Additional Information
Iuda (Yehuda or Iurii) Kaganovich was born in 1920 in Kiev. He studied in the faculty of literature at the University of Kiev. At the beginning of the war he was evacuated to the Soviet rear. However, in September 1942 in Kazan, he was drafted into the Red Army. As a lieutenant he served as a military translator in an infantry division and from August 1943 as a broadcaster in German for a field radio station. At the same time he engaged in intelligence activities. On more than one occasion, carrying out a reconnaissance mission and making use of his knowledge of German, he took part in capturing "iazyki" (literally "tongues", meaning enemy soldiers who could be made to talk), and bringing them to the headquarters of the division, where they provided valuable information. A number of times when he was head of an intelligence group of six men, he ran into enemy fire and displayed considerable courage. For such intelligence activity between December 1943 and April 1944 he received 3 military honors – the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd class, the Order of Bogdan Chmielnicki, 3rd class, and the Order of the Red Star.
Kaganovich was killed on August 26, 1944 during the Iaşi-Kishinev (Chișinău) operation.
