By ALEXANDER DOLITSKY
As I write this article, I find myself wondering if anyone’s successes and accomplishments ever result solely from their own efforts and talents? Or are those who achieve greatness and world recognition always helped by less visible supporters and collaborators?
Would Michelangelo have become one of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance period―and arguably of all time―without the support and sponsorship of the art patron Lorenzo de’ Medici?
Would prominent Russian writer Leo Tolstoy have produced his epic War and Peace―regarded by many to be the greatest novel ever written―without laborious secretarial help from his wife Sophia Behr?
Could young athletes become Olympic champions without their parents’ or coaches’ support and encouragement?
The answer is most likely that no major undertaking―whether fiction writing, creative work, or scientific discovery―ever gets finished without the help of supporters and collaborators. It is certainly true of my essays, which could not have been completed and ultimately published without the interest and advocacy of Suzanne Downing, an editor of Must Read Alaska.
In one of his narratives, At the beginning of the United Nations Conference in San Francisco, Victor Glazkov, the Soviet Union on-board radio operator of a C-47 transport aircraft and a direct participant in the Alaska-Siberia Lend-Lease ferrying operations, recollects the events of those years (1942–1945).
The original handwritten Glazkov’s memoirs was gifted to the Pioneer Air Museum in Fairbanks in June 1992 on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Alaska-Siberia Air Route.
The full memoirs’ text, including this article below, were first released in English under my editorship and published in Pipeline to Russia: The Alaska-Siberia Air Route in World War II by the U.S. National Park Service in 2016.
Major James Gebhardt, a US commissioned officer of the Soviet Foreign Area Division, translated Glazkov’s rare first-person account from Russian into English, with my editing assistance.
Excerpt of Victor Glazkov’s memoirs:
“In the last days of April 1945, instructions were issued by Soviet authorities to select an experienced crew and, in a passenger-configured aircraft, fly to Moscow to execute an exceptionally important mission. The commander V.A. Pushchinsky formed a crew from aircraft commander V.L. Bratash, co-pilot B.S. Osipov, flight engineer V.A. Bukarov, and I, on-board radio operator V.D. Glazkov. From Moscow, we were to execute the sortie from 19th International Air Squadron, which was commanded by A.I. Semyonov.
“They [Soviet authorities] informed us that we would deliver the Ukrainian delegation, headed by the People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmitry Manuilsky, to the first conference of the United Nations in San Francisco. Bratash, assigned to co-pilot duties, remained in his left [commander’s] seat and fulfilled the actual function of aircraft commander all the way to San Francisco and back. The honorary commander, Beskodarov, did not interfere with Bratash’s functions; sometimes, to give Bratash a rest, he took over piloting the aircraft himself.
“We departed from Moscow on April 29, 1945. Two additional C-47 aircraft followed us at 15 to 20-minute intervals. In one of these aircrafts was the Soviet delegation, headed by Vladislav Molotov, and in the other was a delegation from Belorussia with the People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs, K.V. Kiselev.
Editor’s note: Vyacheslav Molotov was a Soviet politician, diplomat, and revolutionary who was a leading figure in the government of the Soviet Union from the late-1920s to the mid-1950s, as one of Joseph Stalin’s closest allies.
“Our crew laid down the first leg of the air route. The flight of all three aircraft to Fairbanks proceeded normally with minor delays at airports designated in the flight plan. From Fairbanks to San Francisco, the route passed through Edmonton and Seattle―a city famous for the aircraft assembly plants of the enormous Boeing Company. This portion of the route was unfamiliar to the crew. We conducted pre-flight preparation together with an American guide pilot and an interpreter by the name of Kargin. Our navigator was in shock over the American flight charts, since everything that the crew required in flight was precisely marked on them.
“We arrived in San Francisco on May 6, and our delegations attended the conference on May 7. I recall that our delegations [i.e., Russian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian] for the most time stayed together. Andrey Gromyko, then an ambassador of the USSR to the United States, was acting chief of the USSR Delegations. At the end of the conference, in June, the San Francisco delegates of 50 nations adopted the United Nations Charter and, with it, laid down the basis of the existence of this organization.
“The city of San Francisco made an enormous impression on us. It was very beautiful. The city is located on a hilly peninsula to the south of the Golden Gate Bridge, where San Francisco Bay joins with the Pacific Ocean. The city had an artistic, uneven relief, with many parks, theaters, and entertainment venues. In addition to familiarizing ourselves with the city of San Francisco, we also visited the neighboring cities of Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond.
