Video History Archives
Of Jewish Soviet Soldiers
during WW2
“We were fighting on the sea where there were ships with not just one but ten guns they used to make a big gun.”
Air Force Mechanic And Gunner Based Near Arctic Sea. Well Known In Russia For WWII Books And Social Criticism – Works Banned In 1968 And He Was Forced To Leave In 1972.
Grigory Svirksy was born while his mother was traveling between Ufa and Moscow. He grew up in a “typically working class” household near the ball bearing plant in Moscow where his father worked. Grigory was drafted in 1939 when he was 18. Initially Grigory was an air force mechanic. He would eventually fly combat missions as a gunner: “At the beginning of the war I was a mechanic, a bomber mechanic. Later on I started going on missions. When your plane is in the air it would be weird to stay on the ground. I started as an air gunner. I went on missions during the entire war, until the war was over.” Grigory’s unit rarely stayed in one area. They were generally confined to the far north, except for a few missions near Moscow. “Afterwards I was transferred to the Northern Fleet. I got to the Northern Fleet. The war there was tough, it was a horrible skirmish, you see? We were fighting on the sea where there were ships with not just one but ten guns they used to make a big gun. Returning from missions I used to find 5 to 10 holes in my plane’s body, you see? I was lucky not to have had a scratch”
Grigory stayed in the army for 7 years, being discharged in 1946. He became a well known writer and academic, specializing in World War Two, Soviet Jews, and social criticism. He spoke out against Soviet policy and was forced to leave the country in 1972. His books were banned 4 years earlier in 1968. Grigory eventually settled in Toronto where he taught Russian Literature at U of T.
Grigory Svirsky’s Books:
Dead end of Lenin, Moscow, Publishing house “Soviet writer”, 1962.
Hostages: The personal testimony of a Soviet Jew. Vintage/Ebury (A Division of Random House Group), 1976,
Polar tragedy, Frankfurt, “Posev”, 1976. Full text in Russian[dead link], French translation: Tragedie Polarie, Quine, Montreal, 1978.
Breakthrough, New York, 1983. Four chapters in Russian, Hebrew translation: Hapriza by Maoz, Israel, 1990.
At the execution place. The literature of moral resistance, 1946-1986. Moscow, 1992. Full text in Russian English version: A history of post-Soviet writing (The literature of the Moral Opposition), Ardis, Ann Arbor, USA, 1981,
Soviet penal battalions Full text in Russian
Luba means “love” or never-ending Nord-Ost. A non-fiction story. Jerusalem, 2004 Full text in Russian
Anastasya. A story on-line (Full text in Russian)
Farewell to Russia, New York, 1986 Full text in Russian
Mother and stepmother, “Scholar”, Toronto, Canada, 1990. Full text in Russian
Forbidden story, “Scholar”, Toronto, Canada, 1990. Full text in Russian
Escape, Jerusalem, 1994 Full text in Russian
Little Andrei, Moscow, 1998. Full text in Russian
On the islands of George Washington, New York, 1998 Full text in Russian
Fuel pump kings. Russian gangsters in America 2000. Full text in Russian
Masters of disguise. A story of Russian leaders. Moscow. 2002. Full text in Russian
My Galich, a story of Alexander Galich Full text in Russian
Born August 28, 1924 Odessa, Ukraine
Interviewed In: Vancouver, British Columbia
Medals Awarded: Order of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class), Order of the Red Star, Victory over Germany In The Great Patriotic War and Nakhimov Medal
Born: August 6th 1922 Malin, Ukraine. Passed Away: March 15, 2014 Montreal, Quebec.
Interviewed In: Montreal, Quebec
Medals Awarded: Order of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class), Medal for Courage, Medal For Liberation of Warsaw, Order of the Red Star and Victory over Germany In The Great Patriotic War
Born 1924 Minsk, Belarus
Interviewed In: Calgary, Alberta
Medals Awarded: Order of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class), Medal For Defense of Stalingrad and Victory over Germany In The Great Patriotic War