World War I
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One of the many hardships for Jews living in Russia was forced conscription into the Tzar's army (which later became the Soviet army after the Russian Revolution.) Many members of the Bezbrozh family were forced to serve in the Russian army, and, amazingly, as far as I have been able to discover, all of them survived. Although this was often as a result of injuring themselves in order to get sent home.
Moishe's son Meir (Max Bernstein) was drafted into the 8th Estonia Infantry Regiment of the Russian Army during World War I. After several battles in Germany and Poland, Meir's entire division, except for Meir and two other soldiers, was wiped out. Meir decided that if he was going to survive, he would have to injure himself. So, he decided to shoot off the pinkie finger on his right hand. The army hospital was able to reattach his finger, but it was left permanently disabled and he was released from the army. Meir was taking a terrible risk. If it was discovered that he intentionally disabled himself, he could have been shot as a deserter.
The family story was that the paperwork from the hospital was misplaced and no action was taken against him. However, in May of 2019 Tamara Modebadze found Meir’s hospital record, which says, “light gunshot wound, penetrating, damage of a joint and bones of an upper limb.” Whatever the reason, Meir was discharged from the army without being punished. Click on the icon to the left to view his record.
Several years later, when Meir and his wife Klara were emigrating to the United States, this little finger was noticed by the Ellis Island officials. On the ship's manifest are recorded the words, "Deformity of R. Little Finger."
Isaac Bezbrozh (one of Noech's sons) also injured himself to get out of the army. According to his daughter Shulamit, "My father, Isaac, was in the army, but the conditions were so bad, that in order to get out, he injected his foot with kerosene, which of course caused a serious infection, and as a result of this he was released from the army. I remember seeing the scar on his leg. He was lucky that he lived through it. It was probably about 1915-16."
Tamara found this record for Isaac Bezbrozh, son of Noech, from 1917. It is not clear what the record is for, but I suspect it was related to his injury to get our of the army. Click on the icon to the left to view the record.
Izak Litrovnik (Abram's younger brother) was also drafted into the Russian Army. He served for three years, but conditions were so terrible that he finally deserted and luckily managed to make it home alive.
Abram Litrovnik (the son of Rivka Bezbrozh and Usher Litrovnik) served in the Russian army during World War I and was wounded in action. He was sent to a military hospital in St. Petersburg so that he could recover. While he was in St. Petersburg, he attended a rally where a man was speaking to a large crowd. That man was Vladimir Lenin! After hearing the speech and seeing the crowd's reaction, he decided then and there that he had to get his wife and siblings out of Russia. It was not until 1923 that Abram was finally able to take his family to America.
Fiszel Chilkowski (the husband of Feige Litrovnik) served in World War I and was wounded in combat. Luckily, his injuries were not life-threatening, but they were serious enough that he was released from service. Fiszel later changed his name to Phil Chilkov.
Moishe and Ruchel’s son Froium is wearing some kind of uniform in the photograph of Moishe and his children, so he probably served in the army, possibly in World War I.
One of the reasons that Abe Bernstein (son of Noech and Rivka Bezbrozh) fled Russia was to avoid serving in the Tsar’s army. Once he was in America, he had to register for the draft during World War I, but luckily he did not end up having to serve.
Click on the icon to the left to see his draft registration card. Notice that his occupation is operator at a clothing factory, the same occupation that he shows in the 1920 Census. Also, notice that he put his place of birth as Kiev, instead of Lysianka (as we have mentioned that many of the Bezbrozs tended to do.)
Yosef Bezbrozh (Joe Bernstein) relied on his musical ability to keep himself alive. He was an accomplished French Horn player, and so he was placed in the Russian Army Band during World War I. In this remarkable photo shown to the left, we see Yosef Bezbrozh in his uniform from the time he served in the Russian Army. (Click to enlarge.)