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DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Boris Goldshtein. Full, unedited interview, 2012 ID FL005.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4707wq9b 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 Boris Goldshtein. Full, unedited interview, 2012 ID FL005.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4707wq9b ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN TRANSCRIPT ENGLISH TRANSLATION —Today is November 28, 2012. We are in Miami, meeting a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Please introduce yourself and tell us where and when you were born. What sort of family did you grow up in, and what was life like before the war? My name is Boris Goldshtein and I was born on January 6, 1921, in the village of Popelnasta, Aleksandriya [Oleksandriia] District, Kirovograd [Kirovohrad] Oblast. My father was a blacksmith and my mother took care of the house. My older brother graduated from a technical school and then from an industrial college in Odessa [Odesa]. He was a battery commander during the war. He was killed. —What was his name? Pavel Samoylovich Goldshtein. I was conscripted into the armed forces in 1940. —I’m sorry, but I am going to interrupt you. Before the war, were there many Jews in your village? What were relations like between Jews and gentiles? Did the children make friends with one another? It was a large village, which sprawled out for about 4-5 kilometers. There were many Jews who lived there. We got along just fine with the locals. There were both Ukrainians and Russians there. We were treated very respectfully and we showed respect back. We were family friends with a neighboring Ukrainian family. —Did your parents speak Yiddish at home? They spoke Yiddish and Ukrainian. I spoke Ukrainian because I studied at a Ukrainian school. —Did you celebrate Jewish holidays? Our neighbors were Ukrainian and they were our close friends. We celebrated everything together, they marked the Jewish holidays with us and we celebrated Ukrainian and Russian holidays with them. When I was in fourth grade, my father died in the famine and my mother and I moved to Artemovsk [Artemivsk. now Bakhmut], Donetsk Oblast. I enrolled in school there and studied until I was in ninth grade. From there I was conscripted into the army. I served in an artillery regiment in Kolomyia, Stanislav Oblast [now Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast], Ukraine. I was the gun layer for an artillery battery. I then trained in Kiev [Kyiv] in a communications school and graduated as a lieutenant. By that time the war had started. First our 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 2/11 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Boris Goldshtein. Full, unedited interview, 2012 ID FL005.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4707wq9b ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN military school took part in the defense of Kiev, but then Stalin ordered us to evacuate to the Far East. A huge number of communications operators were being killed at the front and there was a shortage of communications officers. By July we were in Krasnoyarsk. We trained day and night, sleeping only four hours per day. In December those who graduated with perfect marks became lieutenants. —This was in 1941? Yes, 1941. As officers we then traveled to Kuybyshev [now Samara] to receive our assignments. I was sent to the Karelian Front to fight the Finns. After we stormed several garrisons on the Finnish side of the river, I was sent to Moscow. The entire unit was reorganized and sent to Moscow. The People’s Commissariat of Defense assigned me to the paratrooper forces. —This was in 1943? Yes. I was the battalion chief of communications. We ended the war in Prague. —What front did you serve on? At first I served with the 2nd Ukrainian Front and then the 3rd Ukrainian Front. By the time we reached, Prague the war was over. When a Czechoslovak government was formed, it asked our forces to leave. We had to walk to Romania. We traveled at night because of the heat; it was June or July. We reached Romania after walking at night and resting near lakes and forests during the day. From Romania I was sent on an assignment to the army HQ. I was offered an opportunity to study at a higher military school. I refused and said that I wanted to be demobilized after I completed my service. They sent a demobilization request to Moscow, but it was denied and I was again invited to attend a higher military school. My mother was left all alone; she lived in Odessa [Odesa], so I was transferred there. I had a bad relationship with the personnel department, so I was then sent to serve in the Kuril Islands. After that I enrolled at the Military Engineering Academy in Kiev, graduated, and was made the chief engineer of a long-range strategic bomber regiment in Uzyn near Belaya Tserkov [Bila Tserkva]. Service was very difficult; there were missions and repairs around the clock. We slept three or four hours per day, but some nights we could not sleep at all. I developed health issues, so I was sent to a military hospital in Kiev, where a medical commission demobilized me and said that I no longer needed to register with the draft office. I came to live in Odessa, but there were no jobs there, and I had no apartment. I was offered a position in Tiraspol, Moldovan SSR. I worked there and then applied to study at a university . 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 3/11 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Boris Goldshtein. Full, unedited interview, 2012 ID FL005.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4707wq9b ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN I graduated from a military engineering academy as a major, and was assigned to a long-range aviation regiment in Belaya Tserkov. From there the regiment was transferred to Mozdok in the Northern Caucasus. It was there that I was demobilized on account of poor health. —When were you sent to the front for the first time? If you consider it a front, you could say that the first time was when Kiev was bombed and German paratroopers landed nearby. By December 1941 I was already at the front, right after completing my training. —Life during training must have been difficult . We only slept four hours per day. —The front is something very different. Do you remember the first days there, the first losses? What stuck with you from that time? I served in a paratrooper division and we suffered heavy losses. The pilots were supposed to drop us behind enemy lines on the other side of the Dnieper River. We were supposed to jump at a low altitude so the Germans would not have time to shoot us in the air. The pilots were afraid of getting shot down, so they dropped us at high altitude. —So you performed a combat jump? Yes, I performed seven jumps with my paratrooper brigade. Seven jumps with a parachute. —Did you land behind enemy lines? Yes, we did. —What was your objective? Were you supposed to stay there, or return? We were supposed to return. Our commander led us back out to the Dnieper, which we crossed and rejoined our forces. —What was your objective? We were supposed to jump far behind enemy lines, but the pilots got scared. They purposefully “lost their bearings.” The commander of my unit walked into the cockpit with a pistol, put it up against the pilot’s 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 4/11 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Boris Goldshtein. Full, unedited interview, 2012 ID FL005.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4707wq9b ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN head, and said, “You will drop us at such and such coordinates.” We then made our way back to our lines. —Yes, but why were you dropped behind enemy lines in the first place? We were to set up a device to spy on German communications and also capture a prisoner for interrogation. —Did you accomplish your mission? No, because half of us were gunned down in mid-air. The survivors then made their way back. —Was this a large group? There were 30 of us. The group commander was a major, but I do not remember his name. —Were there people from different ethnic groups there? Yes, there were Ukrainians, people from Asia, and guys from the Caucasus. —Were there any other Jews? There were two of us, me and another guy. I do not remember his name anymore. —Were there any ethnic issues in your unit? No, the men were all respectful and friendly. —Was that your only combat jump? Yes. —What military awards do you have? I have a “For Courage” medal, an Order of the Red Star, a “For Battle Merit” medal, and two Orders of the Patriotic War. One was for actions in combat and the other was for taking part in the war. —The medal “For Courage” . 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 5/11 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Boris Goldshtein. Full, unedited interview, 2012 ID FL005.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4707wq9b ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN Our paratrooper brigade was ordered to take a fortified district. Our entire brigade was supposed to jump. Our regiment jumped and completed its objective. My subordinates and I maintained communications. We returned and had a German captive. The division’s chief of communications nominated me for the Order of the Combat Red Banner, but the letter needed the division commander’s signature.