DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Vladimir Metelitsa. Full, unedited interview, 2007 ID EST021.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4mh3w 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 Vladimir Metelitsa. Full, unedited interview, 2007 ID EST021.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4mh3w ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN TRANSCRIPT ENGLISH TRANSLATION —Today is October 29th, 2007. We are in the capital of Estonia – Tallinn, meeting a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Please introduce yourself: your first name, patronymic and last name. Where and when were your born, what do you remember about your life before the war, about your family where you grew up. How did the war start for you, how did you end up in the army, and what were the years of the war like for you. Please [begin]. I am Vladimir Isayevich Metelitsa. I was born on September 11, 1925 in Smolensk. Let us start by talking about my parents. My father was Isay Abramovich, Metelitsa. He worked at Rumyantsev’s sewing factory as a general laborer, and worked his way up to deputy director. My mother also worked at the sewing factory, as a seamstress. I attended Smolensk school #25 up to eighth grade. I entered eighth grade in 1941. Eighth grade. 1941. On June 22nd along with my father’s colleagues, his subordinates, we travelled to the country, to a place called Krasniy Bor, for May celebrations. Not far from [Krasniy Bor], on the 401st km from Moscow, was a military base. When we arrived the military would not let us through and that’s how we discovered that the war began. We returned to the city of Smolensk on the 22nd and already on that same night a German plane appeared above the city. The plane was a “Rama” (BA note - Frame, in Russian, nickname of the Focke-Wulf Fw 189). We looked up and it was already hovering above us. Boys were climbing on rooftops to watch. It was a spectacle, a game. The jet flew off; it was a reconnaissance mission, this Rama German jet. The older people said: “now just wait for the bomber jets to arrive”. The same day, the school, which had just been let out, summoned us back. There was such an air of patriotism in the room, we were feeling like “let’s go, lets fight!” So a whole bunch of us headed for the military registration office. Of course we were turned away immediately: “You boys are interfering with our work.” On the 23rd they were already bombing us. Three times we were bombed with large-caliber incendiary bombs. We organized these outposts where we stood guard on the rooftops: some sand and tongs. You had to get the bomb into the sand so that it wouldn’t ignite. We started attending to this on the 23rd. The city was in panic mode, of course. Everyone in the city was panicking. The Germans dumped leaflets, warning that they would kill all Jews and communists, and called for the rest of the people to remain put. On the 28th they dropped a leaflet instructing that everyone should abandon the city because it would be destroyed. My mother and sister and I left the city. All of the city’s citizens left (cries). When we returned to [Smolensk] our house – (weeps). Forgive me, I remember this with such [emotion]. It wasn’t just the house, all of my toys, my little toy gun, my sister’s doll. In the snap of a second we ended up on the street. And when I hear about the [massive] fires in the US, I feel for them, because I know how hard that is. [It makes] my memories return to me. So, my father was immediately mobilized to join the Tallinn defense unit. 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 2/13 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Vladimir Metelitsa. Full, unedited interview, 2007 ID EST021.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4mh3w ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN —Tallinn? Sorry, I meant Smolensk. The city of Smolensk. He received a stipend. He was already 49 years old. I ended up on the street. A neighbor from a nearby house offered shelter to my mother and sister. So my father took me into his unit with him. He convinced the commander to give me a stipend as well. I began to complete tasks that were given to me, like guarding the linen plant. We would stand guard on the roof making sure the bombs didn’t [ignite]. On July 3rd I was told to gather my schoolmates, boys and girls, and we were instructed to dig trenches. I ran [to complete my assignment]. There were three cars [for us] and shovels. Guys from the unit were in charge. They didn’t have uniforms, well they had uniforms, but they were the old military uniforms. With these three commanders in charge we set out towards the town of Lelekvino, located 80 km from Smolensk. When we reached the town, German troops awaited us. We had barely debarked cars. One car was destroyed, burnt to the ground, right in front of me. The second car, we – myself and another girl who was my first love, Zhenya - had ran away to the right, into the woods (cries). She was killed. The Germans came up to us from a distance of maybe 50-60 meters and opened fire. Zhenya was killed. I was under the impression that they were drunk, playing the harmonica, playing their harmonicas and laughing. They were entertained by our fear as we darted back-and forth. Bullets were barely missing us, and we ran, there was nothing else to do. We ran into the woods to the sounds of their laughter and their shots. When I returned, we walked back home, we were covered in blood, our feet were raw with scrapes. Also, on the way back, we were almost killed [again], a guardsman halted us, “who’s there?” Miraculously, we remained alive, even though they opened fire at us. They grabbed us, cursed us, “Who sent you?!” That was life. When I got back to my father, only four of us returned. Zhenya, she was wounded and she died on the way back. We left on the 3rd and got back on the evening of the 4th. We walked all day and all night. Father was naturally worried. Then the evacuation of the city began. The trains did not have any passenger cars, just flatcars. People were loaded in. You could only take a few belongings, but we didn’t even have anything to take. I had some old boots, a shirt, and someone had given me a cap. Essentially – I didn’t have anything. My mother evacuated together with our neighbor, the Poluchayevskiye [family], who were also Jews, her name was Lena, no, Lyubochka. Father insisted that I leave the city and go with my mother and my sister. I resisted, I didn’t want to leave, “I’ll stay with you and the squad”, I told him. He was very firm, told me that I was to leave at once. He walked us to the train station. It was the 15th or 16th of July. We spent entire days on guard. The entire city was destroyed. 70% of the city was destroyed. Boys climbed through the ruins, [this way] I found a handgun and some other things. On the 16th or 15th, father put us onto [the flatcar]. The city is divided by the Dniepr River into Upper City and Lower City. The train station was by the Dniepr. He loaded us on and hurried back because he had heard that the bridge would be blown-up. And once he crossed the bridge – I was watching – shortly after he crossed, the bridge was destroyed. On the 16th the 2021 © BLAVATNIK ARCHIVE FOUNDATION PG 3/13 BLAVATNIKARCHIVE.ORG DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ITEM TRANSCRIPT Vladimir Metelitsa. Full, unedited interview, 2007 ID EST021.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4mh3w ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN Upper City of Smolensk was surrendered. If it wasn’t for his insistence, we would have been captured by the Germans. He spent a month and a half hiding in the woods, trying to get out of occupied territory, because the Germans were ahead of him. He was deep in the German rear. Luckily, he was not captured by the Germans and came out somewhere near Kaluga. We first arrived somewhere near Vyaz’ma, where there had been terrible battles. The bombardments, bombardments were horrible. Germans had skirted Smolensk a bit, and they moved through the fields. The occupation of Smolensk went from one side to the other, several times, because it was quite staunchly defended. We were brought to Kaluga, where father had also been, but we did not meet him there. Then we were forced to dig trenches on the outskirts of Moscow, near Kaluga. Later we were put on another train and sent to the Tambov region. This was already fall 1941. Sometime around the 22nd- 23rd of September we arrived in Tambov region, Umyotsky District, the village of Maslovka. We were greeted with much warmth, we were fed and given shelter. I started to work in the kolkhoz???????????. My sister was three years older than me, wasn’t able to bear all of the hardships and died. Only my mother and I remained. I was a member of the Komsomol at the time.