“I recall meeting with an American of Armenian ancestry. We were walking through the commercial district. Suddenly, we heard a voice in Russian: “Stalingrad! Russian officers! Hitler is kaput!” We had to respond to this emotional greeting and accept an invitation to visit the speaker’s small store of household goods. In the center of a market hall, above a writing desk, was proudly displayed a portrait of Soviet General Ivan Bagramyan [Soviet of Armenian ancestry] in uniform.
Editor’s note: Ivan Bagramyan (1897–1982) held several high staff and command positions during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), including command of the 1st Baltic and, later, the 3rd Belorussian fronts. He was promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1955.
“The store owner was very proud that among Armenians there were also great people. He suggested that we might wish to purchase items from his store. We, of course, had no need for any of his merchandise. But to walk out without making a purchase was impolite, so we each selected a folding knife. The flight-engineer also picked out a padlock. When I asked how much the bill was, the owner smiled and, excusing himself, took from our hands our intended purchases and placed them on the desk chair, then invited us to pass through the door behind the desk.
“We all had been stuffed full of instructions in the Soviet Union regarding the rules governing our behavior as Soviet citizens abroad, about vigilance, and so on. In this case, our safety was hardly threatened, and I was the first to cross the threshold. We ended up in the kitchen-dining area of the living quarters of the building. A middle-aged Armenian lady, the wife of the store owner, came to greet us. At the table sat two young girls 16–17 years of age, who, upon our appearance, quickly jumped up from behind the table and disappeared with laughter to their rooms.
“First the store owner introduced us to his wife, and then to his daughters. The conversation between them was conducted in Armenian. They invited us to sit at the table, which was already set. I will not describe the dishes and linen, in order not to embarrass my children and grandchildren, since they will not see such a table in their entire life, even after 2,000 years. At the table, we raised a toast to our Victory over Hitler! And a toast to peace in the entire world, which the newly created international organization―the United Nations―would ensure!
“We asked the owner if his daughters knew the Russian language. He responded that his wife knew a little bit of Russian but, over the many years she had lived in the United States, had forgotten it. The children knew Armenian very well. They say Armenians have dispersed throughout the entire planet and must know their own language. Without a language, there is no nation.
“We stood around the table for a relatively brief time. When we were saying our goodbyes, the owner declared to us that our purchases were his souvenirs [gifts] for us. He would not take money. We were placed in a difficult situation. We had also to offer the owner a souvenir, and we had nothing to give him. I had to part with my miniature pipe mouthpiece, made from porcelain in the shape of a female head. The flight engineer took the red star from his garrison cap, which the owner immediately attached to the portrait of the Soviet General Ivan Bagramyan.
“In order not to wander around the streets of a large and unfamiliar city, we decided to get a taxi, which quickly dropped us at the store of the well-known commercial company, Wood. They said that one could purchase absolutely anything he desired at this store. If you needed something and they didn’t have it, they would take an order and over the course of 24 hours fill it, even if the item had to be delivered from another country. The customers, of course, were responsible for shipping charges, in the presence of a pre-purchased agreement.
“The store surprised us in its dimensions: it had large merchandise halls with high ceilings, and escalators in place of stairs. We walked into the fabric department, where we discovered so many fabrics that our eyes could not take it all in. There were few customers. The salesgirl came out to greet the customer and offered her assistance in the selection of goods. I explained to the young lady, as best I could in English, that I needed to purchase a cut of cloth for a dress for my mother and two sisters. But it was very difficult for me to make my selection. Clearly, several words were spoken to the senior sales ladies in the hall and, immediately, five or six female salespersons approached us. They told me that I should select from this group a woman who was like my mother and sisters in size, body shape, and color of hair and eyes. Then they began to measure out fabric of various colors on them. I relied on the taste of these ladies and, with common approval, made purchases that turned out to be quite successful.
“I also recall the purchase of a pair of men’s shoes. I selected the shoes based on my own taste, tried them on, and walked over to the clerk to pay for them. He shook his head “No” and asked me to walk with him to some kind of wooden bedside table. He had me put on the shoes and place my feet beneath this table. Glancing down at this table from above, he said that these shoes did not fit me. I needed to select a different pair. I understood that this table was some sort of X-ray device that illuminated my foot so he could see where my foot was in the shoes.
“We took a taxi back to our hotel with our purchases. Having paid the taxi driver, we walked into the lobby of the hotel and there a Black man ran up to us. He was two meters [about six and a half feet] tall and grabbed the purchases from my hands to carry them to our room. I knew that I had to give him a gratuity for his services. Because we were short on American currency, I explained to this Black man that I did not need his assistance. But he brazenly pulled the purchases from my hands and carried them to my room. In my room, I gave the Black man a half dollar. He twirled it in his fingers, muttered something, and then tossed it in my direction.
