- Rakhimzhan Qoshqarbaev
Raqymzhan Qoshqarbayev ( _kk. Рақымжан Қошқарбаев; _ru. Рахимжан Кошкарбаев, born 1924) is a Kazakh soldier. He and
Georgij Bulatov were the firstRed Army personnel to raise the Soviet Flag over theReichstag building inBerlin , onApril 30 ,1945 , duringWorld War II .Qoshqarbayev was born in
Almaty ,Kazakhstan . He commenced active duty in early 1945. He rose to the rank ofLieutenant , and commanded thereconnaissance platoon of the 1stRifle Battalion , 674thRegiment . His unit was involved in heavy fighting, including theBattle of Berlin .After the war Qoshqarbaev was the manager of the Alma-Ata Hotel. Unlike another Kazakh hero of the war,
Bauyrzhan Momysh-uly , Qoshqarbaev was never awarded theGold Star . This was due to the supposedlybourgeois background of Qoshqarbayev's father, which was a disadvantage in theSoviet Union .
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