David Dushman

David Dushman was a Soviet solider in the Red Army during World War II where he assisted in the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Dushman later became a professional fencer and the coach of the Soviet women’s team. He was born in April 1923 in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland), but due to political reasons at the time, his mother listed Minsk as his place of birth in his passport. He joined the Red Army in 1941 and fought in the Battle of Stalingrad (1942–43) and the Battle of Kursk (1943). On 27 January 1945 Dushman was the driver of the tank that went through the electric fence of the Auschwitz concentration camp, thereby allowing ground troops of the Red Army to begin the liberation of the camp.

Following the war Dushman took up fencing where he became a professional competitor and the coach of the Soviet women’s team from 1952 until 1988. In his role as a trainer, Dushman was staying in the Olympic Village during the Black September terrorist attack at the1972 München Olympics. Despite all of this he remained committed to fencing, including teaching lessons at his local club until he was 94. Dushman died in June 2021 at the age of 98.