Video History Archives
Of Jewish Soviet Soldiers
during WW2

Efim Feldman

Born June 27 1923.
Interviewed In: Toronto, Ontario
Medals Awarded: Order of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class), Order of the Red Star, Medal for Battle Merit, Medal for Courage, Liberation of Riga and Victory over Germany In The Great Patriotic War

“If the injury was not too serious we gave first aid, put on dressings, gave pain killers, and injections.”

Paramedic In Light Artillery Unit, Participated in Battle of Smolensk, Liberation of Riga

Efim enrolled in military college before the war began in 1940. His first combat experiences came in The Baltic States in 1941. Efim’s unit moved into Russia proper and was surrounded near Smolensk:

“The hardest fighting I went through was in Dukhovshchina, Smolensk Region where huge numbers of German troops and technical equipment were concentrated. We broke through the enemy defenses. 2 days later the Supreme Commander in Chief issued an order giving our division the title of Dukhovshchina Division.”

As a paramedic in a light infantry unit, Efim would run throughout the front lines administering medical aid. He would also help move injured soldiers to hospital bound trains. Unlike the doctors who worked away from combat, Efim treated his patents in the middle of the battlefield:

“We crawled up to the soldiers. If the injury was not too serious we gave first aid, put on dressings, gave pain killers, and injections.”

Efim was injured near Latvia and sent to Moscow hospital. He recovered in time to rejoin his unit for The Battle Of Riga in October 1944.

After the war, Efim moved to Toronto.

View Other Veterans Interviews

Mark Bas

Born December 25th 1922 Smolensk, Soviet Union.
Interviewed In: Toronto, Ontario
Medals Awarded: Order of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class), Medal For Defense of Moscow and Victory over Germany In The Great Patriotic War

Medals Awarded: Order of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class), Medal For Defense of Moscow and Victory over Germany In The Great Patriotic War

Mikhail Bass

Born March 16th 1928 Mink, Belarus
Interviewed In: Toronto, Ontario
Medals Awarded: Order of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class), Medal for Partisan of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class) and Victory over Germany In The Great Patriotic War
Medals Awarded: Order of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class), Medal for Partisan of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class) and Victory over Germany In The Great Patriotic War

Iosif Zibenberg

Born: April 30th 1922 Faleshty Bessarabia (present day Moldova). Passed Away: April 5, 2013 Toronto, Ontario.
Interviewed In: Toronto, Ontario
Medals Awarded: Order of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class), Medal For Capture of Prague, Medal For Defense of Stalingrad and Victory over Germany In The Great Patriotic War