Thursday, November 11, 1999 Older Editions

Local Russian immigrants recall serving with the Allies against the Nazis in World War II

By Rebecca Lipchitz

Most Americans born after World War II may have had their view of Russia shaped by the Cold War, and by descriptions like that of former President Reagan -- an "Evil Empire."

But during World War II, Russia and America were allies. And with the fall of communism and the end of the Cold War, Russian immigrants who are also World War II veterans share a common heritage with American veterans.

Israil Shkolnik is one. He and his wife Ginda (Barskaya), residents of Frye Circle in Andover, became American citizens last month. They are both natives of Russia, but like many Americans of their generation,

they recall the years of World War II as a time of great losses and victories, and a time of hard work.

Israil Shkolnik spoke through interpreter Alex Shkolnik, his grandson, who is a senior at Andover High School.

As a mechanical engineer in the Russian army, Shkolnik was rarely airborne, but saw bombings and destruction he says he will never forget.

He lost many friends in 1942, when the Germans bombed a dining hall in the airport where he was stationed.

Shkolnik worked as an engineer on bombers that often flew over Berlin after dark. Of the 72 planes in his division, 14 of them never returned, he says.

Russians were raised to believe in the strength of their army, Shkolnik says, and never questioned whether or not they would win the war. But more than a million of them died during the Siege of Leningrad, when Germans surrounded the city for 900 days until January of 1944. Residents died of disease and starvation, Russians say.

But once the Russians won their first battle after the siege ended, they truly believed they could win the war, he says.

Of all the devastation Shkolnik witnessed, one memory that is still painful today for himself and his family is the death of his wife's brother.

Ginda Shkolnik's brother and Israil Shkolnik attended Moscow University in 1939 at the start of World War II. Two months into his studies, Israil Shkolnik was drafted, and became a mechanical engineer working on bombers, stationed at several airports throughout the country.

Ginda's brother was drafted to fight in the Finnish War (also known as the Winter War), and died in battle as a member of the drum corps at the age of 18.

Shkolnik's own younger brother was drafted into the Russian army as a spy, He survived, and now lives in Israel.

Shkolnik says the help of his fellow soldiers and civilians sustained him through the war. He was once aboard a plane leaving an airport being attacked by Germans when the plane became stuck in the mud while trying to take off. Civilians in the village helped push the plane out of the mud. The airport was captured by the Germans two days later, Shkolnik says. If villagers hadn't freed the plane, Shkolnik says he probably would have been killed.

During one battle on the front, Russians were so close to enemy lines that Shkolnik's job was to shoot flares over the border to show Russian bombers where the boundary was to keep them from bombing their own territory.

Enemy lines were shifting as the Russians advanced and Germans retreated, but many soldiers at the front who helped push the lines forward were wounded, and carried back past those lines, Shkolnik says.

Many civilians, including Shkolnik's parents and sister, evacuated dangerous areas of the country. They were separated for a year and a half with no idea of each other's whereabouts before Shkolnik located them after the war through a former neighbor.

Not all civilians could get away from battle. Ginda Shkolnik recalls shoveling fire bombs off the roof of the factory where she worked near Siberia. Each day she spent six hours at a factory near Siberia producing ammunition, and six hours in class.

The Shkolniks, who recently celebrated becoming American citizens and gaining the right to vote, will also celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary this year.

They met after the war when both had returned to school, Israil to become an engineer, and Ginda to become a doctor.

Israil Shkolnik went on to become an engineer specializing in studies of energy, and Ginda Shkolnik practiced medicine in Russia for 40 years, she says. Despite being homesick, Ginda studies English at the Senior Center with a number of Russian-speaking friends from the Andover area.