Abram Karmazin

This photo of me was taken in 1944 when I worked at a military hospital. I was born in the family of Moisey and Eidy in the town of Medvin, Boguslav district, Kiev province, on 14 November 1900. This was a small and poor Jewish town near a big Ukrainian village Boguslav with the population of about 10-15 thousand people. The population of the town was about 1500 Jews. They were mainly handicraftsmen, tailors or shoemakers. There were very few people with education. Most Jews in town were fanatically religious. I was communications operator on the front. I took part in the battle near Rzhev. I was crawling on the battlefield connecting the torn wires. I didn't have any sleep in days. In 1943 I was slightly wounded on my arm and had to go to hospital. I had a surgery, but in a day I was feeling quite normal sitting in my ward. In few days the hospital food storage supervisor addressed me offering a job at the hospital canteen. I was to keep records of food products. I accepted this job. We went to the canteen and he went into the office of manager of this canteen. I heard 'Ah, you damned anti-Semite!" It turned out that the manager didn't want to employ a Jew. But the food storage supervisor insisted that I was accepted. I worked in that hospital until the end of the war. We were following the front line across the whole country. The food storage supervisor became a very good friend of mine. We wrote letters to each other after the war. He fell ill and died in the late 1940s. I still have very warm memories of him and I'm grateful for he had done. People treated me nicely in the hospital. They respected that I didn't take advantage of my position. I never stole anything. People trusted me. Once a general started a case in court, but he wasn't a success. He addressed me and we developed appropriate legal documents. He won the case and sent me his thanks. I corresponded with my mother and sisters from Alma-Ata all this time. I knew their situation and sent them parcels with food.