A call to Jewish soldiers in the Red Army and to Jewish guerrillas behind the Nazi lines to fight “even more ruthlessly against the savage animal in order to avenge the blood of Jewish daughters, mothers and infants” was voiced by Major General Jacob Kreiser, Soviet commander and one of the best loved heroes of the Russian people, in an address delivered at a mass meeting at Ufa in the Bashkirian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
General Kreiser paid tribute to “the hundreds of thousands of Jewish fighters in the Red Army who, together with other Red Army men, are manifesting unprecedented examples of heroism in this patriotic war.” Citing the exploits of several of the Jewish men in his division the General declared that “hundreds of Jewish commanders, soldiers and partisans have been decorated by the Soviet Government for their daring and fearlessness.”
“Hitler’s aim,” he declared, “is to exterminate my people and wipe them off the face of the earth. In the occupied countries of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria, Holland and elsewhere and in the temporarily occupied portions of the Soviet Union the Germans are exterminating the Jewish people with sword and fire. In the territories from which we have driven the Germans I have witnessed appalling scenes of savagery and bloodthirstiness.”
“Remember,” he counselled the Jewish soldiers, “that upon the heroic fighters of the Red Army depends the destiny of all the peoples in the Soviet Union – particularly the Jewish people. We Red Army men faced with the heroic duty of clearing the fascists from our soil shall live up to our task. As a general of the Red Army and as a son of the Jewish people I vow not to put down my sword until the last fascist shall be wiped off the face of the earth.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
