Objekt des Monats
Jedes Objekt in der Sammlung des Deutschen Auswandererhauses erzählt eine ganz persönliche Auswanderungs- oder Einwanderungsgeschichte. In dieser Rubrik stellen wir Ihnen jeden Monat ein anderes Objekt vor – eine Fotografie, ein Dokument oder ein persönliches Erinnerungsstück.
May 2022
Portrait photo from 1951 (likely)
Historical Context
In May 1945, World War II ended on the European continent. The unconditional surrender of the German troops was signed in Reims, France, on May 7, 1945, which was to come into effect on May 8, 1945, at 11 PM. At the request of the Soviet side, the signing was repeated in Berlin-Karlshorst on the night of May 8 to 9.
In the interpretation of the Western Allies, the signing in Karlshorst was seen as a ‘ratification.’ The Soviet side, on the other hand, viewed the signing in Reims as a ‘preliminary protocol.’ To this day, the end of World War II is dated to May 8 in Western and Central Europe, but in most post-Soviet countries to May 9. The Soviet Union suffered the most casualties—estimates, which historians continue to debate, range between 25 and 40 million, most of whom were civilians. After the end of the Soviet Union, the memory of World War II in the various post-Soviet countries became one of the most contentious social issues.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Soviet narrative of the shared victory over fascism is increasingly being questioned by the new national historiography. The Stalinist persecutions, the collaboration of the population with the Axis powers, and the border shifts are being reinterpreted politically. In Ukraine, for example, assessments of historical events over the last decades can vary significantly from region to region.
Short biography
Solomon Fridrih was born in 1919 in the village of Sestrinowka near Kosjatyn in the Vinnytsia region into a Jewish family. His birthplace is about 150 kilometers southwest of Kyiv. From 1942, he served in the Red Army; as a military doctor, he also participated in the fighting against the Wehrmacht on the territory of present-day Ukraine. He served in the Soviet Army until 1970, eventually holding the rank of colonel. Immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Solomon Fridrih left the newly independent Ukraine in 1992 with his wife and arrived in Germany as a so-called ‘contingent refugee’—several family members followed him. He died in 2005 at the age of 86 in Gelsenkirchen.
Significance of the Object
The war referred to as ‘The Great Patriotic War’ by the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany and its allies is remembered in the post-Soviet space, especially in present-day Russia, Belarus, and parts of Ukraine, primarily in Soviet tradition, and is dated from 1941 to 1945. In the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, there is a continual struggle over the interpretation of the past.
The German Emigration Center Bremerhaven presents, 77 years after the end of World War II in Europe, a portrait of Solomon Fridrih, presumably from 1951. He was a Ukrainian Jew, spoke Russian, was born amid the civil war that broke out after the 1917 revolution, and fought in World War II for the Soviet Union. He spent the last twelve years of his remarkable life in reunified Germany. His daughter and the lender of the photograph of Solomon Fridrih, Elena Fridrih, is currently engaged in aiding Ukrainian refugees. His grandson, born in 2015, is named after him.
Do You Also Have …
… a story of emigration or immigration in your family that you would like to share with the German Emigration Center together with the related objects and documents for its collection? Then please contact Dr. Tanja Fittkau by phone at +49 471 / 90 22 0 – 0
or by e-mail at: t.fittkau@dah-bremerhaven.de