Adolf Fizdel was born in 1889 in Odessa. He dreamed of becoming a physician, but was admitted to the Medical Faculty of Odessa University only in 1913, on the fourth attempt – because of the Jewish quota imposed by the authorities. Fizdel was already married by the time he began his medical studies. As a physician, Fizdel served with the Red Army during the Russian Civil War of 1918-20. After that war, he returned to Odessa, where he practiced medicine. His two daughters died in the 1920s, probably from typhus; only the third daughter, Yevgenia, survived. It was at his insistence that she became a student at the Odessa Medical Institute (University) in 1940. In 1937, Fizdel was arrested, and spent three years in a GULAG camp; he was released in 1940 as a sick man.
In June 1941, the Soviet-German War broke out. Adolf Fizdel was drafted into the Red Army on the second day of the war. He began his service in a Medical Sanitary Battalion (medsanbat) of the 6th Army, which was operating in Ukraine. In January 1942, as a military doctor of the 2nd rank (equivalent to a major), he was appointed head of the therapeutic department of the Mobile Field Hospital (PPG) #2325, which was attached to the same 6th Army. As a military doctor, he took part in the Stalingrad operation of 1942-43 and in other battles of the Soviet-German War. He ended the war in Romania and Hungary. In 1945, he unexpectedly met his daughter Yevgenia, who was also serving as a military doctor in Hungary.
Fizdel was lightly wounded in 1942. He was awarded the Order of the Red Star in 1943, as well as a number of medals, including the medals "For Battle Merit" and "For the Defense of Stalingrad."
After the war, Adolf Fizdel continued to practice medicine. He died in the 1980s.
