Medal for Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 awarded to a Jewish Polish veteran of the Soviet Army
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 3.375 inches (8.573 cm) | Width: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm)
Creator(s)
- Kalman Barakan (Subject)
Biographical History
Kalman Barakan was born in Bialystok, Poland, on November 2, 1913. He obtained a law degree from University Jozef Pilsudski in Warsaw on October 11, 1937. Kalman was living in Bialystok when the Germans occupied it in June 1941. His home was destroyed. By late summer, he, and all the Jews of Bialystok, were forced to wear the yellow star and were imprisoned in the ghetto, working for the Gestapo doing hard manual labor. Conditions were inhumane with ten family members sharing one room of about 30 square feet. In July 1943, he managed to escape. The ghetto was liquidated in August 1943. Kalman’s entire family was transported to a death camp. He lived in hiding in the area, constantly changing places and on the run, feeling like a hunted animal. He went for long periods of time without any food, close to starvation. He was liberated at the end of July 1944 when the German Army retreated as the Soviets advanced. From July 1944, until the end of the war in May 1945, Kalman served in the Red Army. He was mobilized, despite his Polish citizenship, when the Soviet occupied the eastern part of Poland where he had been living. Kalman married Pauline Pajes in 1949. She had survived the war in hiding in Grodno. Her family was killled in Treblinka. Kalman worked for the Polish National Enterprise for Foreign Trade in Łódź, Poland. However, he never accepted the ideology of the Communist regime. In 1968, at the age of 55, Kalman was fired for lack of Party activity. He and his wife were forced to leave their apartment and deprived of citizenship. On September 25, 1968, Kalman and Paulina left Poland, and arrived in Italy on October 10, and lived, stateless, in Rome. They were admitted as refugees to the United States on January 21, 1969. They settled in Chicago, Illinois, where Kalman died, age 79, in 1992.
Archival History
The Soviet military medal was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2009 by Linda Anselmo on behalf of the Estate of Kalman and Pauline Barakan.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Estate of Kalman Barakan and Pauline Pajes Barakan
Scope and Content
Medal for Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 with ribbon awarded to Kalman Barakan for his service as a soldier in the Soviet Army during World War II. When Germany invaded Poland in June 1941, Kalman Barakan was a 30 year old lawyer in Bialystok. His home was destroyed and he had to move into a Jewish ghetto and do rough manual labor. He escaped in 1943 and lived in hiding, constantly on the move. In August 1943, the ghetto was destroyed; Kalman’s entire family was murdered in a death camp. In July 1944, the Soviet Army liberated the area and Kalman was forced into army service until the end of the war. After the war ended in May 1945, Kalman repatriated to Łódź, Poland.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Gold colored metal circular medal, 1.75 in. in diameter, with a raised rim and smooth edge, with an attached striped grosgrain ribbon. On the front is a relief portrait of a man with thick hair and a mustache, Stalin, in military uniform. There is embossed Cyrillic Russian text above and below. The reverse has embossed Cyrillic Russian text, a date, and a 5 pointed star. The medal is attached to a black and orange striped ribbon wrapped around a pentagon shaped gold and silver colored metal plate, then layered to form an upside-down V. Both ends of the ribbon attach to and fold over a metal bar on the back. There is a spring loaded pin on the reverse. There is a hole on the metal plate over which the ribbon is folded; this is attached to a suspension ring that inserts into a loop on the top of the medal.
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945--Soviet Union--Participation, Jewish.
- Jews--Poland--Łódź--History--20th century--Biography.
- Jewish soldiers--Soviet Union--Biography.
- Jews--Persecutions--Poland--Biography.
Genre
- Military Insignia
- Object