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Oral history interview with Leonid Berenshtein

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1995.A.1272.237 | RG Number: RG-50.120.0237

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    Oral history interview with Leonid Berenshtein

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Leonid Berenshtein (Leonid Yefimovich Berenshteyn), born in Shpikov (Shpykiv), Ukraine in 1921, recounts his father's death when he was six; moving to Pohrebyshche, Ukraine; his mother's remarriage; moving to Kiev, Ukraine; attending a Jewish school, then entering military school; being assigned to Rostov, Soviet Union, before the outbreak of war; completing training as an artillery officer two days before the German invasion in June; posting to Przemysl; relocating to Korosten'; retreating with his unit through Ukraine and Belarus; witnessing the bombing of civilians; battles in Kiev and Poltava, Ukraine; being wounded; locals assisting him medically, providing false papers, and hiding him; going to Cherkassy, Ukraine; being arrested by police and escaping his imminent execution; briefly staying with his grandmother in Belozër'ye, Ukraine; going to to Smila, then to Ternovka; work at the railroad station in Shevchenkovo, Ukraine; going to Kirovgrad oblast looking for partisans; finding a partisan unit; many operations blowing up trains and battles with Germans; becoming chief of staff of the Pozharskiy Partisan unit (Otriad imeni Pozharskogo); various partisan activities; training near Melitopol', Ukraine; parachuting with others behind German lines; providing assistance to partisan troops; Jews who were partisans; earning two advanced degrees after the war; how he saved many Jews; being honored by several Polish and Czech towns; and writing books about his experiences.
    Interviewee
    Leonid Berenshtein
    Date
    interview:  1995 February 16
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection

    Physical Details

    Language
    Russian
    Extent
    2 videocassettes (U-Matic) : sound, color ; 3/4 in..

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Personal Name
    Berenshtein, L. (Leonid)
    Corporate Name
    Red Army (Soviet Union)

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Nathan Beyrak conducted the interview with Leonid Berenshtein in Israel on February 16, 1995. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the tapes of the interview in 1996, as an accretion to the original collection of Israel Documentation Project interviews received by transfer in February 1995.
    Funding Note
    The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:15:42
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn503034

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