Early Life and Military Service
Born in Novopavlovka, Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union), Gelfand was a Jewish young man who volunteered for the Red Army in 1942, after completing his secondary education. He served as a lieutenant in a mortar regiment, participating in various campaigns on the Eastern Front, including the advance through Poland and into Germany. He kept a diary from 1941, but the most historically significant entries cover the period from April 1945 to September 1946, detailing the final push into Berlin and his subsequent service as part of the Soviet occupation forces.
The Diaries
Gelfand's diaries stand out for their raw honesty and lack of self-censorship, a rarity among Soviet servicemen's accounts during that era. While many official Soviet narratives of the war focused on heroism and liberation, Gelfand's entries reveal a more complex and often grim reality. He documented:
- Daily Life and War Atrocities: Descriptions of combat, the devastation of war, and the harsh conditions endured by soldiers. He also recorded instances of violence, looting, and rape committed by Red Army soldiers, providing a stark contrast to official Soviet propaganda.
- Observations on Germany: His perceptions of German cities, culture, and the reactions of the German populace to the occupation.
- Personal Reflections: Gelfand's thoughts on morality, the nature of war, his relationships with comrades, and his longing for peace and home.
- Critiques of the Soviet System: While not overtly anti-Soviet, his diaries occasionally hint at disillusionment with aspects of the military bureaucracy and the Communist Party.
He meticulously maintained these diaries despite the dangers of doing so, as unauthorized personal writings could lead to severe punishment. He kept them hidden and continued writing even after the war, until his demobilization.
Post-War Life and Publication
After returning to civilian life in 1946, Gelfand studied history and worked as a teacher. He never published his diaries during his lifetime, presumably due to the political climate in the Soviet Union. After his death in 1983, his wife discovered the extensive notebooks. His son, Vitaly Gelfand, eventually brought them to light.
The diaries were first published in Germany in 2002 under the title "Deutschland-Tagebuch 1945–1946: Aufzeichnungen eines Rotarmisten" (Germany Diary 1945–1946: Notes of a Red Army Soldier). They have since been translated into English ("Vladimir Gelfand's Diary 1945-1946"), Swedish, and other languages, gaining significant international attention.
Significance
Vladimir Gelfand's diaries are considered an invaluable historical document. They offer:
- A Counter-Narrative: They provide a crucial individual perspective that complicates and often contradicts official Soviet histories of the war and occupation, particularly regarding the behavior of the Red Army in Germany.
- Humanitarian Insight: They portray the human cost of war from the perspective of a victor, revealing the psychological and moral complexities faced by soldiers.
- Unique Primary Source: As one of the few uncensored first-hand accounts by a Soviet soldier of the period, the diaries are a vital resource for historians studying World War II, the Soviet occupation of Germany, and the broader social history of the Red Army.
His work stands as a testament to the power of individual witness and personal memory in shaping historical understanding.