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Wulf Breido's lively face, interested look, and passionate
heart will always remain with us.
Not long ago we obtained an interview with Wulf Abramovitch,
and he told us many interesting things about his life. This talk will
be a tribute to the person who had been the pride of the Karaganda Jewish
community.
"Wulf Abramovitch, how did you live before the war?"
 "I
was born in 1921 in the town of Polotsk in Byelorussia. I graduated from
a secondary school there - I still remember my united multi-ethnic form.
In late thirties my sister studied in Leningrad, and I also went there
to enter a medical institute."
"Before the war my family was evacuated to Sverdlovsk
region. It was very hard, but everybody survived. Since there was need
of medical officers, I was given an opportunity to complete my study."
"Did you get a commission?"
"I was conferred the rank of senior lieutenant in several
months. I used the method of therapeutic physical training to help recover
soldier's health. Most of them wanted to be discharged and go back to
the front as soon as possible."
"Have you ever got into mess?"
"I had to work a great deal. I couldn't leave the hospital
for several days. We used to sleep in a room for patients suffering from
gangrene. Of course, I saw much. In Majdanek I saw barracks stuffed with
clothes and cut hair, people's remains near the crematorium."
"Where did you finish the war?"
"Also in Poland, our hospital was located near Warsaw.
After the victory we were taken for a tour to Berlin. We wanted to leave
an inscription on the Reichstag wall, but there was no space. So I sat
on my friend's shoulders and wrote "Breido Wulf Abramvitch from Polotsk
was here". To make it clear that I'm a Jew…"
"So, you also met your wife in the front, didn't you?"
"Yes, she was a doctor as well. We received our marriage
certificate in a Soviet embassy in Warsaw.
"Did you move to Karaganda just after the war?"
"First I used to work in a military hospital near the
Lake Issyk-Kul. I defended my PhD dissertation in 1959, and since 1963
I started working in the Karaganda institute. I have three sons. The eldest
is an engineer, PhD, academician. The middle son is an assistant professor
in the medical institute. The youngest son is also a doctor, he has moved
to Israel but has suddenly died. I am proud with my sons."
Life of the medical officer Wulf Breido presented in this
short interview seems to contain the whole epoch. And his best award was
his children - his sons and his students, today's doctors to whom he gave
a part of his soul…
written down by Alexander Abramovitch |