“I thought to myself that here is a smart Aleck: he provided me with his services against my will, and even more, insulted a Soviet officer. It had been drummed into my head during my school days that in America Black people had no rights. Right away, the question arose, why did they conduct themselves like lotus with foreigners, with a white person, if they were without rights and every day white people abused them?
“Several minutes later, there was a knock on the door. The flight engineer opened it. At the threshold was the same Black man. The flight engineer asked, “What do you need?” The Black man answered, “A ration of vodka.” So, I led him to the kitchen and poured him a glass of vodka. He tossed it down, in Russian style. I could tell that his stomach was distorted in a cramp and his eyes just about jumped out of their sockets. I pointed to some sandwiches that he could nibble on. He refused the offer. Then, I shook his hand and he left.
“An hour later, the Black man again knocked on our door. “What’s going on?” I asked. It turned out that he had violated one of the provisions of his labor contract, that is, he consumed alcohol during duty hours, and for this violation he was subjected to dismissal. Our desire to assist him did not have any success. In America, labor discipline is the law, and no labor union could help him.
“As pilots, we did not participate in any of the conference sessions. We did not even have a pass to get in. But we had information that the sessions were progressing loudly, with many contradictions and disagreements on almost each point of the UN Charter. Rumors had it that Vyacheslav Molotov was leaving the conference early as previously was planned. According to information from the Soviet side, Molotov had to be in Moscow for the resolution of important state issues. According to information from foreign sources, Molotov was abandoning the international conference in San Francisco because of various approaches to the invitation of Poland and Argentina to membership in the United Nations. Molotov’s deputy, Andrey Vyshinsky, was left in his place at the conference.
“After adoption of the UN Charter and designation of permanent representatives from fifty (50) nations, all the delegations began to leave for home. We flew out with the delegation of Dmitry Manuilsky to the Motherland [Soviet Union] and on June 2 were already in Moscow. On June 5, we delivered the Ukrainian delegation to Kiev.”
The UN Charter was signed on June 26, 1945, by the representatives of 50 countries; Poland signed the UN Charter on October 15, 1945. Thus, there were 51 Founding Members in 1945. Currently, the United Nations made up of 193 Members States; the UN and its work are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter of June 26, 1945.
Alexander B. Dolitsky was born and raised in Kiev in the former Soviet Union. He received an M.A. in history from Kiev Pedagogical Institute, Ukraine, in 1976; an M.A. in anthropology and archaeology from Brown University in 1983; and was enroled in the Ph.D. program in Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College from 1983 to 1985, where he was also a lecturer in the Russian Center. In the U.S.S.R., he was a social studies teacher for three years, and an archaeologist for five years for the Ukranian Academy of Sciences. In 1978, he settled in the United States. Dolitsky visited Alaska for the first time in 1981, while conducting field research for graduate school at Brown. He lived first in Sitka in 1985 and then settled in Juneau in 1986. From 1985 to 1987, he was a U.S. Forest Service archaeologist and social scientist. He was an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Alaska Southeast from 1985 to 1999; Social Studies Instructor at the Alyeska Central School, Alaska Department of Education from 1988 to 2006; and has been the Director of the Alaska-Siberia Research Center (see www.aksrc.homestead.com) from 1990 to present. He has conducted about 30 field studies in various areas of the former Soviet Union (including Siberia), Central Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and the United States (including Alaska). Dolitsky has been a lecturer on the World Discoverer, Spirit of Oceanus, andClipper Odyssey vessels in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. He was the Project Manager for the WWII Alaska-Siberia Lend Lease Memorial, which was erected in Fairbanks in 2006. He has published extensively in the fields of anthropology, history, archaeology, and ethnography. His more recent publications include Fairy Tales and Myths of the Bering Strait Chukchi, Ancient Tales of Kamchatka; Tales and Legends of the Yupik Eskimos of Siberia; Old Russia in Modern America: Russian Old Believers in Alaska; Allies in Wartime: The Alaska-Siberia Airway During WWII; Spirit of the Siberian Tiger: Folktales of the Russian Far East; Living Wisdom of the Far North: Tales and Legends from Chukotka and Alaska; Pipeline to Russia; The Alaska-Siberia Air Route in WWII; and Old Russia in Modern America: Living Traditions of the Russian Old Believers; Ancient Tales of Chukotka, and Ancient Tales of Kamchatka.
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