DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Sheftl Zisser. Full, unedited interview, 2009 ID MI012.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4m68p ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN TABLE OF CONTENTS ITEM TRANSCRIPT ENGLISH TRANSLATION 2 CITATION & RIGHTS 11 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 1/11 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Sheftl Zisser. Full, unedited interview, 2009 ID MI012.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4m68p ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN TRANSCRIPT ENGLISH TRANSLATION -Today is April 27th, 2009. We are in Detroit meeting a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Please introduce yourself and tell us about your prewar life, the family that raised you, and the school you attended. How did you come to serve in the Red Army and what were you wartime experiences? My name is Sheftl Abramovich Zisser. I was born in 1922 in the town of Tulchyn, Vinnytsia Region, Ukraine. I spent my childhood in Tulchyn where until 1929 my father worked as a door-to-door salesman and owned a small business. However, when collectivization began and business ownership was banned my father went to work as a painter, also in Tulchyn. My mother, Tema Zisser, nee Poberezhskaya, was a housewife. We lived in private apartments until 1938 when we were able to afford part of a house. We had a small homestead. I had a grandfather and a grandmother; their family consisted of eight or ten children. When the war began many people stayed in Tulchyn. In 1929 I began my studies at Ukrainian School No.2 and graduated in 1939. I enrolled in a university, but then Timoshenko issued an order to mobilize all freshman and sophomore students into the Red Army. I was drafted in October. I remember this day, it was on Kol Nidre, the eve of Yom Kippur. Nobody was around to see me off because everyone was at prayer services. I took off to the Zhuravlivka station and boarded a train to Koziatyn. In Koziatyn there was a distribution center, and I was sent to Kaluga, where I joined the 1st machine gun сompany. This was the regiment school. I spent my childhood in Tulchyn, where there were many… it was a Jewish town. I can even show you a picture of our synagogue with a note on the back stating that 16,500 Jews lived there. According to the 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia there were only 1,000 non-Jews that lived there. I grew up in a deeply traditional Jewish family that observed all of the proper customs. I continue to… I lived in Moscow and had a son and daughter. My son was circumcised and had a Bar Mitzvah despite that difficult time. Even my grandson, who was born in Moscow in 1971 was circumcised and everything turned out OK. As I mentioned, in the army I was assigned to a regiment school. We all passed lone combat training and had a meeting in February. From the meeting we traveled to winter combat training sites. We carried out our assignments very well and were thanked by the commander who bade us to perform our duties earnestly and warned us that war was imminent. He informed us that in February the Germans had docked six submarines in Norway and had occupied the entire north of the country. We carried on our service until May 1st, when after returning from a parade we were dining in a cafeteria and unexpectedly received orders to relocate. We loaded some of our equipment onto a train and set off for the Lithuanian border, or 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 2/11 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Sheftl Zisser. Full, unedited interview, 2009 ID MI012.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4m68p ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN more specifically the towns of Sebezh and Idritsa where the Lyulyashenko Division was being assembled. Yes… in May we were sent to summer training camps. Before leaving for the camps we received dog tags and dry rations which we were to carry with us. We were waiting for the war to begin at any moment. On June 22nd we were woken up by an emergency announcement that the Germans had attacked us. We were in summer training camps at the time, but quickly returned to our winter base. Mobilized reservists and recent call-ups from May were already at the base. I was trained to operate a Maxim Gun, which was considered to be a state-of-the-art weapon, despite being quite ancient. From there we were sent to… On June 27-28th we were ordered to move out. I served in the 18th Motorized Infantry Regiment of the 18th Motorized Division. We were armed with machine-guns and outfitted with GAZ-AA trucks. It was rear- wheel drive and was also quite ancient. We advanced toward Belarus from Kaluga, driving along whichever roads were dry. It was rainy at the time and the roads turned to mud, forcing us to carry everything we had and push the trucks. Sometime around July 27th - 28th, I don't remember exactly ... In late July we fought our first battle in the town of Sianno near Lepiel, Belarus. We managed to push the Germans out of town by evening. Many of my friends were killed in that battle. My second had been killed as well and the situation was quite worrisome. In the evening I went on patrol in order to find my missing comrades and ran into a large group of Jews. These were young and old people who had stayed behind. The next day the Germans retook the village from us, but we pushed back and pushed the Germans out again. I entered the Jews’ homes… All the homes were empty and not a single Jew was left. Our motorized and armored division was surrounded. We were armed with KV tanks, which were heavy and not maneuverable. The Germans surrounded us by landing paratroopers in our path. We began fighting our way out, but as soon as we would break through, more paratroopers were dropped in our path and we were surrounded again. We made our way to Svechyovo [sic. the village is called Solovyovo - ed.] where there is a crossing over the river. At the Solovyovo Crossing… This was a famous crossing where a traffic jam of Soviet vehicles formed. However, we moved a little further to the Vop River and engaged the enemy. The fighting was quite heavy and I was hit in my right hand. I was sent to a hospital where I spent two or three months before returning to combat. I was still a machine gunner, but this time I was assigned to the 294th Infantry Regiment. We were stationed at the station of Prechistaya in the Kalinin Region for a very long time. In 1944… or maybe in 1943, I do not remember anymore, we pushed the Germans out. There was a formidable and very large line of German defenses there which included 1,200 cannons and many tanks. 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 3/11 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Sheftl Zisser. Full, unedited interview, 2009 ID MI012.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4m68p ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN After a heavy artillery bombardment we pushed the Germans out and advanced toward Smolensk. Near Smolensk we again engaged the Germans. Our division was named the Dukhovshchina Division in honor of the eponymous nearby town. From there we kept on advancing until we reached Vitebsk. In Vitebsk we engaged the enemy in a big battle on hill 181.1. In that battle I was wounded in the abdomen. I was hit with 18 pieces of shrapnel, four of which pierced my abdomen. This was the end of my frontline service because I was not able to perform combat duties any longer. I was awarded with the Order of the Patriotic War, Medal for Battle Merit, and Medal for the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. - Could I ask you about a few details? What was your first battle like? I already told you about it. -You said that you engaged in combat. What does that mean exactly? How old were you? I was 18. - Today when we see our 18-year-old grandchildren, they are just kids... Yes. - But you fought in battle. The way the first battle was fought is quite interesting. We rode in our trucks until we reached the forest. We took off our backpacks, trench coats, and emergency rations; we took only our weapons, and walked into the forest. We reached a clearing and assembled on our commander’s order. We were ordered to team up in groups of four and dig in. There were 12 machine guns in our company, which is quite a lot of firepower. We arranged our guns to achieve heavy, concentrated hits. We began firing at the Germans and killed many of them and they retreated. Here's what's interesting: there was this little ravine, that had a small river flowing through it. The Germans were on the opposite side of the small river, which we could not cross because the Germans had that area covered. Nonetheless, we managed to suppress the Germans and advance onward freeing this city. This was my first battle and my baptism by fire, so to speak. The first time I saw the dead and wounded was terrifying. But you know… we were young … Oh, I forgot to mention the most important detail. Our company was made up servicemen of different ethnicities, including Germans… 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 4/11 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Sheftl Zisser.