to wear a military uniform and receive a pension. I moved back to Odessa that same year. In Odessa I worked at an epidemiology clinic and then in a lab until I retired in 1993. I was first the chief epidemiologist and then a consultant on particularly dangerous infectious diseases.

- You have three Orders of the Red Star, which is quite rare.

Yes, I have three of them. I received my first one in August 1941, for rescuing the commander of my regiment from the battlefield. The second and third were awarded to me in 1943 and 1944 respectively. The Order of the Patriotic War was introduced in 1944, so consequently… I received the medals that corresponded… like everyone.

The nearest ones were 2-3 km from the front. The army had 18-20 hospitals and the first ones were 4-5 km from the front. The first ones are of course just first aid stations… it is difficult to generalize where things were positioned during the first days of the war. We just set up our facilities wherever we could and did our job.

2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 3/9 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT

Alexander Arbisman. Full, unedited interview, 2006

ID G002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4gg2x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

- Were there enough medical supplies?

There were very serious shortages, especially during the first days of the war when we lost a lot of supplies. It was difficult because we had lost all of them, but after we broke through the German encirclement we were resupplied. As of 1942, there were no real shortages anymore. I am primarily talking about bandages. Of course there were no antibiotics in the army back then, but they gradually began to…

- When did they appear?

The first ones arrived in 1942.

- You received ...

We began receiving them. There was a relatively small supply of them, but they were available to the military. In any case, they did pass through our lab.

- What about blood supplies for performing transfusions?

That was not our responsibility. We had our own donors… I did not play much of a role in that. There were separate medical units that performed blood transfusions. In any case, starting in 1942 we had enough supplies to perform transfusions when necessary. At least that was the case in the districts where I served.

- Did you have medics under your command?

Yes, I had 12 soldiers, drivers, special disinfection units, and medics who tended to be older. This was pretty standard work. We were normally not given young recruits.

-Under frontline conditions how did you manage to… create proper conditions to prevent infections during surgery? The conditions must have been very different from a regular hospital.

We treated our tents with special disinfecting agents, always had disinfectant available, and of course we tried to keep everything sterile. Keep in mind that all hospitals had autoclaves that disinfected everything as well as disinfecting solutions. Back then we mostly used chlorine and something like phenol. They have a very unpleasant odor, but excellent disinfecting properties, especially when it came to microflora… they are still in use today.

-When you advanced, did you ever come across German hospitals? Not just stationary ones, but field hospitals and first aid stations.

2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 4/9 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT

Alexander Arbisman. Full, unedited interview, 2006

ID G002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4gg2x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

One time near Bălți in Moldova our army… there was a hospital which had been set up in a former school or something like that. We could discern that from the bandages and medical instruments that we found there, that this must have been a small mobile German hospital. However, we usually did not come across anything like that.

- Was there any substantial difference between that hospital and what you were used to?

There was a significant difference because it seems that at first… they were better trained in preventative medicine. This was especially so when it came to lice. From the very start of the war they had a special powder that purged that evil. Unfortunately, we had nothing like that and this caused some serious complications at first. There were cases where people were infested with lice and further measures had to be taken.

- What do those measures entail?

I was in charge of several special disinfecting showers which disinfected using water at temperatures between 90-100 degrees Celsius. These were available whenever they were necessary, but they were used particularly frequently in the infectious disease hospital. However, they only appeared in late 1942. Before that things were quite difficult.

- Aside from people with shrapnel and bullet wounds were there patients with frostbites and serious illnesses?

There were relatively few cases of frostbite. At least that was the case at our front. Of course I am not referring to the war against Finland. Diseases are a different matter and there were cases. Many people developed jaundice when we were surrounded and there were also isolated cases of dysentery. However, if you are asking about massive epidemics… Fortunately people’s immune systems were up to the task. It seems that people are hardwired to be more resistant during times like that. This is despite the fact that people had to drink dirty water or at least filter it before drinking… There were no serious epidemics on our stretch of the front or anywhere else. When we reached Moldova there were typhus cases among the civilian population. We quickly got to them and managed to destroy pockets of the disease.

- Did you write to anyone during the war?

I wrote to my family, but rarely. I received my first letter in October of 1941. After that I wrote to almost all of my relatives, but not frequently. I received a letter every 3-4 months. It later became clear that some letters got lost in the mail. The field postal service war particularly bad in the first year of the war. To be fair, they stepped up their game later.

2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 5/9 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT

Alexander Arbisman. Full, unedited interview, 2006

ID G002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4gg2x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

- Did people share their personal life and worries with each other?

I cannot remember anything like that. My relatives just wrote that they were alive and that they managed to evacuate on time. All of my relatives were evacuated from Kharkiv to Ufa.

- I am not asking about information in the letters, but about whether the servicemen who worked alongside you in the hospital share anything. Or did everyone mind their own business?

Well, of course we shared sometimes, but to say that we did it frequently… I cannot remember right now.

- Did the staff get along?

