DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Gregory Fein. Full, unedited interview, 2009 ID LA008.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b41h6r ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN TABLE OF CONTENTS ITEM TRANSCRIPT ENGLISH TRANSLATION 2 CITATION & RIGHTS 13 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 1/13 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Gregory Fein. Full, unedited interview, 2009 ID LA008.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b41h6r ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN TRANSCRIPT ENGLISH TRANSLATION —Today is March 17, 2009. We are in Los Angeles, meeting a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Please introduce yourself and tell us about your life before the war. What was your family like, what did your parents do, what sort of school did you attend? How did the war begin for you and what did you do during the war? My name is Gregory Fein and I was born on April 18, 1921, in Propolsk [Prapoisk], which was later renamed Slavgorod [Slawharad], Mahilyow Region, Belarus. My father was an artisan bootmaker. We lived Propolsk until 1929. That year my family moved to Krasnapolle, a nearby town in the same region. We moved because my father had to work in an artel. In order for his children to have an education, he had to join an artisan cooperative rather than work alone. His skills were in demand in Kransopole [Krasnapolle], so we moved there, because there was a cooperative there. There were five children in the family and I was the youngest. My eldest sister Raya worked as a labor and delivery nurse her entire life. My second sister Tsilya is still with us. She is ninety-five and also lives in Los Angeles. She is a communications engineer and graduated from the Bonch-Bruevich Leningrad State Institute of Telecommunications. My third sister Anya lives in New York. She is ninety-two and worked in medicine. I had an older brother named Osik. He had just completed his first year of studies at the Gomel [Homel] Pedagogic Institute when the war began in 1941. He was drafted into the army and was killed shortly thereafter in the Mogilev [Mahilyow] Defense Operation. He was a very talented person, an artist and mathematician, but unfortunately his fate was tragic. In 1938 I graduated from the Krasnopole ten-year school, having previously completed seven years of study at the town’s Jewish school. There was a Jewish school in Kransopole. I know Yiddish well and I am well-versed in Jewish literature: Sholem Aleichem, Mendele Mocher Sforim, Itzik Feffer, and others. I had to graduate from a Belarusian ten-year high school because all the Jewish schools were shut down in 1935. Our family always got along well. We were a bit poor, of course, since our family was so big, and things were difficult and we were always lacking in material comforts. I graduated from high school with perfect grades and secured a right to enroll at any institution of higher education in the country without entrance exams. Back then they didn't award school medals, but gave you that right. I enrolled at the Philosophy Department of the Leningrad State University. In 1939, as war was becoming increasingly likely, I was drafted into the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, as it was known then, into the air force. I completed my training as a weapons repairman at junior aviation specialist school in Krechevitsy, Novgorod District, Leningrad Oblast [now part of the city of Novgorod]. As you know, in 1939 the Soviet- Finnish War began and our 10th Rapid Bombing Regiment was deployed to fight in that war. The gunner 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 2/13 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Gregory Fein. Full, unedited interview, 2009 ID LA008.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b41h6r ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN of the airplane crew I worked with was killed in action and I was offered a chance to take his place since I was the only person who was a weapon specialist there. I began flying on missions as a gunner and continued to do so until the end of the war with Finland. At some point, I was wounded and sent to a hospital. I was notified of the end of the war on March 13, 1940. I was then released from the hospital and continued to serve. I was sent to train at the Moscow Military Aviation Technical School. I became an oxygenating-equipment specialist. I was in charge of maintaining and operating equipment that collected oxygen from air for military flights at high altitude. I did this work first at an auto oxygen station, then worked at a rail one. After that I served in the 24th Red Banner Airfield Engineering Battalion as a political worker. I finished the war with this battalion that constructed combat airfields for our air force. After the war I was offered an opportunity to stay in the military. I served in the Odessa [Odesa] Military District and was then sent to train as a propagandist in Smolensk. I completed my training with perfect scores and then served as a propagandist in several aviation units. I then decided to enroll in the military political academy in order to advance my career. Unfortunately I was only allowed to take correspondence courses, most likely because of my ethnicity. But I was able to graduate in 1952. I managed to take all my exams and complete my studies there within one and a half years. By the way, this badge that commemorates my graduation was given to me by none other than Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny. I continued to serve until 1960. At that point I was a major and senior political propaganda instructor in the 5th Guards Aviation Bomber Division. I realized that I could not advance any further due to my ethnicity, so I decided to resign. Just then there was an order to downsize the military by 1.2 million and I retired after serving twenty years, nine months, and a number of days. I moved my family to Odessa after that. My wife is from there. I got married in 1946 to Ninel Mikhaylovna Kharitonskaya. She was a wonderful person and a very capable woman. She worked in officers’ clubs as a military-political instructor for a long time. She was a natural actress, a remarkable and accomplished person, kind, attentive, caring, and helpful. In Odessa I first worked for a few years as the secretary of the Society for the Distribution of Political and Scientific Information. I then found work at the Odessa Communications Electrical Engineering Institute and worked there for twenty-five years. I worked as an instructor and simultaneously prepared my dissertation. I defended my dissertation in philosophy and officially became a PhD. I chaired the Philosophy Department at the Odessa Communications Institute for several years. I retired in 1986, but continued to be active. I was an auxiliary lecturer at the All-Union society “Knowledge.” I traveled around all the republics of the former USSR, and have earned recognition for that. I also started a grassroots effort to open an oratory university in Odessa. I was the dean of this university for thirteen years. I invited the best lecturers and orators to visit Odessa and give talks there. 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 3/13 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Gregory Fein. Full, unedited interview, 2009 ID LA008.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b41h6r ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN They performed in Odessa. This was a very interesting and productive time in my professional life. In 1996 we decided to leave what had been our homeland until then. We had two options, Israel and the United States. I had no family in Israel, but I had two sisters living in the US, so we decided to go there. I am active in our local veterans’ association here. I continue to give talks at events here. My son lives in Long Beach, not far from Los Angeles, while my daughter lives in Paris. She has a very interesting job facilitating Russo- Frankish relations. She has received numerous awards for her work. She visits me and was just here a short while ago. —I would like to return to your prewar life. Did your large family observe any Jewish customs or traditions? Yes. My father was of course a religious man and had all the appropriate items to attend synagogue. He took his sons with him to the synagogue in Krasnapolle. We celebrated every Jewish holiday. I regret that so much culture, a knowledge of Judaism and religion in general… We were deprived of that in school and in universities, where the subject was neglected. However, I still remember a few things from conversations with my father. It was very dangerous to attend synagogue back then. I do not attend services now, but I keep all the traditions. —For example? I celebrate all the holidays in accordance with our norms and traditions. Recently we celebrated Purim, which is important to Jews both religiously and historically. —So your family was culturally Jewish. Then the Jewish school was shut down. How quickly did Jewish traditions begin to disappear after that. They began do disappear because of external pressure and persecution. People even began celebrating Jewish holidays in secret. They were afraid. The political situation in our country was terrible. People had no civil liberties, everything was forbidden. There was strict censorship and control. Books in Yiddish began to disappear and became difficult to obtain. There were no newspapers in Yiddish anymore.