Tag #142563 - Interview #91884 (Leonid Aptekar)

Moscow was preparing for the victory parade. I was notified that General Major Dragunskiy [Dragunskiy, David Abramovich (1910-92), Jew, Soviet commander, General Colonel (1970), twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1944, for crossing of the Wisla River; 1945, for the Berlin operation). During the Great Patriotic War he was Commander of a Guard tank division. In 1969-85 chief of the higher ‘Vystrel’ (‘Shot’) course.], the current Army Commander and a Jew, by the way, had appointed few representatives of our division, including me, to participate in the parade. My army headquarters declared that I could not take part in the parade, being a short guy. I am sure that it had to do with my Jewish identity, but they did not mention this, of course. I felt hurt: when they were sending me to where bullets and shells were flying my shortness was of no account, but it was not appropriate for the parade… So I did not go to the victory parade.