Jewish Heroes Lead Attacks on Nazis on Stalingrad, Rostov Fronts

Jewish heroes who have distinguished themselves in the bitter fighting on the Stalingrad front which paved the way for the Nazi rout in the Don area are lauded today in an article appearing in the local newspapers.

Singled out for special praise is Jehuda Treastman, who fled from the town of Krive Rog to a collective forum in the village of Chernigovka when the Nazis invaded the Ukraine. Traestman became head of the tractor brigade in the collective and was instrumental in saving most of the form equipment when the Nazis overran the village, which lies between Stalingrad and Rostov, in the drive towards Stalingrad last Autumn. In the confusion, however, Traestman’s wife and children were not evacuated.

Unable to do anything to save his family, Traestman joined the Red Army and became an expert tankist. A few weeks ago his machine was among those that drove the Nazis from Chernigovka and liberated the population. He found that his house was in ruins, but his family had escaped death, having remained hidden in the homes of non-Jewish farmers. Today Traestman is in the vanguard of the Russian troops that are driving the Nazis from the Volga region and his wife and children are helping to rebuild the destroyed collective.

Other Jews cited for their gallantry in action are, Isaac Portnoi, Red Army artilleryman, who has accounted for 500 German officers and men and eight Nazi tanks; sniper Moishe Yossin who killed 77 Nazis; Lieut. Aaron Goldborg, from Kiev, who penetrated fifty miles behind the enemy lines and brought back valuable information to division headquarters which made possible the recapture of several villages; Zalmon Shifman, 54, attached to a medical unit, who continued to carry wounded men from the field despite intense enemy fire; and Israel Kurtansky, a member of the crew of an armored train which destroyed a large number of enemy tanks.