World War II killed, displaced and separated millions of people throughout the world. With homes, villages and entire cities destroyed and occupied, many ran to save their lives and sought shelter in faraway places and countries. Inhabitants of the western parts of the Nazi occupied former Soviet Union ran to the east. In particular, the republics of Central Asia served as a safe haven to the exhausted starving refugees.
Robert Frimtzis, an author of “From Tajikistan to the Moon – A Story of Tragedy, Survival and Triumph of the Human Spirit” and me, August 24, 2010, California, USA
On August 24th, 2010, I had the opportunity to meet Robert Frimtzis, the author of the book “From Tajikistan to the Moon”. I was introduced to this great man who survived the most-bloody war in the history of mankind, as well as contributed to America’s space and defense programs.
Ten years old, when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and destroyed his home in Moldova, Robert Frimtzis with his parents ran over 3000 miles, under frequent bombardment and strafing by the Nazi warplanes, while hungry for most of the three months it took them to reach Tajikistan. They lived in a mud hut at 38 Samarkandskaya street in Stalinabad, now Dushanbe. During the war years all resources were spent in support of the war effort, this resulted in tremendous food shortages. The refugees suffered from lack of living quarters as well as food. Robert says he was emaciated as a result of hunger. He was forced to quit school and obtain a full time job at the age of twelve to get more bread. While his father was recuperating from his wounds obtained during the fierce battles to defend Stalingrad, Robert and his mother returned to Moldova after their hometown, Belti, was liberated. As expected, they found a destroyed city with nowhere to live or work.
Having determined that eleven members of their family were brutally murdered by the Nazis and their sympathizers and with anti-Semitism rampant, Robert’s parents decided to flee the Soviet Union with the intent to immigrate to America. They trekked across half of Europe, crossing borders illegally into Romania, Hungary, Austria, and finally Italy by crossing the Alps by foot twice. In the Displaced Camps in Italy and in Switzerland Robert studied to make up for the time lost since the age of twelve.
With no formal education, very little English, and $20 in his pocket, Robert arrived in America at the age of nineteen. In the US he had one dream, to get an education. Without finishing high school he earned a Bachelor degree from CCNY and a Masters from Columbia University, both in electrical engineering. During his professional career, Robert, as the project manager of the Apollo Mission Simulator worked with Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. He also developed scientific and defense satellites to keep America safe.
Robert says that the extremely difficult life in the Soviet Union and particularly the three years spent in Tajikistan prepared him for his upcoming life. He is grateful to Tajikistan for providing him with a refuge and saving his life. During the darkest days of the war while running for their lives Robert’s mother made him promise to write a book to tell the world what happened to innocent people so it would not be repeated. Robert wrote his memoir “From Tajikistan to the Moon”- a story of Survival, Tragedy and Triumph of the Human Spirit to fulfill this solemn promise.
As a student at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, I tried to order textbooks online from Amazon. I entered the word Tajikistan into my search and found “From Tajikistan to the Moon”. That sparked my interest. I wanted to learn about the book’s contents and the author. I had an idea to possibly contact the book’s author, obtain his biography and photograph to create an article for the English Wikipedia. After finding his email I contacted him. I was surprised and moved to have learned from the author that I was the first and only Tajik to have contacted him since he left Tajikistan before the end of World War II. With the author’s permission I created an article about him for the English Wikipedia and published his autobiography and photo. Several days later we found each other on Facebook and became friends.
During the summer while I interned in Los Angeles, California, Robert Frimtzis invited me to his house, where I had the opportunity to meet him and his wife and spend several hours reminiscing about his stay in Tajikistan.
