{{Short description|Soviet military aviator (1919–2005)}}{{Infobox military person |name = Polina Gelman |image = Polina Gelman.png |image_size = |native_name = Полина Гельман |native_name_lang = ru |birth_date = 24 October 1919 |death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2005|11|25|1919|10|24}} |birth_place = [[Berdichev]], Ukraine |death_place = [[Moscow]], Russia |burial_place = |allegiance = {{USSR}} |branch = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Soviet Air Force.svg}} [[Soviet Air Forces|Soviet Air Force]] |unit = [[Night Witches|46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment]] |battles = [[Eastern Front (World War II)|World War II]] |service_years = 1941–1957 |rank = Lieutenant Colonel |awards = [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] }} '''Polina Vladimirovna Gelman''' ({{langx|ru|Полина Владимировна Гельман}}; {{langx|uk|Поліна Володимирівна Гельман}}; 24 October 1919{{spaced ndash}}25 November 2005) was a flight navigator in the all-female [[Night_Witches|46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment]] who was awarded the title of [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] in 1946 for having totaled 857 sorties during [[World War II]].
==Early life== Polina Gelman was born to a working-class [[Jewish people|Jewish]] family in [[Berdichev]], Ukraine, in 1919. After the death of her father, she lived in [[Gomel]], Belarus, with her mother. In 1938, she completed her tenth grade of school and graduated from the Gomel glider school. Admitted to the history department of [[Moscow State University]], she attended some classes at the school before the war cut her schooling short.{{sfn|Cottam|1998|p=56}}{{sfn|Simonov|Chudinova|2017|p=34}}
== World War II == A history major at MSU at the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Gelman was recruited by [[Marina Raskova]] to join the newly formed women's aviation group. Following training at Engels Military Aviation School, she was deployed to the [[Southern Front (Soviet Union)|Southern Front]] in May 1942 with the women's [[Night Witches|588th Night Bomber Regiment]], later redesignated as the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment in 1943. Starting in September 1943, she began flying as navigator for [[Raisa Aronova]], who also went on to become a Hero of the Soviet Union. By the end of the war she reached the rank of senior lieutenant and totaled 857 combat sorties, dropping 113 tonnes of bombs, having participated in bombing campaigns in the North Caucasus, Stavropol, Kuban, Novorossiysk, Crimea, Kuban, Kerch, Belorussia, Poland, and Germany across the [[Southern Front (Soviet Union)|Southern]], [[Transcaucasian Front|Transcaucasus]], [[North Caucasian Front|North Caucasus]], [[4th Ukrainian Front|4th Ukrainian]], and [[2nd Belorussian Front|2nd Belarusian]] fronts. The day after the end of the war she was nominated for the title Hero of the Soviet Union, which was awarded to her over a year later on 15 May 1946.{{sfn|Simonov|Chudinova|2017|p=34-35}}
== Post-war life == Continuing her career as a professional military officer, she was sent for instruction as a military translator, graduating from the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in 1951.{{sfn|Simonov|Chudinova|2017|p=35}}
Gelman settled in [[Moscow]] following her retirement from active service as a [[Major (rank)|major]] in 1957, and worked at the Institute of Social Sciences teaching [[political economy]] as a college instructor until retiring in 1990. She attained the rank of [[lieutenant colonel]] in the reserves. A member of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] since 1942, she was sent as an advisor and translator to [[Cuba]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Simonov|first=Andrey|title=Гельман Полина Владимировна|trans-title=Gelman, Polina Vladimirovna|url=http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=2012|access-date=2018-01-19|website=warheroes.ru}}</ref> She died in Moscow on 25 November 2005 and was buried in the [[Novodevichy Cemetery]].{{sfn|Simonov|Chudinova|2017|p=36}}{{sfn|Cottam|1998|p=58}}
==Honours and awards== * [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] (15 May 1946) * [[Order of Lenin]] (15 May 1946) * Two [[Order of the Red Banner|Orders of the Red Banner]] (25 October 1943 and 22 May 1945) * Two [[Order of the Patriotic War|Orders of the Patriotic War]] 1st class (26 April 1944 and 11 March 1985) * Two [[Order of the Red Star|Orders of the Red Star]] (9 September 1945 and 30 December 1956) * [[Medal "For Battle Merit"]] (19 November 1951) * campaign and jubilee medals {{Sfn|Simonov|Chudinova|2017|p=36}}
==See also== {{Portal|Soviet Union|Aviation}} * [[46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment]] * [[List of female Heroes of the Soviet Union]] * [[List of Jewish Heroes of the Soviet Union]] * [[Polikarpov Po-2]]
==References== {{reflist}}
=== Bibliography === * {{Cite book|title=Женщины - Герои Советского Союза и России|last1=Simonov|first1=Andrey|last2=Chudinova|first2=Svetlana|publisher=Russian Knights Foundation and Museum of Technology Vadim Zadorozhny|year=2017|isbn=9785990960701|location=Moscow|oclc=1019634607|author-link=Andrey Simonov}} * {{Cite book|title=Women in War and Resistance: Selected Biographies of Soviet Women Soldiers|last=Cottam|first=Kazimiera|date=1998|publisher=Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Co|isbn=1585101605|location=Newburyport, MA|oclc=228063546}}
==Further reading== * {{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/19/obituaries/polina-gelman-overlooked.html |title=Overlooked No More: Polina Gelman: Fearless 'Night Witch' Who Haunted Nazi Troops |first=Alexander |last=Nazaryan |website=[[The New York Times]] |url-access=limited |date=July 19, 2025 |accessdate=July 20, 2025}}
{{Heroes of the Soviet Union 46th GNBR}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gelman, Polina Vladimirovna}} [[Category:1919 births]] [[Category:2005 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Ukrainian women writers]] [[Category:Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery]] [[Category:Communist Party of the Soviet Union members]] [[Category:Flight navigators]] [[Category:Heroes of the Soviet Union]] [[Category:Jewish Soviet military personnel]] [[Category:People from Berdychiv]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner]] [[Category:Russian women aviators]] [[Category:Soviet non-fiction writers]] [[Category:Soviet women in World War II]] [[Category:Soviet women writers]] [[Category:Ukrainian Jews]] [[Category:Ukrainian women in World War II]] [[Category:Women air force personnel of the Soviet Union]]