Mikhail Kreintsin was born in the small town of Dobrovelichkovka in Odessa Oblast in 1923. His father Isaac, who had fought in World War I and in the Russian Civil War, was a worker.
Mikhail finished a seven-year Jewish school in his native town. Then, at the age of fifteen, he moved to Moscow with his family, in search of better educational and vocational opportunities. There, he began to attend a mechanical-engineering technikum, and became an avid sportsman. Under the impact of the militaristic Soviet propaganda, which drummed up the prospect of the inevitable showdown with the "capitalist encirclement," he also practiced marksmanship at a sniper school.
By the time of the outbreak of the Soviet-German War in June 1941, Mikhail had completed three years of study at the technikum, and been sent to a factory for practical training. Despite the exemptions given to technikum students and factory workers, he repeatedly tried to volunteer for frontline service. The factory administration refused to release him, since the armaments industry needed qualified workers with his skills. Nevertheless, Kreintsin refused to be evacuated with his factory, and insisted on staying in Moscow. To a large extent, his decision was motivated by the antisemitic remarks of a colleague, who had claimed that there were no Jews on the front.
Mikhail joined the People's Militia. He was lightly wounded in his very first battle in the Moscow region, but quickly returned to frontline duty.
In early 1942, the division in which Mikhail served was deployed to the combat zone. He was wounded again, this time more seriously. His life was saved by a nurse, who evacuated him from the battlefield. Kreintsin recovered at a hospital, but he would suffer from the consequences of that wound for the rest of his life.
After being discharged from the hospital, Kreintsin was attached to a rifle regiment, where he volunteered to serve in a regimental reconnaissance platoon. The soldiers of this unit had to capture enemy soldiers and officers to obtain valuable information, and to keep the enemy front line under constant surveillance. It was dangerous work, and the platoon's personnel had to be constantly replenished. Mikhail Kreintsin lasted in this unit for four months, during which he was wounded twice. After his second wound, he was evacuated to a hospital in Moscow. At that time, the Red Army suffered from a shortage of officers. Hence, after spending two months convalescing, Mikhail was sent to a military school in Moscow, for an accelerated six-month training course. In late March 1943, he completed the course, and was reassigned to regimental reconnaissance – now as an officer.
Mikhail then had a falling-out with two of his comrades, on account of his nationality. Shortly thereafter, the two were killed by enemy fire, but suspicion fell on Mikhail. Furthermore, he was found to be in possession of a diary, where he recorded names and events, intending to write about them later. The military authorities discouraged such activities. In the end, he was not court-martialed, but his superiors stripped him of all his decorations and sent him to a penal company. Mikhail was wounded in the company's very first assault. According to the rules, "penal" soldiers were to be released from their units after being wounded, since they had "washed off their guilt with blood." Thus, Mikhail was permitted to rejoin his regiment. However, he was able to resume his duties in the regimental reconnaissance only in the autumn of 1944. Mikhail went on to take part in many engagements, including the battle of Königsberg in April 1945.
Mikhail Kreintsin was nominated for the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" for his contribution to the East Prussian offensive – but, like many other nominees, he did not receive the highest Soviet award. Forty year later, in 1985, he made another attempt to receive the coveted title, but this petition was denied, too. In the course of the war, Mikhail Kreintsin was awarded the Order of Glory, 3rd class; the Order of the Red Star, and some medals.
After the end of the war, Mikhail Kreintsin returned to Moscow.
Related resources
Mikhail Kreintsin’s recallections of the antisemitism in the Red Army
"We clashed on national grounds. They attacked me because of my nationality.
One soldier, having identified me as a Jew, told his comrade – in my presence, utterly fearless: "Look, Zinchenko, at this new crop of brave Jews. Or are they crazy? His gang is sitting out the war in Tashkent, but this Abrashka has deigned to join us on the front!"… I itched to kill them both at once, but there were some infantrymen nearby, and I did not want witnesses. So, I just told them: "You bastards, I'm gonna make sure that you do not survive the night. I will slit your throats before nightfall!"… Naturally, I put it much more rudely…"
From: https://iremember.ru/
Mikhail Kreintsin’s recallections of antisemitism in the USSR after the Soviet-German War
"And immediately after the end of the war [in 1948], a terrible antisemitic hysteria – the campaign against the "rootless cosmopolitans" – gripped the whole country. It lasted until the spring of 1953.
And even after the death of the "Great Father of Nations," Comrade Stalin, echoes of this campaign kept ringing everywhere.
Jewish combat veterans were taunted: "All of you lot fought on the 5th Tashkent Front!" Or: "Abram, where did you buy these medals? At Tishinsky Market?!" And when the "Doctors' plot" got underway, the uber-patriots waited for a signal from above to launch pogroms, "beat the Jews and save Russia." At that time, I came to regret my decision to throw out my pistols on the Polish border.
Afterward, the subject of Jews on the frontline was hushed up, and this silence persisted until the end of the Soviet regime. As though we had never been there, never fought for Soviet Russia, full stop… Except for a couple of occasions, when the ideological censors fell asleep at their posts: Chronicle of the Dive Bomber, where one of the protagonists is a Jewish navigator; and the movie Soldiers, based on Viktor Nekrasov's In the Trenches of Stalingrad, where Smoktunovsky plays Lieutenant Farber.
In all the books and TV shows about the war, we were assigned a new nationality: "and others."
From: https://iremember.ru/
