New Search
Photo Search
Audiovisual Search
Noah Sneidman
- Accession Number
- 2011-3-4
- Source
- Archival Accessions
- Accession Number
- 2011-3-4
- Material Format
- graphic material (electronic)
- Physical Description
- 1 photograph (tiff) : b&w ; 187 MB
- Date
- May 1945
- Scope and Content
- Accession consists of one scanned photograph that was taken by Noah of Soviet and likely American soldiers just after the war ended. The soviet soldiers are from a special reconnaisance detachment of the Soviet Cavalry Corp. Some of the Soviet and American soldiers traded hats in a sign of friendship.
- Custodial History
- Record was loaned to the Archives to be copied as part of the Russian Jewish War Veterans oral history program. The original was returned to the donor.
- Administrative History
- Noah Sneidman was born in Vilnius and was placed in a ghetto in occupied Vilnius during the Second World War. While in the ghetto he was forced to participate in boxing matches. He managed to escape from the ghetto in 1943 and joined the partisans.
- Noah served in the Soviet Army for three years and was stationed in Germany, Ukraine and Poland. He was initially a private in a reconnaissance unit, but was later transferred to the Counterintelligence Corps due to his knowledge of five languages. While stationed in Lensen, a small town in East Prussia on the river Elbe, the officers of his unit used his limited knowledge of English to establish contact with the Allies (British and American). For his service in counterintelligence he was later decorated with the Order of the Red Star (a prestigious Soviet decoration, mostly awarded to officers). Other medals awarded to Noah include: Order of Patriotic War second class, Partisan Medal first Class, Medal for Liberation of Kenigsberg and Medal for Victory over Germany, as well as many Commemorative Medals.
- After the war, Noah returned to Vilnius and remained there until 1957 when he left for Poland. In 1958 he immigrated to Canada.
- Use Conditions
- Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
- Descriptive Notes
- A copy jpg was created from the tiff image.
- Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945
- Soviet Union--Armed Forces
- Source
- Archival Accessions