Israeli Army Salutes Jewish Red Army Veterans at Kiev Hesed

During World War II, Jews who lived in the USSR were threatened with physical annihilation by the Nazis. More than half of the 5 million Jews living within the borders of the USSR were murdered after the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22,1941.

Within the first year of hostilities, the Red Army suffered massive losses and defeats, and there was a very real threat of German victory. Only in 1943 did the Red Army manage to obtain the upper hand. The cost of victory was enormous, approximately 25 to 30 million Soviet citizens perished during the war. Only a small minority of Red Army veterans who began fighting during the first year of the war survived unscathed.

The sacrifice and heroism of the Red Army during World War II is renowned. With regard to Jewish soldiers serving in the Red Army, proportionately more were awarded the order of "Hero of the Soviet Union", the highest Soviet medal, than any other nationality.

Throughout the history of the State of Israel, it too has been faced with the threat of physical annihilation. It also owes its survival to the bravery and sacrifice of its soldiers, the vast majority of whom are civilian reservists who serve when called upon to do their duty.

During the first week of September, the Chief Educational Officer of the Israeli Defense Force took a group of some 200 Israeli soldiers to Poland and Ukraine. In Kiev, after a moving ceremony at Babi Yar, Dr. A. Weiss, JDC Representative in Odessa, himself a Holocaust survivor and researcher, gave the soldiers a lecture on Babi Yar and the Holocaust in the former Soviet Union. The soldiers then proceeded to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where they placed a wreath in the presence of a delegation from the Ukrainian Army.

The Israelis soldiers then visited a Hesed in Kiev, which serves more than 16,000 clients. Awaiting them were some 40 Jewish Red Army veterans, themselves clients of the Hesed, along with a Ukrainian Military Band. The Israelis lined up in military parade formation. Facing them stood the elderly Jewish veterans, both men and women, some in full uniform, all wearing their medals. Subsequent to speeches by the JDC Kiev Representative, the President of the Kiev Jewish Veterans and the head of the Israeli military delegation, salutes were exchanged, followed by an emotional meeting between the two groups of Jewish soldiers.

After a guided tour of the Hesed facility, the young soldiers commented upon how impressed they were by the large range of services provided and number of clients served. Informal meetings between Israelis and Red Army veterans continued, in whatever language they could find to communicate. Veterans told of their battles, how they had fought all the way to Berlin. The President of the Kiev Jewish Veterans Organization, Semyon Nezhinski, commented that during all the years of anti-Semitism, in his wildest dreams he could not have ever imagined meeting a group of Israeli soldiers in Kiev!

The young soldiers came back with an appreciation of the debt owed to the veterans for their courage and sacrifice in protecting the Jewish people, as well as the importance of the life-sustaining work of the Heseds in ensuring that those to whom the Jewish people owe so much are well taken care of. The elderly veterans felt secure in the knowledge that the mantle of safeguarding the Jewish people from annihilation had been passed to a worthy successor in the current generation of soldiers protecting the State of Israel and the Jewish people.