This is me, Rafael Genis with other front-line soldiers during the celebration of Victory Day, in Telsiai in the 1980s. The former major from the military enlistment office is next to me. Last name Ivanov, behind him ?I don?t remember the rest, all of them have already died.
I was discharged from the military hospital in early January 1944 with the so-called ?white card?: I could not be in the lines any more. I had to get recouped somehow. I had to find a lodging and a job. I was recommended to be a military trainer at the vocational school. I went to Lipetsk, an industrial town, where there were a lot of schools. I was hired by one of the vocational schools right away. I rented a room. I worked hard. All I had to wear was a military uniform. Lithuania was still occupied, and I didn't care where I should live. I did well at work. I had military awards: two Great Patriotic War Orders and others.
Rafael Genis and his friends - front-line soldiers
The Centropa Collection at USHMM
The Centropa archive has been acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. USHMM will soon offer a Special Collections page for Centropa.
Academics please note: USHMM can provide you with original language word-for-word transcripts and high resolution photographs. All publications should be credited: "From the Centropa Collection at the United States Memorial Museum in Washington, DC".
Please contact collection [at] centropa.org (collection[at]centropa[dot]org).