My Life in the Red Army

by Fred Virski

At that time being a few minutes late could mean a thirty percent reduction of salary for three to twelve months.

On the Feldman Boulevard I found the Hotel Inturist, designed for foreigners and Russian big shots. I don’t think there were any foreigners in Russia at that time, but the Russian dignitaries in this hotel were living in a state of luxury not one Russian in ten thousand had ever dreamed of.

Socialismo para o povo, capitalismo para a elite politica.

A waiter who spoke French showed me the menu. It was no more modest than a menu in the most elegant hotels in the “rotten capitalistic world.” Two blocks away, leading to a store, I watched a mile-long line of men and women waiting, with ration cards, of course, to buy potatoes and bread.

The citizens of a country which at one time used to be the granary of Europe received four hundred grams of bl...

He failed to mention that in 1939 more than twenty million people were in prisons, concentration camps, and forced labor camps; that when men wanted to discuss the regime, they lowered their voices and looked around with fear; or that even the smallest and often absolutely unjustified denunciation caused people to go to prison for many years. On these topics Kovalski was silent.

Socialistas e seus metodos para calar a boca de quem discorda.

At first, it’s true, Russian tanks did inspire confidence by their appearance and great quantity, but in no time we’d seen them abandoned in great numbers on the roads because of their defects.

Tipico do comunismo, produzir porcarias

I did not meet anyone, except perhaps the politruk or his aide, pompolit, who did not talk against the regime.

“On the other hand, communism has bred a new prototype of a Russian slave, the slave of the party, of a regime without scruples. The iron police system of NKVD is a thousand times more terrible than the Okhrana (the czarist police). The NKVD holds in its power the life and death of every individual in Russia.

On the rare occasions when a man is freed after ten years of torture, he is informed briefly that his arrest was a mistake.

I felt attached to Jan and I knew that I should not leave him.

Lealdade para com os companheiros é o que mantém um exército unido.

A few months of their occupation, however, did far more than official anti-Nazi propaganda to make every Russian loathe the Germans and return to their former loyalty toward Stalin and his government.

A estupidez nazista...

The Red Army, on the other hand, had become more vigorous and shaken off the initial shock of the flashing Nazi drive inside Russia. Allied help was now reaching Russia through Murmansk and Archangel. Finally, the Russian armies were prepared for winter, while the Germans were not.

“She’s my aunt, my father’s sister!” I was so frightened that a minute passed before I could speak. “Man, save her!” I let out at last. “Yell at them! She’s your aunt!” Serov looked at me as if I were insane. “Are you mad?” he cried. “How could that help? I’d only get myself into trouble. Do you realize who you’re dealing with?” I was indignant. “After all,” I shouted nervously, “you’re a front-line soldier, decorated for valor. Tell them, or I’ll do so myself!” People began staring at us. Serov laid a heavy hand on my shoulder. “For God’s sake, Fred,” he said, “shut up, unless you want to lose me!”

“When you’re told that an operation is necessary,” he roared, “it is necessary! Understood? What’s more, don’t you forget—your life belongs to the state, and in hospital the state is represented by the doctor!”

Comunismo é isso

She hesitated. Finally she said, "In prison." "For what?" he asked. "I cannot answer you," she said, "because I don’t know."

I realized fully for the first time that this was the end of the nightmare. Behind me, under the table in the wine shop, the star with the sickle and hammer was lying on the floor.