Bank of Portraits / Striletska Dariia, Voronina Vira, Cherletska Liubov

Striletska Dariia, Voronina Vira, Cherletska Liubov

Dariia Striletska, along with her husband and four young children, lived in the Crimean village of Dobrushyne, not far from Yevpatoriia. Tsylia Shafranska lived next door to them with her mother and children. With the onset of the German-Soviet war, two of Tsilya's sons were mobilized to the front, while three daughters – 20-year-old Ryva and the younger ones, Hanna and Raisa – remained with her in the occupation.

November 1941. The “final solution of the Jewish question” on the peninsula began with the order for Jews to wear armbands with the Star of David and the creation of “Jewish councils” in large cities. They were mediators between the occupiers and the Jewish communities and were collectively responsible for the timely implementation of the orders of the occupation authorities. Subsequently, the Jews were registered and their property confiscated, after which they were used in various jobs and, finally and gathered in designated places. Therefore, the Jews were taken directly to the places of execution. Ghettos in the Crimea were created only in the cities of Yalta, Dzhankoi and Alushta, and operated for two weeks. The first executions of Jews, documented by the Extraordinary State Commission, occurred in early November 1941. The largest action during this period was the execution in the city of Yevpatoria, where they were herded from the nearest settlements on November 21.

The SD (Security Service) team came to the village Dobrushyne in early December 1941. Within a few days, 22 local Jews were shot, the rest – 32 – were exterminated in January-February 1942. In December, Tsylia and her daughters managed to escape from the place of execution and found refuge with the Striletskyi family, their neighbors. A Ukrainian family sheltered the fugitives for several weeks. However, the Germans and local collaborators began searches, so Tsylia had to move away from her house. Then the Jewish woman applied for a request to her old friend Vira Voronina, who lived in the same village with her daughter and her husband's parents. Until the next round of raids, the fugitives stayed on the Vira’s courtyard, and then reached the neighboring village of Opan, having settled in Liubov Cherletska. Although later, it became dangerous there too.  

Before the German occupiers were expelled from the peninsula, Tsylia and her daughters hid in the steppes. Her rescuers took turns bringing food and everything necessary, periodically taking the children home.

After the war, the Shafranskyis stayed in Crimea and maintained friendly relations with their saviors.

In 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Dariia Striletska, Vira Voronina and Liubov Cherletska as Righteous Among the Nations.

Svitlana Demchenko

Kyiv

National museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War

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