Deutschland-Tagebuch 1945–1946: Aufzeichnungen eines Rotarmisten (review)

The publication of the extensive, unexpurgated diary of a Red Army soldier who experienced both the end of the war on the Eastern Front and the Soviet occupation of Germany might well be considered an important development in the historiography of wartime and postwar Europe. Vladimir Gelfand’s son brought his father’s diary and papers to Germany when emigrating there in 1995. We have very few uncut and uncensored diaries of Soviet soldiers from this period. Moreover, as a relatively unsophisticated and forthright writer, Gelfand does not seem to engage in much self-censorship. Nonetheless, the Gelfand diary unfortunately falls far short of expectations, despite the expert editing, annotation, and afterword by Elke Scherstjanoi, one of Germany’s leading specialists on the Soviet occupation forces, and despite the excellent production of the book, which includes numerous evocative photographs of Gelfand in Germany. The interposing of Gelfand’s letters home to his mother, father, other relatives, and friends is effective as a way to deepen one’s understanding of the young lieutenant’s views and experiences. The real problem with the book is Gelfand, who, as Scherstjanoi points out, “is interested above all in himself ” (p. 333).

Not only is Gelfand completely self-absorbed, he is not a terribly interesting or perceptive 22-year-old. Like many aspiring members of the Soviet intelligentsia of his generation, he harbors exaggerated literary pretensions and ambitions. But he also has few skills other than his general literacy and familiarity with Soviet literature from the 1930s. His references to Russian literature of the nineteenth century or to the German classics are fleeting and superficial. He does write regularly and at length as a way, he believes, to develop his talent. He records in his diaries some scenarios for future stories, none of which are especially intriguing. He is proud of his poetry, particularly the following poem, which he inscribed on the Reichstag (it also appears in a letter to his mother and a diary entry of 24 August 1945). “On the balcony of a Berlin apartment house; I stand with the comrades; And look at and spit on Germany; I spit on Berlin, the conquered” (pp. 113, 126).

In the first part of the diary, from January 1945 to the immediate aftermath of victory in May, Gelfand spends an inordinate amount of time complaining about his comrades-in-arms. He describes their behavior as gross, simpleminded, larcenous, and thoroughly besotted (while at the same time professing his everlasting Soviet patriotism), and it is apparent that he gets along with very few of them. In fact, wherever he goes, he seems to arouse the animosity of his immediate superiors and those around him. He is a party member, a “Stalinist,” and an aspiring political propagandist. But no one wants to hear about his political interventions. He is alternatively incensed and whiny about the fact that he is repeatedly passed over for military medals. He sees himself as cultivated and sensitive and his comrades as invariably brutish, conspiratorial, and envious. Only much later in his diary does he suggest that perhaps he was passed over for medals because of his Jewish background. In fact, he says almost nothing about his Jewishness or about the Holocaust. This is particularly notable because he does mention in a petition to his superiors for home leave that he lost many family members to Nazi mass murder.

Gelfand’s ruminations on women and sex in occupied Germany dominate his thoughts and feelings. He thinks of himself as devastatingly attractive to women. He does not blame them for flirting with him on the streets, sleeping with him when he offers them the opportunity, and falling in love with him, as they do routinely. Although he says he prefers Russian women, he goes from German girlfriend to German girlfriend, naively disappointed that “true love” is elusive and that none of his paramours live up to his elevated thoughts about the ideal...