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Ion Lazarevich Degen

Ion Degen was a Soviet and Israeli orthopedic surgeon, writer and poet who served as a Red Army tank officer in World War II.

1925 to 2017Red Army tank commandOrthopedics and traumatologyResearch on magnetic therapyWar poetry and prose

Born: 4 June 1925, Mohyliv-Podilskyi
Died: 28 April 2017, Givatayim
Occupation: poet, surgeon, writer, physician
Education: Bukovinian State Medical University
Rank: lieutenant
Wars: World War II

Ion Lazarevich Degen was born in 1925 in Mohyliv-Podilskyi

Ion Lazarevich Degen was born in 1925 in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Ukraine. His parents worked at the local hospital, and his father died when he was a small child. At 12 he began working as an assistant blacksmith while still at school.

In 1941 he volunteered for the Red Army and was wounded in combat. He later served on an armored train in the Caucasus and became a tank officer in the 2nd Guards Tank Brigade. His last wound, in January 1945, cost him a leg, and he left the army that summer.

After the war he studied medicine in Chernovtsy and graduated in 1951. He worked as an orthopedist and trauma doctor in Kiev until 1977 and used hypnosis in his practice. In 1959 he performed a forearm replantation, and in 1973 he earned a Doctor of Medicine degree with a thesis on magnetic therapy.

In 1977 he immigrated to Israel, settled in Givatayim and worked as an orthopedist for more than 20 years. He also wrote poems, stories, essays and books, among them War Never Ends and Four Years. He died in 2017.

Milestones in Ion Lazarevich Degen's life

1925
Born in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Ukraine.
1941
Volunteered for the Red Army.
1944
Completed tank officer training.
1945
Lost a leg after a severe wound and left the army.
1951
Graduated from the medical institute in Chernovtsy.
1959
Performed a forearm replantation.
1973
Earned a Doctor of Medicine degree.
1977
Immigrated to Israel.
2017
Died.

Ion Lazarevich Degen served in the military

Degen served in the Red Army from 1941 to 1945, on an armored train and then as a tank platoon and company commander in the 2nd Guards Tank Brigade. His crew destroyed 12 German tanks and 4 self-propelled guns, and he left the army as a lieutenant after losing a leg.