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„Write, while I’m alive; my life is transient” About life and death in war. (On pages from letters and diaries of Jewish soldiers and officers in the Red Army, 1941-1945)
Леонид Смиловицкий
Abstract
The article is devoted to perceptions of life and death by men at war. This study is based on correspondence, letters and diaries of Soviet Jews, as soldiers of the Red Army during WWII, which were recently collected in the archives of the Diaspora Research Centre at Tel Aviv University (2012-2017) and now, for the first time, are being used for academic purposes. Analysing this correspondence, the author seeks an answer to the question, why did Jews seek conscription in the army? Was this a manifestation of Soviet patriotism or a desire to protect their families, parents, wives, and girlfriends? How did Jews feel in the Red Army among comrades-in-arms of other nationalities? The article describes how they fought, and what helped soldiers to survive – the belief not to be killed; combat experience; skillful handling of weapons and the art of war; accident, or fate. It concludes that the health of a whole generation of people who survived the war was undermined not only by hunger, overwork, lack of sleep, exhaustion, and disease but also by mental suffering. However, those who survived to victory learned to value life in a way that could not be done by those who did not go to war and were not familiar with death.
Keywords:
Diaspora Research Center at Tel Aviv University, World War II, Red Army, Soviet Jews, correspondence, diary, memoriesMost read articles by the same author(s)
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