Page 173 - LEIBY

Chapter 22 173

here,’ he told me. ‘I’ve also been accused of collaborating with
the enemy, although I was way more active on behalf of the
Soviet soldiers in my charge than anyone else. I headed a
large hospital, which treated dozens of soldiers who had been
injured in the German blitz on the city. When we heard that
the Germans were advancing, everyone – all the staff members,
the medical workers, and the administrators – all fled, and only
I and one of the nurses, who was Jewish just like me, remained
with the patients. We both felt that we could not abandon
the wounded soldiers and leave them to the Nazis’ mercy, and
we treated them with dedication and care. We helped anyone
who was able to get out of bed to escape and hide before the
Germans arrived, but in the end, we remained alone with tens
of incapacitated soldiers.

“’I could already hear the sound of the German gunshots and
the sight of their tanks rolling into the city froze the blood
in my veins. My brother Igor, who was also a doctor in the
hospital but had fled, suddenly returned in order to persuade
me to escape. He burst into the ward and dragged me outside.

“’They’ll kill you together with all your patients! Come with
me, I have a car, you have to get out of here.’

“’But I refused to leave. How could I leave Monya, who
had lost his leg just two days earlier and was still in critical
condition? How could I leave Pedro, whose body was riddled
with bullets but had not lost any of his desire to survive? And
what about Volodya, who had told me that he was an only child
and hobbled around on crutches after both his legs had been
seriously injured? There was no way that I could just leave them
to die, and I didn’t go with my brother.’ Vladimir fell silent.’

“’I underwent all kinds of hell, but miraculously, I survived.
The Soviets found me in the concentration camp that they
liberated and sent me to the prison camp. And here I’ve been
accused of staying behind at the rear in order to collaborate
with the Germans. I asked my interrogator what I could have
done differently, and he said that I should have fled, and not let