Arnold Fabrikant came from Odesa, where both his parents were doctors. Arnold’s father Yefim and his unit tried to hold off the Germans when they surrounded Kyiv. Yefim killed himself rather than fall into German hands. Arnold, then 20 years old, spent the next four years on the front and ended the war shooting his way into Berlin.

David Horovitch reads Arnold’s story, which is based on an interview conducted in Odesa by Natalia Rezanova in 2004.