Iona Feldman Prisoner of Stalin

By Vadim Feldman and Iona Feldman Jr.

The Feldman Family

Iona Feldman was born in June of 1917, in the Ukrainian city of Novograd-Volynsky, which had a significant Jewish population.

The city received its name 1795, when it became part of the Russian Empire. Previously, when it was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, it was called Zwiahel . In 1915, the city had a population of 22,000. It has a Catholic church, Orthodox church, and synagogue

Iona was the youngest of five children in the family of Moisei and Feyga Feldman.

Moisei was a home school teacher (and later a lawyer), Feyga was a housewife.

Feldman Family 1910, before Iona’s birth.

(front row, left to right) Aaron, Joseph, Paulina, (back row, left to right) Sophie, Feyga, Moisei

Iona, 1928, The text on his hat says “Pioneer.” Iona was a member of the Young Pioneer Organization of the Soviet Union, the communist youth group.

As a result of collectivization in the 1930s in Ukraine, private peasant landholdings were liquidated, wealthy peasants were repressed and exiled to Russia, where many died.

The remaining peasants had their bread confiscated, for cities where industrialization was taking place. Hunger started in villages and towns.

As a result of this, the Feldman family moved to Kiev. Paulina, the younger sister, moved to Leningrad to work at a factory. There, in the unfamiliar northern climate, she became sick with Tuberculosis, and died in 1932 at the age of 22.

Paulina and Iona Feldman, 1925

Stalin: Criminal, organizer of the Ukrainian Holodomor

According to varying estimates, 2,500,000 to 4,000,000 people perished during the Holodomor in Ukraine.

In 1984, a US congressional committee acknowledged the Holodomor to have been a crime.

Today, 26 countries have recognized the Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people, including the USA, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Georgia

In January of 2010, The Kiev Court of Appeals declared seven former Soviet high ranking officials, including Stalin and Molotov, to be criminals responsible for the Holodomor.

A starving child; a victim of the Holodomor

Molotov Stalin

Iona Feldman as a Student After finishing school in

Kiev, Iona Feldman enrolled on the literary faculty in the Kiev National University, one of the oldest universities in Ukraine.

In the university, he befriends Avram Risberg, a future writer.

The friends meet together in Risberg’s apartment and discuss socio-political events in the country.

1935, (left to right) David Peremyslov, Avram Risberg, Iona Feldman. College classmates.

Stalin’s Terror In October-November of

1938, Iona Feldman, Avram Risberg, his brother Benyamin Risberg, and their friend Solomon Ryzhey were arrested because of an accusation of belonging to a fascist organization.

The young people of 21-26 years were also accused of preparing an assassination of Nikita Khrushchev (then leader of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic)

This accusation did not have any evidence, and it was later replaced with other accusations.

Feldman, Iona Ryzhey, Solomon

Rizberg, Avram Rizberg, Benyamin

NKVD/KGB: A Weapon of Terror

“Committee for State Security for the Soviet of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR”

“Case #132659”

“Accusation of Feldman, Iona M., and others.

Began: 10/1/1938, Ended: 4/7/1939

“Indictment for case #132659

The dept. of state security of the NKVD in the Ukrainian SSR received information that, taking place in the apartment of RISBERG, Abram I., is a meeting of a group anti-soviet oriented youth which has anti-soviet discussions, discussing the politics of the party and Soviet government in an anti-soviet spirit.

FELDMAN, Iona M.,…a former student of the literary faculty of the Kiev National University, is accused of:

a. Having been part of an anti-Soviet group

b. Having taking part in anti-Soviet meetings in the apartment of RIZBERG, Abram

c. Having Slandered the leadership of the party and government, swearing at them

d. Having mocked Stalin’s constitution, idealizing the constitutions of bourgeois countries.

e. Having praised enemies of the people TUKHACHEVSKY, YAKIR, and others”

During the meetings in Avram Rizberg’s apartment, they were visited by an acquaintance of Benyamin Rizberg, who was an agent of the NKVD. He deliberately started conversations on political issues, and then reported them to his superiors.

The friends criticized the electoral system, where there was only one candidate for whom to vote.

They discussed the impossibility of criticizing the actions of the government. Why was it possible to criticize the government in L'Humanité, the newspaper of the French Communist Party, but not in the press of the USSR. Where is the Freedom of Speech? Where is the realization of the constitutional rights of Soviet citizens.

They did not understand how so many enemies of the people could exist despite the successful industrial development of the country.

They did not understand why the whole Soviet press was filled with praise of Stalin.

They did not understand why Soviet literature did not reflect reality, and only focused on the positive sides of Soviet life.

All this was enough to be arrested and to be indicted for anti-Soviet propaganda.

The Great Terror of 1937-1938 Because the case was based on the

testimony of only one witness, it could not be examined in court, and it was sent to be reviewed by the Special Council of the NKVD (known as OSO) in Moscow.

OSO reviewed cases without a court, without the presence of the accused, without a prosecutor or defense attorney, in 20-30 minutes.

In the years of the Great Terror, 1,500,000 people were arrested by the NKVD, and 680,000 were executed.

By 1939, Stalin realized that the terror had reached a very large size, so Nikolai Yezhov, the leader of the NKVD, was executed. Yezhov was replaced by Lavrentiy Beria.

Because of this, part of the accused were set free. Among them were Iona Feldman and Solomon Ryzhey. Avram and Benyamin Rizberg were condemned to three years in the GULAG.

“Extract from protocol #35 of the OSO of the NKVD of the USSR, 10/12/1939….DECIDED: The period of pre-trial detainment is to be declared as punishment for involvement in an anti-Soviet group and anti-Soviet statements. FELDMAN, Iona M. is to be RELEASED from custody.”

Nikolai Yezhov Lavrentiy Beria

Iona Feldman in the Battle Against Fascism

After being freed, Iona was returned to his education at the university, which he finished in June of 1941, after which he was mobilized into the Red Army due to the German invasion of the USSR.

Despite the fact that he went through preparation for becoming a pilot in the university, he fought in the infantry because the Germans destroyed almost all Soviet planes in the first months of the war.

He took part in the defense of the Caucasus mountains in November of 1942, where he was heavily wounded. For these battles he received the soldier’s Medal of Valor, despite the fact that he was an officer.

In November of 1943, he took part in the Kerch-Eltigen Operation, an amphibious offensive, on the Crimean peninsula.

During the battle, he was killed by a German sniper, and he is buried in the village of Glazovka (formerly known as Baksy)

“Guards unit. Sr. Lieutenant Feldman, Iona Moiseyevich, from Kiev, 1917-12/6/1943, posthumously awarded with the Order of the Patriotic War first class. Eternal remembrance for the hero!”

Inscription on the grave of Iona Feldman in Glazovka.