You know everyone has their own personality, but in general we all got along. At least this is true of the 60 people that I had under my command, including the soldiers and officers. I was in charge of 15 medical officers who ran the labs. Our relationships… We stayed friends after the war and visited one another… We had friends in Moscow, Saratov, and Kharkiv. I particularly remember a man named Vayner from Leningrad.

- Were there any other Jews in your unit?

There were 11 Jews in my unit. Seven of them were doctors and the remaining four were mid-level medical staff. We served together for two years and then some people were promoted and others were transferred.

- Did you feel a sense of camaraderie because you were Jewish?

Of course. This was especially true if the person talking to me was a decent human. The relationship was completely different because we could share and tell… So in this regard… it was as seems logical. It is still that way now.

- Was there any anti-Semitism during the war?

I would not say so… personally I did not experience it. At least my career growth was not affected by it. I was even promoted to the rank of colonel in February 1952 during the Doctors’ Trial. Perhaps God helped me, or maybe it was the kind people above me; I had some good reviews after all. Many people were surprised when I received the promotion order from the Minister of Defense… In 1941 I was the only colonel of my age in the army.

2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 6/9 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT

Alexander Arbisman. Full, unedited interview, 2006

ID G002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4gg2x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

- How were wounds categorized? What was considered serious or not? How was it determined who was sent back to the front and who was written off?

I had no part in that. I was responsible for infectious diseases and their prevention in the armed forces.

That was the responsibility of the surgical team, so I did not have anything to do with it. They determined who had to stay and who could survive a medical evacuation. It was the doctor’s decision. However, personally my group and I never played a part in this. I could only put someone under quarantine or lift the quarantine of someone with an infectious illness; I also decided whether treatment should be continued where the patient was or whether they should be transferred.

- When the wounded were being sent to hospitals at the start of the war, was there panic and hopelessness?

Yes, especially at first. It was terrible. For two months we did not even know our exact location. By the way, an interesting story happened to me then. In late June, when we were 30-40 km from the border after successfully retreating through the forests, there were only two doctors: the senior division doctor and me. Our division was commanded by a Georgian named Dlugashvili. The division was split up into groups. One, made up of about 250 men included the senior division doctor, Yelkin. I was assigned to a different group along with my aides. Our group was led by the division commander. We marched for about three or four weeks and broke out of encirclement. The other group, which included Yelkin whom I knew from my Kharkiv days, was completely wiped out. God saved me.

- Did those who escaped from the encirclement face any kind of interrogation about… treason…

No, there was nothing like that during the first three months of the war. I remembered a very unpleasant story, but I was able to get away. In late 1941 we began receiving reinforcements from temporary companies. For some reason there were many recruits from Central Asia and around Staraya Russa we began to see a high incidence of self-inflicted wounds. A military tribunal was assembled and they demanded that a doctor be present at executions. I managed to avoid this duty, but some other person had the misfortune of serving there instead. God was merciful to spare me that experience. There were indeed isolated cases of self-harm. There was a general retreat, during which our division, corps, and army were retreating…

- Did you ever treat wounded Germans at your hospitals?

There is a town called Shpola in Ukraine, not far from Moldova. There were a few German soldiers there who had caught dysentery. They had diarrhea and other symptoms. They were treated and cured before

Alexander Arbisman. Full, unedited interview, 2006

ID G002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4gg2x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN being taken away. This was a group of no more than eight men. I heard that there were separate wards at some military hospitals… for a few wounded Germans.

- After the war did you feel a need to share what you just experienced?

Of course, especially during my first reunion with my relatives and loved ones. After the war when we settled down in Chita, I also shared my stories with my medical staff. I was even invited to give a talk at the medical institute about the epidemiological situation at the front. I had both a desire to tell and, more importantly, willing listeners.

- Could you say a few words about your family life after the war?

My eldest daughter lived in Kharkiv, my second and third daughters were born in Irkutsk. My eldest graduated from the Kharkiv Transportation Institute and my third daughter graduated from the Odessa Medical Institute. She began her studies in Irkutsk. My wife was a military doctor during the war and then became a cardiologist. In Odessa she was the senior cardiologist. She passed away on July 14th, 1987 in Odessa. Now I have three daughters and a granddaughter who is a university student. In Irkutsk I have a grandson and two great-grandsons. Here I have a grandson and a great-grandson.

- Thank you very much for inviting us and please invite us back for your 100th birthday.

With pleasure. You are good and kind people. Unfortunately, I could have done a better job telling my story.

- Thank you very much.

Thank you as well.

Alexander Arbisman. Full, unedited interview, 2006

ID G002.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4gg2x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

CITATION MLA Citation information coming soon!

CITATION APA Citation information coming soon!

CITATION WIKIPEDIA Citation information coming soon!

CONTACT [email protected] 212.275.4600

BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION 1633 BROADWAY AVE, 4TH FL NEW YORK, NY 10019

BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG FACEBOOK.COM/BLAVATNIKARCHIVE